Settling in Vancouver’s Changing Suburbs: A Case Study of Iranian Immigrants’ Experiences in Surrey, Burnaby, and Coquitlam

Immigration is crucial to Canada’s population and economic growth targets and has increasingly occurred in suburbs, leading to social, cultural, economic, and physical changes. We explored the racial and ethnocultural dimensions of these changes, with a focus on Iranian immigrants. Questionnaire data revealed that most respondents were in core housing need, at risk of homelessness and lacked information; had unmet needs related to language and faced discrimination as visible minorities. Ethnicity or visible minority status is an important variable that must be considered and addressed in policy to improve outcomes. This research highlights the suburbanization of immigrants, particularly in the Greater Vancouver Area. Iranian immigrants, like many immigrant groups, are increasingly bypassing inner cities and settling in suburban areas such as Surrey, Burnaby, and Coquitlam. This shift reflects trends in immigrant settlement patterns, where affordability and social proximity to co-ethnic communities play a role. The inaccessibility of settlement services in the suburbs, combined with rising housing costs and discrimination, exacerbates these difficulties. This study suggests that informal networks, such as co-ethnic and religious communities, are relied upon for support during settlement, filling services gaps. This underscores the need for tailored policies and community-based interventions to support immigrant integration in Canada’s suburbs.