Coming to, and settling on, Prince Edward Island : stories and voices – a report on a study of recent immigrants to PEI

Abstract

This report is a qualitative, person-centered study of contemporary immigrants to Prince Edward Island, noting their stories and listening to their voices as they seek to settle in, and settle down, on the island: a useful supplement to the considerable, up-to-date, numerical data about immigration flows and characteristics which is already available. With its small population, absence of significant urban agglomerations and a ‘white-anglophone-christian-straight’ (WACS) demographic profile, Prince Edward Island starts off at a disadvantage in attracting immigrants who tend to be ethnically diverse, allophone, multi-cultural and mainly urban dwellers. The research objectives of this study are mainly six: (a) to identify why people have recently (meaning between 1998 and 2003) come to settle and decided (so far) to stay on PEI; (b) flesh out the concept of ‘well being’ and ‘quality of life’ in relation to PEI; (c) serve as a follow-up to the 1999 Provincial Population Strategy; (d) provide a more informed understanding of why people come and stay, thus confronting widely held beliefs as to why people ‘from away’ come to ‘the island’, while providing knowledge with which to devise suitable schemes and strategies for immigrant attraction and retention; (e) suggest insights as to why so many newcomers to PEI don’t settle here and move elsewhere; and (f) serve as a prototype to similar studies.