SWIS News and Notes
18
SWIS News and Notes is the newsletter of the Settlement Workers in Schools program, a partnership of
the Settlement Sector, School Boards and Citizenship and Immigration Canada. This newsletter
promotes communication between the steering/operations committees of the eight SWIS projects and
shares information about newcomer students and their families
New Program Affects Six Ontario Communities
Meeting the Needs of Refugee Families (2)
Under a new Government of Canada program that began in the fall of 2003, six communities in Southern
Ontario are receiving newcomers who have endured considerable hardship as refugees and have lived for
many years in refugee camps.
SWIS News and Notes 15 described some of the unique needs of these families. This issue contains
comments by health care professionals about the psychosocial needs of refugee children. The comments are
from the excellent video War Is Not a Game, which was produced by the Canadian Centre for Victims of
Torture (CCVT) and Frameline Productions. The video is available for $35 from CCVT 416 363 1066.
The basic aspect of their experiences, (is that) there has
been an incredible amount of violence. Within that,
there is a broader range of different experience. We
have children that have been detained with their
parents, children that have witnessed torture or killing
of loved ones or people in the community.
The immigrant child when he leaves his country has
been part of a plan, … the youngster has had the
possibility to dispose of his/her belongings, to say
goodbye, to think of what type of precious things that
he may want to bring, like his toys for example or
books – has had sometime to do a little bit of degrieving accompanied with excitement of coming to a
new place and somebody put this very nicely – she
talks about migration, of an experience of a trip of
hope for the realization of wishes… For the refugee
child, the situation is completely different. There is not
a trip for the realization of wishes, but it is a trip of life
preservation.
Dr. Marlinda Freire
MD. FRCP (c) Psychiatry
It’s also significant that children who become refugees
do not immediately enter Canada …the process of
fleeing and flight is generally quite a long drawn out
one… So they have either spent the intervening time
from having left home to the arrival in their country of
asylum in a refugee camp underground in a country
without papers or fleeing one country to another
country to another trying to find a safe haven. And the
schooling, the education is disrupted and they are
separated from their families. They don’t have homes.
They certainly don’t have security or access to things
Canadian born children have, for instance healthcare,
education, the right to a home, the right to be a child.
Joan Simalcbik
Community Worker CCVT
One of the things that is often seen in children is the
sense that their future has been somehow shortened.
When you say things like “when you grow up, what
you would like to be”, (they say) – I don’t know. Now,
lots of children will give you that answer, but “I don’t
know” has many meanings and if one understands
that…what they mean by I don’t know is, I don’t know
that if I will be an adult.
Dr. Gramille daCosta
Child Psychiatrist
…But it’s so important to remember these are normal
responses by normal human beings to extremely
abnormal situations – it’s the violence, it’s the
dictatorship, it’s the war that is abnormal and the
Previous SWIS News and Notes are posted at http://www.settlement.org/sys/atwork_library_detail.asp?doc_id=1003378
reaction that the human psyche has are normal ones.
The lack of trust, paranoia …hyper-sensitivity, fear of
authority, fear of uniform, feelings of depression,
anxiety, nightmare, sleeplessness, many kinds of body
dysfunctions, somatic pain, headache … This is self
directed pain.
Joan Simalcbik
Community Worker CCVT
Now for some people, the younger the child the more
protected the children will be because you have more
time to forget about these things. That is not my own
understanding of the situation. Actually, I think that the
younger the child… (the vulnerability) …is greater in
the sense that the children do not have yet sufficient
positive experience in their life …to find some kind of
balance at some point.
Dr. Marlinda Freire
MD. FRCP (c) Psychiatry
Child therapists focus on two main elements for
healthy growth. One is the feeling that the person is
valued…and the other one is a safe environment, or at
least the delusion of safety, that no matter what
happens my father and mother will protect me. … So
imagine children who go through wars and go through
the severe ongoing trauma day after day, week after
week, year after year. They grow up with the
atmosphere of violation and danger. Those children are
vulnerable, developmentally speaking.
Dr. Sameh Hassan
Child Psychiatrist and Family Therapist
I think that when we look at some of the solutions, how
we can help people, our first thing is to sensitize
ourselves, look at our own barriers, look at our own
ways that we judge other people. The second thing that
I think that really makes a big difference is using the
parents as a resource and finding out things;
recognizing that they may not be ready to talk about
their refugee experience and that, that takes a very
strong level of trust.
Julie Dotsch
Daycare Supervisor, Refugee Reception Centre
I also thing that it is important to have some
understanding of the culture. When I mention this,
some people think I am asking them to become an
expert and I don’t think that is the case. Actually I am
talking about having a decent degree of knowledge
about what the experience of these people may have
been, because that would give us a better idea in terms
of assessing / evaluating whatever is going on with the
family and the children and also their cultural pattern,
their ways of life, thinking, feeling, the way they
manifest emotions…
Dr. Marlinda Freire
MD. FRCP (c) Psychiatry
One to one treatment or management of these children
is extremely difficult. It’s very time consuming. It is
best I think left to professionals. But having said that, I
will also say that most of these children are not going
to be treated by professionals. There are a host of
people, adults in the community who have many of the
qualities of a good therapist. Who have empathy, who
listen, who are able to help the children formulate their
thoughts in to actual words that help the children make
sense of what they are thinking who offer reassurance,
predictability, they are always there, more or less,
when the children need them. Adults like these make a
tremendous difference to children.
Dr. Gramille daCosta
Child Psychiatrist
I bring those children to the community …and show
them how to play with the other children, ...teach them
the normal life…You have to teach them from the
beginning because they have totally forgotten. And we
bring back… families who have other children, who
have been in Canada for a long time … to share how
they coped with the system here.
Ragbe Farab
Community Worker
The other thing that’s really important is that we start
from a positive perspective. Parents are capable. They
are good parents, they are survivors. The one’s we are
seeing are survivors. Now, how can we build on that
survival strength to help them with the next stage.
Julie Dotsch
Daycare Supervisor, Refugee Reception Centre
In working with the refugee population , the amount of
strength and resilience that I see in them, I mean we
just have to think in terms of them being survivors of
terrorist situations, and they are here and they are
making the effort to adapt and adjust and they are
trying to reveal hope, trying to find meaning in their
new life. And I think that that is measure of
tremendous healthy resources that the refugees bring
with them.
Dr. Marlinda Freire
MD. FRCP (c) Psychiatry
Thank you to Mulugeta Abai and the Canadian Centre
for Victims of Torture for permission to reproduce
these quotes.
For more information about the CCVT see
www.ccvt.org
Previous SWIS News and Notes are posted at http://www.settlement.org/sys/atwork_library_detail.asp?doc_id=1003378