Connecting Through Care: Navigating Systemic Challenges and Exploring Immigrant Identities in Ethnocultural Care in Canada

On February 12, 2025, Ph.D. student and Registered Social Worker Izumi Niki presented Connecting Through Care: Navigating Systemic Challenges and Exploring Immigrant Identities in Ethnocultural Care in Canada. This talk was the second in the Care Economies in Context speaker series.

Care, whether paid or unpaid, is a form of work that demands a genuine connection with people. This ‘connective labour’ aspect of care is the core of people’s notion of quality of care and inevitably impacts one’s feelings and satisfaction, sometimes positively and sometimes negatively. This also affects a worker’s sense of belonging and commitment to the community, which is more profound than the ’emotional labour’ discussed in care work theory.

Izumi Niki is a Ph.D. student at the Department of Sociology, University of Toronto, and a Registered Social Worker in Ontario. Her research interest is in paid and unpaid care work, gender, immigration policy, and anti-oppressive practice, especially in Japan and East Asia.

Citation

Niki, I. (2025, February 12). Connecting Through Care: Navigating Systemic Challenges and Exploring Immigrant Identities in Ethnocultural Care in Canada. YouTube. https://youtu.be/I5-Iq7VxfuY

Abstract

Care, whether paid or unpaid, is a form of work that demands a genuine connection with people. This ‘connective labour’ aspect of care is the core of people’s notion of quality of care and inevitably impacts one’s feelings and satisfaction, sometimes positively and sometimes negatively. This also affects a worker’s sense of belonging and commitment to the community, which is more profound than the ’emotional labour’ discussed in care work theory.

This talk will provide a comprehensive overview of the current state of ethnocultural care in Toronto, Canada, its complexity, and the challenges of sustaining it. The study will also explore the profound impact of care work on workers’ identities and sense of self, with a particular emphasis on the experience of marginalized immigrant women in global society.