Definitely.
That study, particularly, was about all immigrants who came into the country and were here for less than five years.
They found that the social capital they had in terms of the family, as well as the networks they created within and outside of their ethnic community, provided a strong impetus for them to feel a sense of belonging, to feel that Canada was their second home, and to describe themselves as Indo-Canadians, or whatever country they were from—that kind of hybrid identity we talk about. It was always seen that those social networks, particularly the family, were extremely important.
In another study, we also found that women, the wives in the family, asserted their agency, so to speak. While they went out to look for work and so on, they networked with other people, who were sometimes from their own community but sometimes from outside the community, and brought information back to their husbands to say, “Here is a job. Here is a company that's hiring these kinds of workers. Why don't you go and try it out?”
I have another paper called “Tell me what I need to know”. It's basically immigrant women saying to us, “Give me the information. I'll process it. I am able to look for it.” It is all within the confines of the family that these things happen.
People who leave are sometimes disappointed that they don't have the kind of job they wanted, but many of them feel they don't belong. The presence of family and friends is certainly a very important consideration for them.