Les trajectoires socioprofessionnelles des nouveaux arrivants, travailleurs qualifiés au Québec : qu'est-ce qu'une «intégration réussie»?

A large number of studies that examine the professional integration of immigrants have based their findings on immigrants’ participation in the labour market and their processes of integration. These studies often underscore the barriers that immigrants face. Few studies have focused on the strategies that immigrants exercise. Fewer studies, still, have focused on immigrants who have experienced, what we call, “successful integration”, especially from the view point of subjectivity.  This thesis is situated in a micro-individual perspective. Its focus is on the actors themselves, that is, qualified new immigrant workers who are engaged in a process of integration in Québec. This study aims to more fully understand the trajectories of recent immigrants from the time they decided to immigrate until five to ten years after their arrival in Québec. In this light, I show how connections are forged between macro, meso, and micro determinants, which constantly interact to produce individual trajectories.  This qualitative research is based on a clinical sociological approach, and it first analyses the trajectories of immigrants who are working in jobs that represent a minimal equivalence to their diplomas. The analysis is divided in three stages: immigrants’ lives before migration, their experiences of integration in Québec, and their current situation. In employing this approach, I chart connections between the individuals’ motives of immigration, their goals at the outset of their arrival, the strategies they engaged in and the level of satisfaction they experienced as a result.  By endeavouring to gain a fuller understanding of these actors’ personal experiences, I distinguish their agency amid social determinants.  The second research question explores the integration of actors in relation to their trajectories, as viewed by the actors’ themselves. Here, I examine the meanings of «successful integration» and «successful professional integration» as they are interpreted by the actors. In doing so, I observe the diversity of perspectives voiced by the immigrants without assuming beforehand expected results of their process of integration.  The results show a myriad of expectations towards immigration and integration in a destination country like Canada, and particularly, the province of Québec.  They invite us to consider the specificity of each actor. Processes of immigration and integration are embedded in larger personal undertakings, including the achievement of life goals. These goals can be situated on many levels and the process of their realisation serves as a guide for helping to achieve  life goals that will  be satisfactory, complete, and successful, according  to the individual’s needs. This thesis illustrates the complex efforts that individuals engaged in order to achieve their projects and continue to pursue their self realisation.   My research demonstrates the importance of making the subjectivity of actors centre-stage in an analysis of trajectories and integration.  It will be especially useful in the conception of social programs, and contribute to better integrating the complexity of these processes. Ultimately, this study seeks to contribute to the «success» of individual experiences of immigration and integration.

Keyphrases: «successful integration», qualified immigrant workers, trajectories, subjectivity, agency