Chileans enjoy a tradition of large extended families, often living in one house with a recognized hierarchy that establishes the senior father and husband as the dominant decision-maker. In Canada, a range of family and gender-based relationships had to be renegotiated. The problem with a man's loss of status at work was aggravated by changes in the traditional role of women. The wife and mother, who in Chile had rarely worked outside the home, in Canada had a job in the workplace to help support the family, along with a concomitant increase in status and freedom.

Chileans are evenly distributed throughout major urban centres in Canada, in contrast to many other immigrant/refugee groups that concentrated in Toronto and Montreal. In Toronto, the Bathurst/College and Jane/Finch/Weston Road areas represent the conglomerates of the Chilean community. The community is united by bonds of culture and political ideology that provide the basis for social interaction. The desire to preserve their cultural heritage is demonstrated through many cultural and arts activities.

Local community organizations provide essential services to the community. Chileans were the first Spanish-speaking group to resettle in Canada in any significant numbers. Upon their arrival, there were no services, agencies, or resources to meet their specific needs. Subsequently, the Chilean refugees established their own Spanish-speaking social service organizations that paved the way for later waves of South and Central American refugees. Today, a highly developed network of community, social, health, sports, and women's and children's organizations are available to help newcomers adapt to Canada.

Founded by Chileans in 1973, the Centre for Spanish-Speaking Peoples recently celebrated its 20th anniversary. It helps Spanish-speaking refugees and immigrants with problems they may have upon arrival in Canada, and provides counselling, ESL classes, and legal, health, and family advice. Other early organizations included the Toronto Chilean Association and the Toronto Chile Society, which maintained awareness of the socio-political situation in Chile. As most of the refugees left because of their political pursuits, a keen interest in politics at home is maintained through panel discussions and Chilean current affairs forums.

Formally, Chile has been restored to its democratic standing. In reality, democratization is a gradual process that many Chileans feel will not be complete until the military is accountable to the elected government. The government of Chile, meanwhile, has sent formal notice that it welcomes the return of those who fled in the 1970s. Chileans in Canada now face a new challenge: whether or not to uproot themselves once more and move back to Chile. The problem is made more poignant by the rootedness that their children, now grown, may feel in Canada and the children's reluctance to return to a country they knew only to visit. The older generation - now grandparents themselves - frequently find that the Chile they are now free to visit and resettle is not the Chile they left. Many find that Canada is, in the final analysis, their home.