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Welcoming and Inclusive Communities

Visual representation of the Belonging and Participation Domain

A welcoming community is "a place that celebrates diversity where every individual feels valued and included". A welcoming community "has the capacity to include and meet the unique needs" of everyone who lives and works in that place.^[1]

A welcoming community is about everyone. A community that is welcoming attracts people with different backgrounds, experiences, and identities. A welcoming community is a healthy community, with employment opportunities, affordable housing, positive attitudes between people and services and programs that meet everyone's needs.^[2]

Perceptions of Inclusion and Feeling Welcome

In 2021, the Guelph-Wellington Local Immigration Partnership conducted research to gather information about the discrimination experiences of immigrants, visible minorities, and Indigenous Peoples in Guelph and Wellington County. A representative sample of 686 people in Guelph and 395 people in Wellington County (not including Guelph) were surveyed.^[3,4]

Average Feelings of Acceptance and Welcome

Survey participants were asked were asked the extent to which they felt accepted and welcomed in Guelph or Wellington County (from "not at all" to "extremely") using 5 items, which were combined:

How much do you feel that you are accepted in the Guelph/Wellington County area?

How much do you feel welcome in the Guelph/Wellington County area?

How much do you feel a sense of belonging to the Guelph/Wellington County area?

How much do you feel recognized as part of the Guelph/Wellington County area?

How much do you feel safe in the Guelph/Wellington County area?

Key Findings

In both Guelph and Wellington County, immigrants and visible minorities and Indigenous Peoples tended to report a lower sense of acceptance and welcome (range: 3.1 to 3.6 out of 5) than White non-immigrants (range: 3.4 to 3.8 out of 5). Across all three groups, the sense of acceptance and welcome was lower among those who had experienced discrimination in the last three years compared to those who had not.

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Sources:

Guelph-Wellington Local Immigration Partnership. (2022). Discrimination Experienced by Immigrants, Visible Minorities, and Indigenous Peoples in Guelph. http://www.guelphwellingtonlip.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/GWLIP-Discrimination-Report-Guelph-final-web.pdf
Guelph-Wellington Local Immigration Partnership. (2022). Discrimination Experienced by Immigrants, Visible Minorities, and Indigenous Peoples in Wellington County. http://www.guelphwellingtonlip.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/GWLIP-Discrimination-Report-Wellington-County-final-web.pdf

*Wellington County does not include the City of Guelph.

Looking for more information?

For more information, please download the excel file below or visit the Guelph-Wellington Local Immigration Partnership website.

Download Full Dataset

Why are perceptions of inclusion and feeling welcome important?

Understanding community members' experiences and perceptions of inclusion and welcome is part of measuring the degree to which diversity is celebrated and valued in our community.

References

[1] Adapted from: Esses, V. M., Hamilton, L.K., Bennett-AbuAyyash, C., & Burstein, M. (2010). Characteristics of a Welcoming Community. http://p2pcanada.ca/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Characteristics-of-a-Welcoming-Community-11.pdf

[2] Esses, V. M., Hamilton, L.K., Bennett-AbuAyyash, C. Burstein, M. (2010). Characteristics of a Welcoming Community. http://p2pcanada.ca/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Characteristics-of-a-Welcoming-Community-11.pdf

[3] Guelph-Wellington Local Immigration Partnership. (2022). Discrimination Experienced by Immigrants, Visible Minorities, and Indigenous Peoples in Guelph. http://www.guelphwellingtonlip.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/GWLIP-Discrimination-Report-Guelph-final-web.pdf

[4] Guelph-Wellington Local Immigration Partnership. (2022). Discrimination Experienced by Immigrants, Visible Minorities, and Indigenous Peoples in Wellington County. http://www.guelphwellingtonlip.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/GWLIP-Discrimination-Report-Wellington-County-final-web.pdf