In retirement I continue to be interested in international migration. At the broadest scale, this involves trying to understand how policy and regulatory systems shape migration, and also how people become mobile, with or without the consent of states. I try to understand Canadian immigration policy within this wider context, and consider it in relation to the policies of other countries, especially in Europe and Australasia. At the local scale I study the consequences of immigration in Canadian cities, highlighting Vancouver’s situation (with a foreign-born population exceeding one million). More specifically, I look at the integration of newcomers in the labour and housing markets of cities, and how this changes their residential structure and social relations. This work is highly integrated with public policy; throughout my career I have participated in advisory roles at the local and national level in Canada, and also have regular interaction with government agencies in several other countries. This culminated in my secondment to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, from 2022-2024, in the role of Academic in Residence.

Bragg, B. and D. Hiebert. 2022. Refugee trajectories, imaginaries, and realities: Refugee housing in Canadian cities. Canadian Journal of Urban Research. 31(1): 16-32.

Vertovec, S. Hiebert, D. Spoonley, P. and A. Gamlen. 2022. Visualizing superdiversity and ‘seeing’ urban socio-economic complexity. Urban Geography. doi: 10.1080/02723638.2022.2151753

2017

Hiebert, D. 2017. Immigrants and Refugees in the Housing Markets of Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver, 2011. Canadian Journal of Urban Research 26(2): 52-78.