Fostering the successful
settlement of immigrant &
refugee youth in Canada
Marian J. Rossiter, Sarvenaz Hatami,
Daniel Ripley, University of Alberta
PRAIRIE METROPOLIS AND BEYOND
November 4, 2011
Acknowledgements
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Research participants and community
partners
Katherine Rossiter
Prairie Metropolis Centre
Metropolis Project
Phase 1
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To understand the risk and protective factors
perceived by community stakeholders to influence
‘at-risk’ immigrant and refugee youth who
eventually come into conflict with the law.
Interviews with 12 stakeholders from social
service agencies, community groups, and the
criminal justice and mental health systems.
Educational difficulties and poverty were
considered to have the greatest impact on
immigrant youth.
Phase 2: Research questions
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What are the supports and challenges
that immigrant and refugee youth
themselves perceive to have affected
their settlement and adaptation in
Edmonton?
What services or programs have
interviewees accessed? To what extent
have these been perceived as helpful?
Participants
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Inclusion criteria:
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Between the ages of 14 and 30
Immigrated to Canada as adolescents
In conflict with the law and/or recognized in the
community as a youth leader or role model;
Proficient in spoken English
Semi-structured interviews (60-90 min)
Content analysis of transcribed interviews
Participants
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Participants from Colombia, Ethiopia,
Indonesia, Iraq, Liberia, Mexico,
Democratic Republic of Congo,
Rwanda, Sierra Leone
Still recruiting participants from other
ethnocultural backgrounds
Interviews
 Arrival
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Family
Housing
School
Friends
Employment
Sources of support
Sources of stress
Advice
Future hopes
Challenges
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pre-migration experiences
culture (and climate) shock
lack of English
unfamiliar school system
perceived racism, stereotyping
financial stress
“A new kind of war”
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“I came from a war-torn country, and coming to
Canada for me was like a new kind of war in terms of
learning a new language all on your own, in terms
of adjusting to the school curriculum all on your
own, in terms of being bullied because you couldn’t
speak English or you didn’t have enough money to
dress a certain way like everybody else is dressed in
school, adjusting to the fact that my parents couldn’t
find jobs because they couldn’t speak English and
we just didn’t have enough to eat and we didn’t
have anything to do.”
Pre-migration experiences
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“When I hear noises, like loud boom, I
react...I’m pretty sure it’s from the war too,
cause my heart starts pounding like boom
boom boom…I start running, or I have to
take cover, ‘cause it happens back in Africa.
‘Cause in the refugee camp people just start
running from some direction and you see
someone running and like ‘They’re shooting,
they’re coming’”.
Lack of English
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“When I arrived it was really hard for
me. I didn’t see anything good
actually... I was in big shock - I was in
big shock... It was cold and I didn’t like
it... I used to be at school, very
involved. And I came here and I
couldn’t talk. People were doing stuff
and I felt like humiliated in a sense.”
School placement
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“Here in Canada it’s based on your age,
you’re put [in a grade] according to your age,
but from where we come from it’s based on
your knowledge. You write a test and they
put you on a grade that’s suitable for you. So
I was put back, um, three years behind and I
had to repeat Junior High all over again. So
that was very frustrating.”
Perceived racism, discrimination
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“I was walking in the wrong direction, so this
lady, young girl was approaching, she looked
like she was 25. She was approaching me
and she had her handbag on her shoulder,
just walking and approaching, and… I’m like
‘Hi, excuse me’ and she just had her bag LIKE
THIS and she started running and then I
stopped and like ‘You know I just want to ask
you for directions, right?’”
Financial stress
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Refugee Transportation Loan – “My [siblings] were
working paying for their [refugee] transportation loan
and also ours. So that was a bit challenging because
they missed out on their education and even on their
communication skill.”
“To be in school in Canada is very tough….if you
want to go to school, it’s not something that
everyone can do - it’s really tough. Actually, I work
45 hours in the week [nights], plus 24 on the
weekends.”
Main sources of support
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friends;
teachers;
faith;
organizations such as Catholic Social Services,
Edmonton Mennonite Centre, Multicultural
Health Brokers, City of Edmonton, John
Humphrey Centre
Network of friends
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“The first year, it was just very hard to open
up to a lot of different backgrounds of
students...I stick to my [ethnocultural] friends
....it was just pretty much our own circle...
but I realized after two years or a year and a
half that I really need to expand, expand my
horizon of friends and because I think that by
doing that there’s a lot more opportunities
that I can make.”
ESL programs
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“I love [name] school because
everybody was so welcoming. Especially
the department head of ESL, [name].
That lady has helped me from the
beginning. That was a good thing,
the ESL program.”
Faith
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“It [church] did a lot. For us, especially
for my family. It’s a big thing in our
family and so to find that it was like we
had a community. Somewhere to
belong.”
Support from organizations
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“I was very involved in Catholic Social Services. They
have programs, or they used to have before, where
every Tuesday and Thursday they will teach about
the Canadian culture, so how the police work, you
know, rules and stuff, and my [parent] and I will
always go there...And they have a summer
program where they show you around the city, so
my sisters and I were part of that...And they also
gave us something like a sponsor family. So we
had like a family that helped us out around the city.”
Recommendations: Orientation
For youth and parents:
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Orientation guides
 School system
 School policies
 Transportation system
Recommendations: Orientation
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Information on Canadian laws (in schools,
agencies, ethnocultural communities,
as a series of classes or workshops)
“When I get out [of jail], I’ll try to fight in
order for…new immigrants, that they know
that there’s a law, right? Like if you do this,
you go to jail for this…Sometimes you
don’t know the consequences of your
actions.”
Recommendations: Schools
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Development of positive relationships
with teachers and helping professionals
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Intercultural communication skills for all
pre-service and in-service teachers and
professionals
All teachers - strategies for improving
language learning, promoting literacy skills,
and adapting content to accommodate ESL
students in mainstream classes
Recommendations: Schools
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Programs that encourage youth to continue
going to school and becoming successful
 Mentoring
 classroom buddies, peer mentors
in all schools;
 In-school activities
 Sports, arts-based, leadership training
Financial support
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Information about educational funding:
“The school funding, I was not aware of it until
recently; nobody was there to explain to me that
there’s other ways they help you while you go to
school…. what made me drop out of school was more
like I feel like I can’t afford to go to school and pay
and still survive, so I feel like I had to work.”
Elimination of the refugee transportation loan:
“We didn’t even have $14 extra to spend…let alone
think about the $14,000 that we owed.”
Out-of-school activities
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“I think after-school activities are really, really
important and I think they could be improved
in a way that it could be run by youth leaders
from diverse cultures who know the
experiences of the students and who know
what the struggles are, rather than bringing
in someone who has no idea about what
these students are facing.”
also trained volunteers
Advice to Canadians
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Get involved in refugee- and immigrantrelated programs
Interact with newcomers
Give newcomers good advice or refer them to
appropriate services
Try to understand and accept them; don’t
make assumptions
Give more voice to immigrants
Advice to Canadians
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“Just remember ... a lot of [immigrants,
refugees] come here ...to escape war,
because they’ve faced a lot of hardships back
where they come from, so they’re not here
because they’re on a vacation. They want a
better life and Canada can offer that to them.
And I think that we should be open to helping
them, rather than have negative attitudes
and prejudice towards them.”
Giving back…
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Church, Air Cadets, CSS homework clubs, Boys
and Girls Club, EMCN, Big Brothers Big Sisters,
Red Cross, Multicultural Health Brokers, John
Humphrey Centre for Peace and Human Rights,
musical events, school Student Public Relations,
kids with autism, youth programs, soccer, girls’
empowerment group, advocacy campaigns,
victims of genocide, Multicultural Youth Group…
“Once I help people, I feel good about myself,
like helping people to be successful.”
Future goals
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“I want to change lives, make
meaningful changes to the world.”
“I’d like to help the youth of the
community as much as I can…
because they are the future.”
Thank you
marian.rossiter@ualberta.ca
sarvenaz.hatami@ualberta.ca
dripley@ualberta.ca