Being “Latino” in a “Latin Province”: The Experience of Discrimination of Spanish-speaking Immigrants Living Among a

French-speaking Majority in Quebec, Canada

Victor Armony

Professor, Department of Sociology

Co-director, Observatory of Diasporas

Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)

armony.victor@uqam.ca

IPSA W orld Congress of Political ScienceBrisbane, July 21-26, 2018

QUEBEC (2016)Pop. 8,066,55579.1 % French as Mother Tongue15.1 % Foreign Born

10.8 % Born in Latin American9.3 % Born in LA except Mexico6.2 % Born in South America

ENGLISH CANADA (2016)Pop. 23,305,22074.0 % English as Mother Tongue26.5 % Foreign Born

5.0 % Born in Latin American3.9 % Born in LA except Mexico2.6 % Born in South America

UNITED STATES (2015)Pop. 323,305,22079.3 % English as Mother Tongue*13.5 % Foreign Born

45.8 % Born in Latin American19.0 % Born in LA except Mexico6.0 % Born in South America

* Speak only English at hom e; population 5 years and over

• Quebec has proportionally* more immigrants than the United States.

• Quebec has proportionally* as many French native speakers as the United States has English native speakers.

• Quebec has proportionally** more than twice as many Latin American immigrants as the rest of Canada.

• Quebec has proportionally** as many South American immigrants as the United States and more than twice as the rest of Canada.

* As a proportion of total population**As a proportion of foreign-born

Sources: Pew Research Center, Hispanic Trends (U.S.) – Statistics Canada, Census Program (Canada)

National Origins

United States (2013)

English Canada (2016)

Quebec (2016)

% % %

Mexico 64,1 Mexico 17,7 Colombia 18,6Puerto Rico 9,5 Colombia 13,3 Mexico 14,7Cuba 3,7 El Salvador 9,1 Peru 10,8El Salvador 3,7 Chile 6,2 El Salvador 10,5Dominican Republic 3,3 Peru 5,8 Chile 7,7Guatemala 2,4 Brazil 5,1 Dominican Republic 6,3Colombia 2 Cuba 4 Guatemala 5,6Honduras 1,5 Venezuela 3,6 Cuba 5,4Ecuador 1,3 Guatemala 3,6 Brazil 4,6Peru 1,2 Ecuador 3,5 Venezuela 4,1

77,3 %

• Almost 2/3 of Latin Americans in the U.S. are of Mexican origin, and 3/4 of the total U.S. Latin American population stems from only 3 nationalities.

• Latin Americans in English Canada have more diverse national origins, including a much larger proportion of South Americans.

• Quebec has the more diverse Latin American population: the top 10 nationalities are all above 4 %, and the top 4 are all above 10%.

United States Canada

Foreign-born as % of total Hispanics / Latin Americans35 (2013) 87 (2016)

High school graduate or less52 (2015) 31 (2016)

Median personal income for full-time, year-round workers: U.S. Hispanics as % of Whites (age 16 and older) / Canada’s Latin American Visible Minority as % Non Visible Minority (age 15 and older)

60 (2015) 80 (2016)

Hispanics / Latinos in the U.S. and Canada: Selected Characteristics

Canada’s highly selective immigration policy creates a different type of Latin American diaspora:

• FIRST GENERATION POPULATION: Almost 9 out of 10 Latin Americans in Canada are immigrants (foreign-born), while only

1/3 of Hispanics are immigrants in the U.S.

• HIGHER LEVEL OF EDUCATION: Most of Canada’s Latin American population holds a post-secondary diploma, a

significantly higher proportion than among U.S. Hispanics.

• HIGHER INCOME: Latin Americans in Canada earn 80% of that country’s white population income (in median annual

wages), while that figure is 60% for Hispanics in the U.S.

CENSUS QUESTIONS ON RACE / ETHNICITY

5Canada 2016

U.S. 2010

50,477,59416.3 %

53 % of Latino / Hispanic

34 % (est.) of Latin, Central and South

American

Latin, Central and South American origins

674,6402.0 %

Q uébec

• French language versusEnglish majority in Canada

• Integrationist model versusCanadian multiculturalism

Canada

• Proactive immigration policy versusU.S. reactive immigration control

• Canadian-style multiculturalism versusU.S. racial relations model

United States

• Latinos as the main “Other” (“illegal” / “Mexican” / “inassimilable” )

• Latinos incorporated into U.S. race relations model

Latin Am erica

• National identities/ideologies• Mestizaje within a racial/ethnic

stratification system

Latin Am erican Ethnic Boundary Form ation in 3 different North Am erican Settings

NORTH AMERICAN DIASPORAS

NON-U.S. NORTH AMERICAN DIASPORAS

Pan-ethnic categorization / identification

6

• Boundaries and incentives for racial/ethnic self-categorization are different in each setting.

• The U.S. political and cultural reality bear considerable impact on Canada.

• Quebec is relatively isolated from North American influences on account of the language barrier.

2017 Survey on Q uebec’s Latin Am ericans

• Carried out by UQAM ’s Interdisciplinary Lab for Latin Am erican Studies from M arch 20th to April 30th, 2017

• On-line questionnaire w ith 96 questions, available in Spanish, Portuguese, and French.

• Eligibility: 18 years old, residing in Quebec and identified w ith a Latin Am erican background (by birth, ancestry, or culture)

• Partners in recruitm ent of participants: com m unity and civil society organizations (cultural associations, NGOs, Cham ber of Com m erce, church congregations), consulates (Argentina, Colom bia, M exico and Uruguay), Spanish-language m edia, academ ic netw orks.

• Call for participation circulated in 31 Quebec-based Hispanic-identity Facebook pages and groups reaching a total of 76,871 m em bers / follow ers.

• 1014 valid questionnaires (out of 1088 filled) : 56.5 % w om en and 41.7% m en; 50.1% under 30 years old and 48.6% 30 years old or over; 57.7% settled less than 10 years ago and 40.2% settled 10 years

ago or m ore.

• The sam ple is skew ed tow ard som e nationalities (im m igrants from the Southern Cone), fem ale and older participants, and a higher proportion of post-secondary education.

• Diasporic Netw orks: Im m igrants from Latin Am erican m aintain strong personal ties w ith their country of origin (fam ily and friendship ties, interest in events, travel, identification), w hile

developing attachm ent to local society (consistent w ith the thesis that transnational ties actually foster civic participation in the host society and even strengthen the attachm ent to the country of im m igration; see: Pantoja, 2005).

• Com m on Language : W ith lengthier residence, relations w ith other im m igrants of the sam e nationality decrease, but relations w ith other Latin Am erican im m igrants seem to rem ain present.

• Em erging Pan-Ethnicity: Also, older im m igrants and longer-tim e residents appear to shift tow ards pan-ethnic identifications.

Diasporic and Pan-Ethnic Ties

Pantoja, Adrian. 2005. “Transnational Ties and Im m igrant Political Incorporation: The Case of Dom inicans in W ashington Heights, New York”, International M igration 43:123-46.

• A W ell-Functioning Society: Im m igrants from Latin Am erica perceive m uch higher levels in fairness and social cohesion in host society (consistent w ith thesis that “the destination-country

context has a m assive im pact on trust of im m igrants”; see Dinesen, 2012), are civically involved (m ostly through citizenship and voting), and generally show high levels of life satisfaction.

• Satisfaction W ith Personal Life : There is a strong sense that m erit and effort are rew arded. Life satisfaction is higher regarding fam ily and hom e/local com m unity (a key determ inant of

subjective w ell-being am ong im m igrants; see Herrero et al., 2012), and low er regarding w ork and health.

• The Im portance of Em ploym ent: Participation and life satisfaction seem to be affected by (or be the cause of) w eaker integration in the job m arket (consistent w ith persistent low -quality, low -

incom e w ork as a predictor of life dissatisfaction am ong im m igrants; see Kim & Noh, 2015)

Integration and Life Satisfaction

Dinesen, P. T. (2012) “Does Generalized (Dis)Trust Travel? Exam ining the Im pact of Cultural Heritage and Destination-Country Environm ent on Trust of Im m igrants”. Political Psychology, 33: 495–511.

Herrero, Juan, Gracia, Enrique, Fuente, Asur & Lila, M arisol (2012) “Desorden social, integración social y bienestar subjetivo en inm igrantes latinoam ericanos en

España”, Anales de Psicología , v. 28, n. 2, p. 505-514.Kim , Il-Ho & Noh, Sam uel (2015) "Changes in life satisfaction am ong Korean im m igrants in Canada”, International Journal of Culture and M ental Health , 8:1, 60-71.

0,0

10,0

20,0

30,0

40,0

Et hni ci ty Rel i gio n Langu age N ati on ali t y Ge nder Sexu ali t y

Vi ct im

Wi tn ess

Experience of D iscrim ination in Host Society • Discrim ination on the basis of language is the only case in w hich the experience as victim is m ore frequently reported than as w itness.

• Participants also report the experience as victim s of discrim ination on the basis of ethnicity, follow ed by nationality and gender.

• Religion is perceived as a significant m otive for discrim ination in society, but not experienced as victim s.

“Non-standard accents are one of the m ost salient characteristics of individuals from other countries w ho com e to live, w ork or study in a host country. An accent identifies and potentially stigm atizes people as not being native born” (de Souza et al., 2016)

“Nonnative accents m ay activate specific stereotypes about the group to w hich the speaker belongs”“Nonnative speakers tend to be rated low in status, especially w hen their accents are perceived as difficult to com prehend” (G luszek & Dovidio, 2010)

de Souza, L. E. C., Pereira, C. R., Cam ino, L., de Lim a, T. J. S., and Torres, A. R. R. (2016) "The legitim izing role of accent on discrim ination against im m igrants”, European Journal of Social Psychology, 46: 609–620. Gluszek, A., & Dovidio, J. F. (2010) "The w ay they speak: A social psychological perspective on the stigm a of non-native accents in com m unication", Personality and Social Psychology Review , 14, 214–237.

WORK ETHIC (F=235): 35, impuntuales; 23, flojos; 18, perezosos; 12, vagos; 8, irresponsables; 8, tarde; 7, desordenados; 7, fiables; 6, informales; 5, desorganizados; 5, incumplidos; 5, lentos; 5, pereza; 5, puntuales; 4, atrasados; 4, confiables; 4, desconfianza; 4, haraganes; 4, impuntualidad; 4, retard; 4, serios; 4, siesta; 3, confiar; 3, fiar; 3, lazy; 3, mañana; 3, paresseux; 3, puntualidad; 3, responsables; 3, sério; 2, atrasado; 2, atraso; 2, compromiso; 2, cumplidores; 2, floja; 2, flojera; 2, honestidad; 2, irrespetuosos; 2, organizados; 2, perezoso; 2, pontualidade; 2, respetuosos; 2, rigor; 2, serio; 2, vago.

CHARACTER (F=177): 29, fiesta; 21, alegres; 14, fiesteros; 12, ruidosos; 7, bailar; 7, fête; 6, salsa; 5, fáciles; 4, bailarines; 4, baile; 4, simpáticos; 3, apasionados; 3, bullosos; 3, cálidos; 3, dansent; 3, divertidos; 3, emocionales; 3, festejar; 3, fiestero; 2, amigos; 2, bruyants; 2, bulliciosos; 2, caliente; 2, calientes; 2, carnaval; 2, comemos; 2, dançar; 2, escandalosos; 2, exóticos; 2, faciles; 2, festa; 2, festeiros; 2, fiestas; 2, música; 2, positivos; 2, ruidoso; 2, samba; 2, sociables; 2, tropicales.

HUMAN CAPITAL (F=158): 39, educación; 11, estudios; 6, preparados; 5, calificados; 5, educados; 5, escolaridad; 5, ignorantes; 4, inteligentes; 4, profesional; 3, capacidades; 3, conocimiento; 3, conocimientos; 3, educação; 3, educativo; 3, éduqués; 3, experiencia; 3, intelectualmente; 3, profesionales; 3, profesionalmente; 2, académica; 2, analfabetas; 2, capacidad; 2, capacidade; 2, competentes; 2, cultos; 2, currículo; 2, diploma; 2, educacion; 2, educacional; 2, educado; 2, escolaridade; 2, estudos; 2, formação; 2, formación; 2, formados; 2, ignorancia; 2, ignorante; 2, incultos; 2, preparadas; 2, profesión; 2, profissional.

DEVIANCE (F=150): 20, drogas; 13, droga; 12, narcotraficantes; 10, violencia; 7, deshonestos; 7, ladrones; 6, narcos; 5, delincuentes; 5, drogue; 5, traficantes; 5, trafico; 4, violentos; 3, borrachos; 3, coca; 3, corrupção; 3, corruptos; 3, delincuencia; 3, malandros; 3, mentirosos; 3, sucios; 3, voleurs; 2, abusadores; 2, abusan; 2, boivent; 2, corrupción; 2, criminalidad; 2, desonestos; 2, drogues; 2, oportunistas; 2, rateros; 2, tramposos; 2, violence; 2, violência.

SEXISM / SEXUALIZATION (F=140): 23, machistas; 17, mujeres; 9, mulheres; 7, machos; 6, machismo; 6, sexual; 5, femmes; 5, lover; 5, macho; 5, mujer; 5, mulher; 4, hommes; 4, mujeriegos; 4, sexuais; 3, femme; 3, infieles; 3, machistes; 3, sensuales; 3, sexualidade; 2, lovers; 2, machista; 2, machiste; 2, promíscuos; 2, prostituição; 2, putas; 2, sex; 2, sexistas; 2, sexuales; 2, sumisas.

Perceived Stereotypes About Latin Am ericans (As Reported by Participants in Survey)

Health Social Life Residence Government Family Work AVERAGE

Not Experienced Discrimination 6,78 7,70 8,76 7,91 8,48 7,10 7,79

Discrimination as Witness 6,37 7,21 8,37 7,28 8,17 6,59 7,33

Discrimination as Victim 5,64 6,36 8.03 6,99 7,63 5,62 6,45

By Experience of Discrimination on the Basis of Language

Life Satisfaction (on a scale of 1 to 10)

• The political decision - In the afterm ath of the Quebec City m osque m ass shooting on January 29, 2017, the provincial governm ent acquiesced to a dem and by civil society groups that had

been advocating for the holding of a public consultation on racism and system ic discrim ination.

• The initial approach - Quebec’s M inistry of Im m igration set up an expert com m ittee to establish guidelines for the consultation; the com m ittee recom m ended that civil society

organizations be given the m andate to collect w itness reports on discrim ination, using a tem plate provided by Quebec’s independent com m ission of hum an rights.

• The backlash - After an open call for propositions, the M inistry selected about 30 organizations; how ever, heavy criticism from opposition parties, colum nists, and public

opinion ensued, and the governm ent significantly reduced the scope of the consultation— and erased the w ords “racism ” and “system ic” from its official nam e.

A public consultation on racism and systemic discrimination

• To leave or to stay - Several organizations backed out from the process in protest, w hile others decided to proceed w ith the consultation, keeping the focus on collecting victim reports using

the hum an rights com m ission questionnaire.

• Consulting in Spanish and Portuguese - In this context, a group of Latin Am erican associations active in the arts, com m unity services, business, and education created a coalition in order to collect, in their m other tongue, reports on discrim ination am ong im m igrants from Latin

Am erica.

• 152 w itness reports - 90 w om en and 62 m en gave their account of discrim ination incidents, the m ajority of w hich w ere related to their nationality or language, and m ore than half of those incidents had occurred in the w orkplace.

Witness reports on discrimination among Latin American immigrants

Reported incidents of discrimination by type of action and recurrence

Reported incidents of discrimination by type of perpetrator and place

• M y boss im itates m y accent w hen I speak French.

• A colleague calls m e ”the Hispanic” to bring attention to m y accent.

• They m ake m e repeat m yself because they pretend that they do not understand m e.

• They explain things to m e w ith lots of gestures and grim aces as if I w as not able to understand them .

• The person in charge considered that m y Spanish accent w as too strong and that I did not deserve to be interview ed.

• Because of the fact that I don’t speak French as they do, or not having French as m y m other tongue, m akes them often underestim ate m y professional abilities.

• They told m e that I have a strong accent and that could hinder the children’s learning of French.

Sam ple quotes

LANGUAGE / ACCENT STEREOTYPES

Decreasing but still persistent negative images prevail in the U.S. regarding wealth, work ethic, violence, and intelligence of Hispanic Americans (See: Weaver, 2005)

de Souza, L. E. C., Pereira, C. R., Cam ino, L., de Lim a, T. J. S., and Torres, A. R. R. (2016) The legitim izing role of accent on discrim ination against im m igrants. Eur. J. Soc. Psychol., 46: 609–620.Hosoda, M egum i, Nguyen, Lam T. & Stone-Rom ero, Eugene F., (2012) "The effect of H ispanic accents on em ploym ent decisions", Journal of M anagerial Psychology , Vol. 27 Issue: 4, pp.347-364.W eaver, Charles N. (2005) “The Changing Im age of H ispanic Am ericans”, Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences Vol 27, Issue 3, pp. 337 – 354.Pustka , Elissa (2011) “L’accent m éridional :représentations, attitudes et perceptions toulousaines et parisiennes”, Lengas. Revue de sociolinguistique , 69, p. 117-152.

Spanish-accented immigrants from Mexico and Latin America are perceived to be less competent than, but as warm as Americans, when applying for a job in the U.S. (See: Hosoda, Nguyen & Stone-Romero, 2012)

• Use of Spanish w ords and m ock Spanish in French-language advertising (e.g. a Québécois speaking in a supposedly com ical M exican-accented French prom otes on the radio a brand of tequila for the Province’s

board of alcohol).• Casual descriptions (e.g. Le Devoir, Novem ber 11th, 2017) of Latin Am erican im m igrants’ Spanish accent as

“singing” (“chantant”— the sam e quality ascribed to Southern France accent, w hich a study show ed to be described by Parisians as “lovely”, “silly”, and “laughable”) (Pustka, 2011)

“accent can be innocuous in motivating discriminatory behaviour in non-prejudiced individuals but can have a pervasive influence on the behaviour of highly prejudiced persons” (de Souza et al., 2016)

Diasporic Netw orks (transnational social capital)

Com m on Language / com m unity-building

Strong ties to countries of origin

Em erging Pan-Ethnicity (bonding social capital)

Em ploym ent / life satisfaction

Integration to Host Society (bridging social capital)

A "GLOBAL LATINA/O"?

Latin Americans in Quebec: recent, qualified

Latin Americans in Quebec: nationally diverse, growing size

Latin Americans in Quebec: perceived cultural affinity

… but U.S.-centered

ETHNIC BOUNDARY M ARKERS… accent as a trigger of stereotyping