The origin of immigrants remains a factor of discrimination in Quebec, but not as much as one might think. Social class counteracts ingrained prejudices against them, according to a Concordia University study published this Tuesday.
“National origin did not have an impact [sur l’acceptation des Québécois] as important as we would have thought,” indicates Antoine Bilodeau, professor in the Department of Political Science and co-author of the scientific article published Tuesday morning in the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies.
To arrive at this conclusion, the researchers interviewed some 2,400 respondents. All were residents of Quebec belonging to the majority group in the province, namely French-speaking, born in Canada and identifying as white. The researchers asked them to sort through immigration applications, as if they were government agents themselves. In front of them: fictitious files of French or Algerians with various economic profiles. All of these false applications displayed perfect knowledge of French, thus neutralizing discrimination based on language.
When participants were asked whether or not to accept these immigration candidates, France remained the country of origin preferred by Quebecers by “a statistically significant margin”. For these immigrants, social class has little impact on the degree of acceptance.
On the other hand, among Algerian immigrants, the evaluation increases with social class. For a candidate from a lower social class, the rating is 7 out of 10. For someone from a middle or higher social class, this number rises to 7.5 out of 10, another “statistically significant” difference.
Taking into account other factors assessed in the study, “the more likely newcomers were to integrate, the more favorable the evaluation was, regardless of national origin or social class,” conclude the authors of the study. ‘study. “If you are seen as an economically integrated person, you will be rewarded in the same way, whether you come from France or Algeria. »
The “humanization” factor would end up weighing in the balance beyond ethnic origin, explains Antoine Bilodeau. “We present a person, not just a nationality. As the respondents are believed to be government officials, it is possible that a concern for professionalism had the effect of mitigating individual stereotypes and biases. »
However, there remain large segments of the population who prefer to welcome immigrants from countries whose ethnic, cultural and religious composition is similar to their own.
“The system cannot completely bypass the fact that people have greater preferences, affinities or insecurities towards certain groups. But these preferences are not insurmountable, and we know that they are not specific to Quebec,” concludes the researcher.
This report is supported by the Local Journalism Initiative, funded by the Government of Canada.