Research Library

Composing lives that have a sense of coherence is part of the identity making of refugee families and shapes their attempts for social inclusion. Their struggles for narrative coherence are shaped by the bumping places and tensions that they experience as their lives bump against dominant narratives that structure the policies and practices of many institutions including schools. Using narrative inquiry, we inquired into the experiences of three Syrian refugee families as they bumped against institutional policies and practices. Composing lives that have a sense of coherence is part of the identity making of refugee families and shapes their attempts for social inclusion. Their struggles for narrative coherence are shaped by the bumping places and tensions that they experience as their lives bump against dominant narratives that structure the policies and practices of many institutions including schools. Using narrative inquiry, we inquired into the experiences of three Syrian refugee families as they bumped against institutional policies and practices.
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South Asian immigrant youth (SAIY) confront challenges like racial discrimination, stigma, and acculturative stress due to their marginalised identities. Limited research exists on the barriers they face adjusting to Canadian life. Our findings underscore the varied experiences of SAIY in Edmonton, Alberta, highlighting the need for better accessibility to social and healthcare services. South Asian immigrant youth (SAIY) confront challenges like racial discrimination, stigma, and acculturative stress due to their marginalised identities. Limited research exists on the barriers they face adjusting to Canadian life. Our findings underscore the varied experiences of SAIY in Edmonton, Alberta, highlighting the need for better accessibility to social and healthcare services.
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Available evidence in Canada suggests children born to immigrants face a greater risk of poor mental health outcomes. However, these comparisons often mask important ethno-racial differences in mental health risks and outcomes among immigrant populations. Recent evidence suggests African immigrant children have some of the poorest social and mental health outcomes in Canada. Despite this awareness, research has yet to identify community-based strategies for addressing the stressors underpinning such outcomes. This study used data obtained from focus groups with African immigrant parents in Edmonton, AB and surrounding towns to identify child mental health stressors and child mental health promotion strategies in the African immigrant community. Available evidence in Canada suggests children born to immigrants face a greater risk of poor mental health outcomes. However, these comparisons often mask important ethno-racial differences in mental health risks and outcomes among immigrant populations. Recent evidence suggests African immigrant children have some of the poorest social and mental health outcomes in Canada. Despite this awareness, research has yet to identify community-based strategies for addressing the stressors underpinning such outcomes. This study used data obtained from focus groups with African immigrant parents in Edmonton, AB and surrounding towns to identify child mental health stressors and child mental health promotion strategies in the African immigrant community.
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The article outlines the story of Vanessa Desa and how she founded the Edmonton Refugee and Emerging Community Scholarship fund to help refugee and newcomer youth pursue post-secondary opportunities. The article outlines the story of Vanessa Desa and how she founded the Edmonton Refugee and Emerging Community Scholarship fund to help refugee and newcomer youth pursue post-secondary opportunities.
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This is AAISA’s fourth annual Alberta Settlement and Integration Sector Survey report. The report is based on the Alberta Settlement and Integration Sector Survey conducted by AAISA in June 2021, which includes quantitative and qualitative data collected through open-ended survey questions, and supplemental references. The 2021 survey was completed by 60 settlement and integration agencies from across Alberta. The survey aims to examine and understand the priorities, systems-level issues, and potential areas of improvement in the Albertan settlement and integration sector. AAISA will use the survey results to improve and develop services and programs that will ensure agencies have the tools to offer innovative, high-quality, and adaptable programs and services to newcomers in Alberta. A total of 60 agencies responded to the Alberta Settlement and Integration Sector Survey conducted by AAISA in June 2021, of which 47 are AAISA members. These agencies provide services across Alberta, including 38% who provide itinerant and satellite services. Additionally, these agencies offer services across the province in over 70 languages. This is AAISA’s fourth annual Alberta Settlement and Integration Sector Survey report. The report is based on the Alberta Settlement and Integration Sector Survey conducted by AAISA in June 2021, which includes quantitative and qualitative data collected through open-ended survey questions, and supplemental references. The 2021 survey was completed by 60 settlement and integration agencies from across Alberta. The survey aims to examine and understand the priorities, systems-level issues, and potential areas of improvement in the Albertan settlement and integration sector. AAISA will use the survey results to improve and develop services and programs that will ensure agencies have the tools to offer innovative, high-quality, and adaptable programs and services to newcomers in Alberta. A total of 60 agencies responded to the Alberta Settlement and Integration Sector Survey conducted by AAISA in June 2021, of which 47 are AAISA members. These agencies provide services across Alberta, including 38% who provide itinerant and satellite services. Additionally, these agencies offer services across the province in over 70 languages.
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This is a provincial survey from January to February 2018. The survey aimed to examine and understand the priorities, systems-level issues and areas of improvement in settlement and integration, to identify any current systems-level issues that are affecting service provider organizations (SPOs), and to highlight areas of improvement for the next fiscal year. The survey findings indicate that the main challenge affecting newcomers is access to Language Programs. When the survey asked participants what the most common barrier that affected individuals’ ability to attend language training the most, over 70% of respondents indicated Childcare Provision and Availability. The findings also show that lack of childcare provision affects newcomers’ ability to access not only education (language programs), but also employment and social activities. Service providers indicated that they experience challenges with data collection which prevents sharing data between organizations. This in turn affects the quality of service delivery. Service providers also expressed a desire for increased sector engagement meaning that they were interested in large-scale events such as summits and seminars. The survey results also indicate that AAISA’s research and policy resources are not being used to a large extent for settlement practices, policy change and funding models. AAISA is committed to increase efforts into changing this tendency and establishing more meaningful connections with the government and policy stakeholders. This is a provincial survey from January to February 2018. The survey aimed to examine and understand the priorities, systems-level issues and areas of improvement in settlement and integration, to identify any current systems-level issues that are affecting service provider organizations (SPOs), and to highlight areas of improvement for the next fiscal year. The survey findings indicate that the main challenge affecting newcomers is access to Language Programs. When the survey asked participants what the most common barrier that affected individuals’ ability to attend language training the most, over 70% of respondents indicated Childcare Provision and Availability. The findings also show that lack of childcare provision affects newcomers’ ability to access not only education (language programs), but also employment and social activities. Service providers indicated that they experience challenges with data collection which prevents sharing data between organizations. This in turn affects the quality of service delivery. Service providers also expressed a desire for increased sector engagement meaning that they were interested in large-scale events such as summits and seminars. The survey results also indicate that AAISA’s research and policy resources are not being used to a large extent for settlement practices, policy change and funding models. AAISA is committed to increase efforts into changing this tendency and establishing more meaningful connections with the government and policy stakeholders.
This publication has no Abstract to dispaly

This is an environmental scan. It examines the impact of federal policy changes on the Alberta Immigrant Nominee Program (AINP) and the flow of nominees to the Alberta labour market and communities. It was found that the AINP has taken on a broad scope of helping to achieve provincial economic and labour market needs. It is mainly low/semi-skilled TFWs who use the program to achieve residency, as the federal immigration streams tend to have higher requirements. The program itself has been criticized for creating a vulnerable environment for TFWs in addition to its limited capacity to process applications in a timely manner. The key learnings of the report find that immigrant retention is best achieved through community and family support. Although there were moves away from this with the closing of the family stream of the AINP in 2013, the new Liberal government has highlighted family reunification as a key immigration goal. However, federal and provincial immigration goals have also been shown to conflict with each other, as the provincial labour market need for low/semi-skilled workers is misaligned with the federal target of a highly-skilled and educated workforce. Lack of intergovernmental communication in the past resulted in confusion and little consideration of how immigration streams may influence each other. Behaviour of employers is also as a key factor contributing to TFW vulnerability. Thus, we recommend increasing intergovernmental communication and lateral dialogue on policy changes and how they may affect other immigration streams. Long-term labour market assessments are recommended to support the provision of residency to immigrants who are needed most. Furthermore, the AINP’s structural complexity should be reduced to be more inclusive, consistent and easy to access for applicants. Greater accountability, transparency and oversight should also be employed to reduce labour abuses and reduce the vulnerability of nominees of the program. This is an environmental scan. It examines the impact of federal policy changes on the Alberta Immigrant Nominee Program (AINP) and the flow of nominees to the Alberta labour market and communities. It was found that the AINP has taken on a broad scope of helping to achieve provincial economic and labour market needs. It is mainly low/semi-skilled TFWs who use the program to achieve residency, as the federal immigration streams tend to have higher requirements. The program itself has been criticized for creating a vulnerable environment for TFWs in addition to its limited capacity to process applications in a timely manner. The key learnings of the report find that immigrant retention is best achieved through community and family support. Although there were moves away from this with the closing of the family stream of the AINP in 2013, the new Liberal government has highlighted family reunification as a key immigration goal. However, federal and provincial immigration goals have also been shown to conflict with each other, as the provincial labour market need for low/semi-skilled workers is misaligned with the federal target of a highly-skilled and educated workforce. Lack of intergovernmental communication in the past resulted in confusion and little consideration of how immigration streams may influence each other. Behaviour of employers is also as a key factor contributing to TFW vulnerability. Thus, we recommend increasing intergovernmental communication and lateral dialogue on policy changes and how they may affect other immigration streams. Long-term labour market assessments are recommended to support the provision of residency to immigrants who are needed most. Furthermore, the AINP’s structural complexity should be reduced to be more inclusive, consistent and easy to access for applicants. Greater accountability, transparency and oversight should also be employed to reduce labour abuses and reduce the vulnerability of nominees of the program.
This publication has no Abstract to dispaly

This study sought to examine the challenges encountered by immigrant-serving agencies in meeting the health needs of temporary foreign workers and their families in one Canadian province. Some of the challenges that agencies face in delivering programs and services for temporary foreign workers and their families include the time required to build trust with this population, temporary foreign workers’ reluctance to use services due to fear that it will affect their immigration status, and the emotional labor associated with working with temporary foreign workers. This study sought to examine the challenges encountered by immigrant-serving agencies in meeting the health needs of temporary foreign workers and their families in one Canadian province. Some of the challenges that agencies face in delivering programs and services for temporary foreign workers and their families include the time required to build trust with this population, temporary foreign workers’ reluctance to use services due to fear that it will affect their immigration status, and the emotional labor associated with working with temporary foreign workers.
This publication has no Abstract to dispaly

This publication has no Abstract to dispaly

On May 3rd, 2016, a wildfire swept through the Northern Alberta resource community of Fort McMurray, scouring the political-economic landscape and leading to the largest prolonged evacuation in Canadian history. In serving as the primary service centre for the Athabasca tar sands— the world’s third-largest known oil deposit— Fort McMurray has also become a notable outpost of transnational labour. Migrant caregivers, in particular, are precariously tied to this ‘land of opportunity’— bound by short-term employment contracts tied to single employers. Thus, in following the assertion that “there is no such thing as a natural disaster,” this thesis draws upon their experiences to reveal how the everyday manifestations of capitalist crisis that exist in this place were responsible for rendering the wildfire into a disaster in the lives of tens of thousands of people. In drawing upon the experiences of this social reproductive workforce, I argue that the crisis of social reproduction (i.e. biological reproduction, the reproduction of the labouring class, and provisioning and carework), in particular, is the thread of capitalist crisis capable of illuminating the other strands of crisis at the foundation of this disaster and explicating the interconnections between them. Moreover, it is in specifically focusing on the crisis of social reproduction, I argue, that we are able to not only understand the political-economic foundation of this disaster but also how its impacts were reabsorbed into everyday life through the social reproductive labour of this largely disposable workforce. In drawing upon the concept of surplus value, I argue that in much the same way that this value is extracted from workers to rebuild the physical infrastructure of communities in the wake of disaster, families extracted migrant caregivers’ social reproductive surplus value in order to rebuild the social infrastructure of their everyday lives and re-establish the crises at the foundation of this disaster. On May 3rd, 2016, a wildfire swept through the Northern Alberta resource community of Fort McMurray, scouring the political-economic landscape and leading to the largest prolonged evacuation in Canadian history. In serving as the primary service centre for the Athabasca tar sands— the world’s third-largest known oil deposit— Fort McMurray has also become a notable outpost of transnational labour. Migrant caregivers, in particular, are precariously tied to this ‘land of opportunity’— bound by short-term employment contracts tied to single employers. Thus, in following the assertion that “there is no such thing as a natural disaster,” this thesis draws upon their experiences to reveal how the everyday manifestations of capitalist crisis that exist in this place were responsible for rendering the wildfire into a disaster in the lives of tens of thousands of people. In drawing upon the experiences of this social reproductive workforce, I argue that the crisis of social reproduction (i.e. biological reproduction, the reproduction of the labouring class, and provisioning and carework), in particular, is the thread of capitalist crisis capable of illuminating the other strands of crisis at the foundation of this disaster and explicating the interconnections between them. Moreover, it is in specifically focusing on the crisis of social reproduction, I argue, that we are able to not only understand the political-economic foundation of this disaster but also how its impacts were reabsorbed into everyday life through the social reproductive labour of this largely disposable workforce. In drawing upon the concept of surplus value, I argue that in much the same way that this value is extracted from workers to rebuild the physical infrastructure of communities in the wake of disaster, families extracted migrant caregivers’ social reproductive surplus value in order to rebuild the social infrastructure of their everyday lives and re-establish the crises at the foundation of this disaster.
This publication has no Abstract to dispaly