This paper uses data from the 1996 Canadian census to examine and measure the spatial structure and intensity of urban deprivation in Montreal. Urban deprivation emerged as an important theme in urban studies and urban geography during the 1990s. Since the early 1980s, the Montreal urban area, particularly the Island of Montreal, has experienced an increase in urban social problems, brought on largely by economic restructuring, recessions and the out-migration of residents and businesses to suburban communities. Twenty indicators of urban deprivation are drawn from the census and analysed by way of a principal components analysis first to identify the main types of deprivation in the city and then to measure its intensity. In the process, a general deprivation index (GDI) is devised which can be applied to study the spatial aspects of this phenomenon in other Canadian cities. The study identified six main types of deprivation in the city and found that they were most visible on the Island of Montreal, especially in the central and eastern parts. Additionally, it found that urban deprivation in not confined to the inner city, as several of the most severely deprived neighbourhoods are located outside the central city and even in the off-Island suburbs.

Distance affects participation and this effect varies according to rural-urban classification. The lower participation in Montreal Island, where all women lived <12.5 km from a DSC, argues for a major impact of other characteristics or other dimensions of accessibility.

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This study assesses the influence of metropolitan characteristics on self-employment among immigrant groups and ethnic minorities in Canada. It compares self-employment among 65 immigrant and ethnic groups in Canada's 25 metropolitan areas and is based on a special tabulation from the 1991 Census of Canada. Results show that locational variations in self-employment among groups that are clearly distinguished from Canada's mainstream population, and among the more entrepreneurial groups, differ markedly from locational variations among the rest of the population. These groups gravitate to self-employment, particularly in peripheral metropolitan areas where entrepreneurial opportunities are few. Neither does a large local community of co-ethnics positively influence the propensity to become self-employed. However, immigrants and minorities in peripheral metropolitan areas cluster in relatively narrow entrepreneurial niches. While benefiting from less competition by co-ethnics, the immigrants are probably constrained there to self-employment due to the lack of alternative opportunities.