Why does CCNCTO need research?

Having access to research that is current and representative of the Chinese community in Toronto is very useful to us when developing policy recommendations and new programs.

1) To affect policy change that will benefit our community
We often participate in public consultations, provide deputations and work with community partners to make recommendations to government staff and politicians for issues affecting our community. This work is greatly enriched by any new information that we can use to develop solid and substantial recommendations to government.
Examples: Access to income security supports by immigrant seniors; barriers to employment standards and workplace safety by temporary agency workers; barriers to accessing social assistance programs & barriers to getting off social assistance; etc.

2) To inform programming that will benefit our community
New research is helpful to develop areas of programming that target emerging issues or tackling old issues from a different perspective. This type of research can be included in funding proposals by CCNCTO and other community organizations to support the need for community programming and to support the approach that we hope to take to resolve specific community issues.
Examples: Learning about Chinese Canadian history as an effective way of developing a sense of belonging in Canada; best practices for English language learning in the Chinese community; how at risk youth behaviour manifests in Asian community; etc.

Why does CCNCTO need research partners?

As a small non-profit organization, CCNCTO has limited resources to conduct the kind of community specific research that we would like to support our policy recommendations or program proposals. Partnering with researchers (i.e. graduate students and professors) provides additional capacity to our organization to undertake this work. Volunteer researchers that can provide a wide variety of information can benefit our policy and advocacy work, as well as our program planning.

How does CCNCTO want to partner with academics?
CCNCTO is a small non-profit organization. We have limited resources to conduct programs and research. Much of our work is done in collaboration with other community partners and academic researchers.

In the past, CCNCTO would partner with academic researchers who would call our office looking for a community partner. We were often asked to assist with:
1.    Translation
2.    Recruitment
3.    Dissemination

Most often we were offered little, if any, compensation for assisting with this work. The topics of research were sometimes but not always of importance to CCNCTO or to the Chinese community. There was often little thought to how the research could be used to benefit policy recommendations or to improve community in relation to the types of aims and purposes of CCNCTO.

We hope to be included in the research process from the beginning and to be involved in determining:
1.    What is researched
2.    How it is researched
3.    How the research can be used to benefit the community in the short term and long term

Who is this Research Agenda for and why?

This report is intended for potential research partners including professors, students at the undergraduate and graduate levels, fellow community organizations and individuals interested in research related to Chinese Canadian communities. We hope this Research Agenda will generate and help guide interest in working with CCNCTO to find the answers to some of these questions and support our efforts to improve our community.