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The number of international migrants worldwide is 281 million, or 3.6% of the world’s population (United Nations, 2020). However, this figure fails to take into account many others who are affected by these migrations, such as family members who remain in their home country, children and grandchildren born in the country of destination (i.e. second and third generations) who maintain long-distance relationships with their families of origin, and those involved in circular migration. The immigrant populations of destination countries are characterized by a growing diversity of national origins, a growing number of female migrants and a complexity of administrative trajectories (Alba et Foner, 2014, 2015 ; Vertovec, 2007). Migrations and migrant family configurations are shaped by legislative and legal constraints and opportunities, as well as by the social and political situations of both the country of origin and the destination country (Delcroix  et al. , 2022 ; Alba et Foner, 2014).

In Canada, the immigrant population in 2021 was 8.3 million, or nearly one-quarter (23%) of its total population (Statistique Canada, 2022). In the province of Quebec, 34% of children born in 2022 had at least one parent born outside of Canada and projections are that this tendency will increase (ISQ, 2023).

The immigrant population in Canada differs from that of most other countries because of the current selection system. Selection criteria vary depending upon the status of the newcomers on arrival: that is, whether they are skilled workers, temporary workers, international students, asylum seekers, etc. Immigrants who are selected to remain in the country generally have relatively high levels of education, which, according to Canadian authorities, facilitates their employability, particularly in sectors where the workforce is in short supply. Expectations are therefore high among the immigrant population who believe they will have ready access to the labour market and will easily be able to contribute to it. However, institutional processes that do not recognize diplomas and expertise acquired in countries of origin make the socio-professional integration of immigrants particularly difficult. They are often forced, at least initially, to accept jobs that do not correspond to their qualifications, and incomes that are sometimes much lower than they expected given their work status and living standards in their country of origin. These issues are widely documented in Canada (Cornelissen et Turcotte, 2020 ; Bélanger et Vézina, 2017 ; Malambwe, 2017 ; Boudarbat et Ebrahimi, 2016). They have also been observed in Belgium where Demart  et al.  (2017), in a survey conducted in 2016-2017, demonstrate that, despite high qualification levels, the majority of Black immigrants work in situations in which their skills are downgraded. The variables leading to this discrimination are the institution where the diploma was obtained in the country of origin, and the absence of recognition or equivalence of the diploma in the host country. This is in addition to discrimination based on gender, race and other characteristics such as age, nationality, generation of immigration, etc. The consequences are manifold and can be particularly burdensome for immigrant individuals and families, both during and after their arrival. This includes second or even third generations who may continue to bear the burden of difficulties encountered by their parents or grandparents (Gervais  et al. , 2021; Ichou, 2014). Research into the implementation of immigration policies such as those leading to the detention or deportation of a parent (Griffiths, 2017; Hamilton  et al. , 2019) highlights the extent to which they can affect the family environment (Schapiro  et al. , 2013; Suarez‐Orozco  et al. , 2002). For example, Hamilton et al. (2019) note that the irregular status of parents who immigrated to the United States can have a significant negative impact on the lives of their children, even if those born in the United States who are considered American.

We have identified three sets of questions that are addressed by the articles in this issue so as to advance the understanding of migrant families’ trajectories and their contributions to their new societies. They can be associated to three themes.

Theme #1. Family changes. How does migration transform immigrant families? The articles deal particularly with the constraints that different family members face.

Theme #2. Participation and integration. What factors (individual, family, societal) influence the participation and integration of families into the host society as compared to their country of origin? The articles describe the administrative procedures in migration trajectories that shape family dynamics in the host country. Empirical studies present examples of how multifaceted integration processes modulate the forms of engagement (economic, social, cultural, civic, etc.) of immigrants in their host society.

Theme #3. Effects on children. What are the consequences of migration on the well-being of children? The articles discuss the effects of migration stress on parenting and the ways in that different family members respond to this stress.

Although immigrants participate in many areas of their host society, they often find the process of integration painful, and it can last for weeks, months or even longer after their arrival. Some family members may even get discouraged and want to leave the destination country. The process of integration that works for some can be a process of exclusion for others. In short, individual and family engagement does not guarantee integration. This demonstrates that integration involves not only immigrants but society as a whole (Schnapper, 2007) and that it also entails social receptivity, i.e. society’s role in the integration process (Piché, 2016). The contributions of the various articles point to the diversity and complexity of the integration process as it impacts immigrant families.

Gaps in knowledge and flawed social and governmental practices and policies justify further studies on immigrant families. While they do not ignore the results of existing research, these studies address as yet insufficiently explored aspects of problems faced by immigrant families, many of which were noted in a thematic issue of Enfances Familles et Générations , titled “Im/migration : Family Strategies and Access to Rights,” (2022) co-edited by Catherine Delcroix, Josiane Le Gall and Elise Pape. The main purpose of the present issue is to show how events in the trajectories of immigrant families influence their societal engagement. We focus on the family trajectories of immigrants to better understand issues in the immigration and integration processes in various sectors of the host society. The authors included here come from a wide range of disciplines presenting research in sociology, anthropology, social and transcultural psychiatry, literature, psychology, social work and history. In what follows, we highlight the issues, data, methods and empirical results they concern the three main themes we have identified .

Theme #1: Family changes. How does migration transform immigrant families?

When immigrant families arrive in their destination countries, they are confronted with new socio-economic and political living conditions (Hook et Glick, 2020). They also must deal with administrative procedures and legal constraints, depending on their immigration status. As a result, whatever their situation, families face many challenges in adapting to their new environments that can have a profound impact on them. In her article titled “Migrating as a Couple: Evolutions in Marital Dynamics and Redefining Priorities in the Face of Migratory Challenges”, Anna Goudet describes the possible consequences of these challenges, focusing on the discrimination faced by minority women and how it affects the dynamics of marriage over time. The article is based on twenty-five one-on-one “stories of places you’ve lived in” interviews with immigrants of various origins and their cohabitants and relatives, who live in the Montreal area and who were selected for immigration in the Quebec “skilled worker” category. Through these interviews Goudet explores the ways that migration affects marriage by examining how couples manage their money. More specifically, she is interested in how this affects other dimensions of family and marital life (negotiations about residence between spouses, employment before immigration and at the time of the interview, sharing domestic tasks), taking into account various sociodemographic characteristics of the spouses. The author observes that while marital arrangements may have been based on certain norms in the country of origin, for example in relation to domestic tasks and employment, these may change after the couple settles in their host country. Goudet identifies three ways of “being a couple” during the experience of migration: through a marital project, marital complementarity and marital mutuality. The marital ideal, the challenges of migration and a redefinition of spouses’ priorities are all factors that play a role. Migration leads to a redefinition of couples’ notion of the “success” of their migration project, since their primary concern is their family’s well-being. The migration process may also cause inequalities in couples, most often to the detriment of the women.

A new living environment can also go hand in hand with a change in the norms and expectations for one or both members of a couple. For example, fertility and plans for having children can be greatly altered in and by the process of migrating. In her article “Immigration, the Desire for a Child and Family Projects: a Study of the Life Paths of South Asian Women Recently Immigrated to Montreal,” Jacqueline Schneider shows how immigration policies and uncertainties in legal status, such as refusal of an asylum application, can cause women to cancel their pregnancy plans or even have an abortion. She focuses on the intentions to have a child among South Asian women who recently immigrated to Montreal and explores how these families manage to be engaged in several societies at the same time. Schneider spent thirteen months (January 2015 – January 2016) conducting ethnographic research on these issues in a Montreal neighbourhood. She recruited pregnant women who had immigrated from South Asia within the last ten years and who had spent at least part of their pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum period in Montreal. Schneider contacted community organizations and health care providers who initiated the first contact with potential participants; she also relied on word of mouth. She carried out biographical interviews that focused on perinatal issues and conducted case studies with couples and recorded the observations of her participants in many social spaces in the neighbourhood where the research took place. Schneider concludes that, throughout their lives, these women develop an identity and make choices related to transnational affiliations, which are in turn shaped by migration laws and immigration status. She also points out that the structural issues related to immigration status and other sources of discrimination have an impact on the desire for and realization of reproduction.

Experiences based on immigration status can also play an important role in the process of identity construction, the desire to have children and the realization of fertility plans in the host country. In their article entitled “Parenting at the Intersection of Different Sociocultural Contexts: the Experience of Refugee Mothers from the Middle East in Quebec, Canada,” Caroline Clavel, Liesette Brunson and Thomas Saïas examine the situation of refugee women in Quebec by exploring their experience of parenthood. The authors take a multi-dimensional approach to this issue. First, they consider the context of forced migration, which frequently causes the refugees anxiety, trauma and grief. The situation in which these women find themselves also involves the administrative and legislative aspects of migration, which can severely limit the scope of possibilities, creating further instability and feelings of vulnerability. Moreover, the uncertainties that come with refugee status, along with the red tape that these women have to handle to stabilize their situation, have an inevitable impact on parenting. Clavel, Brunson and Saïas examine the cultural obstacles to education the mothers faced while dealing with very difficult circumstances and discuss the socio-cultural environments of both the host society and the country of origin. They explore the parenting experience of refugee mothers living with a child between 0 and 5 years of age, based on a series of semi-structured interviews about the mothers’ values, parenting goals and the challenges they encountered in the Quebec socio-cultural context. The authors focus on the concept of dissonant cultural elements, specifically on the contrast between the individualism of Quebec society and the collective contribution to child care made by neighbours in their country of origin, and its impact on family well-being. The article also notes that immigrants find that the extended family, so present in their country of origin, is often absent in the host country. The authors thus take an ecocultural perspective in exploring family life, parental values, and objectives, as well as their connection to the services offered by the host society .

Malika Danican’s article, “The Influence of Family Relations on the Migration Process: the Case of Guadeloupean Emigration with BUMIDOM (Office of Migrations from French Overseas Departments, 1963-1981),” is based on the life-course approach as an analytical framework for understanding the connections between social trajectories, individual development and the socio-historical context of Guadeloupean migrants. The author conducted individual semi-structured life history interviews with twenty-four residents in Guadeloupe who had emigrated and then returned, and seven in mainland France. Her goal was to study the role of family ties in the choices of Guadeloupeans to emigrate to France, taking into account their reasons, motivations and conditions of departure, including preparation for emigration. Individual and family perceptions of their homeland and host societies at the time of departure were also discussed. The author describes the tension between independence and belonging in relation to the return project of Guadeloupean migrants. This is a reminder that empirical analysis of integration processes should be measured not just over time, but also across various areas of social life (Schnapper, 2007). Danican also points out the distinction between the objective and subjective aspects of social roles experienced by individuals .

Theme #2: Participation and Integration. What factors influence the participation and integration of families into the host society as compared to their country of origin?

Theme #1, which deals with the transformative effect of migration on immigrant families, makes it possible to explain certain mechanisms associated with these transformations. It is important to note that observing these in a dynamic sociocultural context can help us identify elements that affect family integration processes. These factors are explored in the series of articles under Theme #2.

In “Migrating as a Couple: Changing Marital Dynamics and Redefining Priorities in the Face of Migratory Challenges”, Anna Goudet shows that members of immigrant families assigned “skilled worker” status view the family as a sphere of protection and resistance against structural inequalities encountered during the immigration process. This protective function particularly affects the socialization of children.

Two other articles in this issue study the conditions of immigrant families in emergency situations (asylum seekers and refugees). In her article, “ ‘Me and My Wife, We Slept on the Street, She Was Pregnant, Don’t Give up!’: Families Transformed by Asylum Application Procedures in France,” Naoual Mahroug probes the connection between life events, the asylum application process and the spatial reorganization of an accommodation centre. Her article is based on two years of ethnographic fieldwork conducted in a Centre d’Hébergement d’Urgence pour Migrants (Emergency Accommodation Centre for Migrants, or CHUM) and a Centre de Premier Accueil (First Reception Centre or CPA) managed by an association in the Paris region. Using observations and informal interviews, Mahroug reveals how family events such as pregnancy, becoming a couple and giving birth in an accommodation centre for asylum seekers may affect asylum application procedures. The time it takes for applications to be processed can vary and changes in family life may occur during this period, creating additional complications. The uncertainty surrounding the status of women asylum seekers makes it difficult for them to plan their future, but as spouses or mothers, these women are able to gain access to rights and information from professionals, thus paving the way towards greater autonomy for them .

Patricia Bessaoud-Alonso’s article “Interplays of Alliances, Continuity and Erasure of Origins” expands the discussion about family transformations to include subsequent generations. The author follows several generations of an Andalusian family that became established in the region of Oran (Algeria) in the nineteenth century. The pillar of this family was the widow of a young Alsatian Jewish settler who died in 1917; she remarried, this time to a Muslim. Despite their cultural and religious diversity, the family resolutely sided with the “pieds noirs,” (Black Feet) of Algeria, a group who, after Algerian independence, “established themselves on arrival in mainland France as a form of transplanted regionalism.” Certain memory cues were erased over the generations, notably due to issues with marriages and first names. By cross-referencing archives and photographs with the accounts of descendants going back five generations, one can follow the arduous paths of memory transmission through generations while recognizing the inevitable distance from Algeria. The family myth of the lost country no longer appeals to them; however, the current context of French society revives awareness of their family past and their multiple identities in a different way. Finally, we can see that for the younger generations who are generally middle-class, food and everything related to it (specific dishes, cooking, the terminology, the seating arrangement of guests, etc.) remains “an invisible thread connecting them to a land gone forever.”

In connection with another type of institutional framework, the article by Malika Danican (mentioned in Theme 1) describes how young Guadeloupeans seized the opportunity to migrate to France through a program set up by the government between 1963 and 1981 to meet the labour needs of French cities. Although portrayed as emancipatory, the author shows that migration projects were actually closely connected to family dynamics both in the place of origin and in cross-border relationships between metropolitan France and the island. Following gender-differentiated trajectories, migrants describe the difficult, sometimes heartbreaking experience of trying to rebuild their lives while separated from their families in an environment that supposedly was their own country, but where migrants are perceived and identify themselves as foreigners. The strong ties they maintain with their families back home play a significant role in shaping the paths of migrants, many of whom eventually return to Guadeloupe once they reach retirement age. Thus, even if the narratives of these “returning” migrants reveal a desire to distance themselves from a family environment that may have been burdensome at one time, they also reveal their desire to strengthen family ties by returning “in time” to enjoy the company of their aging parents. Never completely integrated into the French metropolitan area as full-fledged citizens, they do not see the value of staying there permanently. Transnational family ties have played a significant role in integration processes because of the collective belief in Guadeloupean society regarding the benefits of migration. The disillusionment experienced by migrants is therefore rarely if ever shared with their families, since they feel they have to maintain the myth of success through migration .

Theme #3: Effects on children. What are the consequences of migration on the well-being of children?

The effects of the stresses of migration on parenting and the responses of various organizations and family members to these challenges are analyzed in Theme #3. The emphasis is on the experiences and perspectives of migrant children. Although they are not the ones who make the decision to emigrate, children are the ones who will suffer the consequences the longest .

In “A Hermeneutic Approach to the Experience of Children from Migrant Families as Expressed in Youth Mental Health Consultations: Fragility, Taming through Art and Re-Enchantment of the World,” Prudence Caldairou-Bessette, Laurence Ouellet-Tremblay, Lucie Nadeau and Mélanie Vachon examine the experience of children in youth mental health (YSM) consultations in Montreal. The children were born in Canada or abroad, but their parents emigrated to Quebec mostly as a result of forced migration. The authors examined the traumas experienced by these children who were all under the age of 14, in relation to the difficulties experienced by their mothers in particular. The authors’ method is original, because it integrates art and play as a means of expression and “trauma taming.” Their approach to data collection and analysis combines transcultural psychiatry, humanistic psychology and the interpretation of data through creative writing. They distinguish between first- and second-generation immigrant children, their ages, parents’ national origins (which may be mixed) and the reasons why the children undergoing mental health consultations. The methodology looks at how the sense of belonging differs between parents and children, depending on gender, religion, whether they are a visible minority, etc. The authors recommend giving special care to mothers who experienced violence during the process of migration and integration into the host society, and propose specific actions to take. Their approach also shows the beneficial effects of the consultations on the children, who are able to express themselves, be heard and supported, as they build bonds of trust and recognition with workers at the youth mental health centres. However, support for families becomes complicated once the period of consultation comes to an end, causing the children and their families to feel abandoned once again. Idealizing interventions can be dangerous, but it can also play a positive role in encouraging the immigrants to negotiate the duration of these interventions based on the support needs of both children and families. The authors conclude with this insightful sentence: “Art can bridge the gap between fragility and idealization in its potential to recreate the world for the child.”

Although describing different contexts, the articles by Prudence Caldairou-Bessette and colleagues and by Naoual Mahroug both highlight the important role played by caregivers in guiding and supporting children and adults. These articles raise questions about the limits of the system when the institutional intervention period set by the authorities has elapsed. The article by Patricia Bessaoud-Alonso also shows how children whose parents have endured war and exile are themselves bearers of history, rebuilding their own world through the processes of participation and integration in a changing society .

Conclusion

This issue is set against a backdrop of growing inequalities in living standards (Piketty, 2019), one in which immigration leads to a process of participation, in varying degrees, in the various dimensions of the host society (education, employment, community, civic, citizenship, language and identity), without however giving up participation in the society of origin. This can occur through transnational connections and return migration, as observed in Danican’s article, or through trips home for family reasons and comparisons of family support related to options for enlarging the family, as noted in Schneider’s article. The aim of this issue is to provide an insight into how events in the family trajectories of immigrants, before their arrival and after their settlement in the host country, influence their engagement in the host society. It is important to reiterate that engagement does not guarantee integration, as the articles in this issue show. Factors that affect family transformation include both the family’s past before migration and specific elements of the host society. These include the bureaucracy associated with migration and settlement, the services provided or not provided to immigrant families, the failure to recognize qualifications and work experience, discrimination and so on. These factors that appear as external to the family can have a very real impact on relationships and quality of life within it.

Questions remain for future research. Does the sense of being perceived by others as part of a society differ for parents and children, for men and women? What happens if there is a feeling of not being recognized as such even while one participates in the various spheres of social life? An individual can work or go to school, have a family, etc., and still feel out of sync with the host society, a disconnect that can be maintained by stigmatizing public discourse. How does this affect family life and the backgrounds of different members, especially young people who have grown up in the host society? Living separately in two countries can represent a sustainable family arrangement for couples and children (Beauchemin  et al. , 2018). How do these transnational family networks influence both migration trajectories and the processes of settlement and integration into the host societies? The administrative procedures of migration are complex and the collection of various types of data sources not only in the host country but also in the countries of origin, and sometimes of transit, which can make analysis more difficult. Studies based on quantitative data, too often of a transversal nature, have the advantage of providing detailed statistical portraits, but present limitations for understanding the complexity of migration experiences as a multidimensional process over time. On the other hand, longitudinal quantitative data (multisite or not) would allow us to analyze family trajectories in relation to other parameters such as changes in employment status, place of residence and length of time since arrival. Those aspects may be closely linked to the families’ sense of belonging and to an appreciation of their contribution to the host society .

The articles in this issue demonstrate the value of the approaches and results of research that is carried out in different disciplinary fields, derived from multidisciplinary collaboration, and conducted in a variety of locations. They enable us to better understand the adaptation and integration strategies of families through the lens of their pre- and post-migration histories .