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Acknowledgements

Carrying out such an extensive longitudinal study required not only a lot of effort, but also the ongoing support of competent, conscientious staff working behind the scenes.

We would first like to emphasize the professionalism the survey company, Écho Sondage, displayed in managing the fieldwork and the fourth round of the survey. Without their persistence and their sheer determination, we would have lost many respondents from our sample and the database would not be of the quality it is now.

Throughout the study, Alain Carpentier from the Ministère des Relations avec les citoyens et de l'Immigration (MRCI), kindly provided us with his expertise (acquired during the previous rounds) and valuable advice. He was the link between the MRCI, the Commission d'accès à l'information and our team.

Adina Ungureanu and Marik Danvoye created approximately 350 graphs for this document - not counting all those not included here - with thorough dedication and diligence.

Julie Mayer-Renaud applied great attention to detail in last minute corrections and re-reading.

Juliette Gosselin had the long and arduous task of formatting this document.

Let's not forget the 1000 respondents who so kindly agreed to speak to us and answer the questionnaire, four times in some cases. Admittedly, their task was long and even tedious. We hope we succeeded in reflecting their experience despite the great diversity of their lives in Quebec, of which we are well aware. Their contribution to our understanding of the settlement of immigrants is considerable ; the researchers are deeply grateful.

The authors thank everyone profusely for their valuable contributions.

In conclusion, we would like to express our gratitude to the Metropolis Project team at Citizenship and Immigration Canada in Ottawa, and to the various federal departments belonging to the Metropolis consortium (http://www.cana-da.metropolis.net) that made possible the English-language version of this report.

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