Immigrant Entrepreneurship, Institutional Discrimination, and Implications for Public Policy: A Case Study in Toronto

Immigration since World War 2 has been a primary engine of economic, social, and cultural change in Canada. Two of its important characteristics have been its ‘urban’ character and the non-European origins of immigrants since the 1960s. The Toronto Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) has been a major destination for those immigrants who have entered the self-employed sector of the economy in ever-larger numbers. The authors focus on the barriers and challenges experienced by the Polish, Portuguese, Caribbean, Korean, and Somali immigrants in the establishment and operation of their businesses in the Toronto CMA. With information collected through key-informant interviews, a questionnaire survey, and focus groups, it is found that, despite the Canadian commitment to multiculturalism at all levels of government, visible-minority entrepreneurs still confront more barriers in their business practice than do non-visible-minority entrepreneurs, with access to financing being a persistent problem. Given the increasingly multicultural nature of major Canadian cities and the acknowledged role of immigrants as an engine of economic growth, the authors identify barriers to entrepreneurship among immigrants as an area of clear concern both for policymakers and for scholars, and suggest solutions to address this concern.