ABSTRACT
Migration and immigration have historically been urban phenomena. Large urban centers often boasted large ethnic communities, ample immigrant service provisions, and most importantly employment opportunities. Over the past two decades, however, rural communities and governments have actively explored immigration strategies as options to address local challenges and opportunities, such as labor shortages and population growth. The attraction, settlement, integration, and retention of immigrants represents substantial planning requirements for rural communities, health and social service providers, government services, and community-based organizations. To facilitate rural immigration many rural areas are adopting a welcoming community strategy – a strategy whereby multi-sectoral partnerships are created to facilitate the immigration process. For many rural areas, unfortunately, there is limited experience and capacity to build and sustain these partnerships.
This chapter provides an overview of key concepts related to immigration, multiculturalism, and welcoming communities as it applies to rural communities. This contribution is developed on the theory of multiculturalism and the welcoming communities characteristics.
