Research Library

Experiences of refugees have rarely been described through the concept of resilience because of them dealing with the challenges of flight, exile, forced migration, and resettlement. Researchers were approached by eight South Sudanese refugee women resettled in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, who were interested in exploring alternative notions of resilience through reflection, dialogue, and action. Using Photovoice, a technique that employs still photography and text captions, participants of this study used aesthetic expression to deconstruct and reconstruct notions of resilience. Faith and spirituality, circles of support, and the global community were the key overarching themes describing participants’ resilience process which enabled participants to survive their past, foster support in the present and harness hope for the future. At each stage, we also identified supporting factors and threats to resiliency. In conclusion, we suggest that resettlement service providers need to foster the resiliency in their programmes. Experiences of refugees have rarely been described through the concept of resilience because of them dealing with the challenges of flight, exile, forced migration, and resettlement. Researchers were approached by eight South Sudanese refugee women resettled in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, who were interested in exploring alternative notions of resilience through reflection, dialogue, and action. Using Photovoice, a technique that employs still photography and text captions, participants of this study used aesthetic expression to deconstruct and reconstruct notions of resilience. Faith and spirituality, circles of support, and the global community were the key overarching themes describing participants’ resilience process which enabled participants to survive their past, foster support in the present and harness hope for the future. At each stage, we also identified supporting factors and threats to resiliency. In conclusion, we suggest that resettlement service providers need to foster the resiliency in their programmes.
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Educational success for many refugee learners in the Canadian education system has been a difficult if not challenging achievement. Educational institutions mirror the values and practices of the larger society. Similar to the values and practices nationally and internationally, in educational organizations refugees as a specific group of learners have been largely disregarded. The invisibility of refugee learners in educational institutions has resulted in limited academic success of these learners. Through multiple case study analysis, this research examines the underlying reasons for the low educational achievement of refugee learners in the provinces of Alberta and British Columbia. Analysis of data identifies the underlying causes for refugee youths’ failure to succeed as a lack of recognition and cognitive justice as pillars of policy design and enactment. This study concludes with recommendations to improve refugee youths’ educational opportunities by enhancing policy design and implementation based on the conscious recognition of all students’ histories and knowledge. As well as an awareness of epistemic understanding of self and recognition of power relations. Educational success for many refugee learners in the Canadian education system has been a difficult if not challenging achievement. Educational institutions mirror the values and practices of the larger society. Similar to the values and practices nationally and internationally, in educational organizations refugees as a specific group of learners have been largely disregarded. The invisibility of refugee learners in educational institutions has resulted in limited academic success of these learners. Through multiple case study analysis, this research examines the underlying reasons for the low educational achievement of refugee learners in the provinces of Alberta and British Columbia. Analysis of data identifies the underlying causes for refugee youths’ failure to succeed as a lack of recognition and cognitive justice as pillars of policy design and enactment. This study concludes with recommendations to improve refugee youths’ educational opportunities by enhancing policy design and implementation based on the conscious recognition of all students’ histories and knowledge. As well as an awareness of epistemic understanding of self and recognition of power relations.
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Migration is an experience of the self, a personal journey for those who leave their places of origin. The movement from one place to another carries with it material and subjective meanings. Mobility also implies change, transformation or seeming difference in its social interactions with another culture or a different social system. These changes undeniably affect one’s notion of identity and belonging. This chapter uses a feminist approach in examining selected personal case studies of Filipina immigrants in Lethbridge, a small city in southern Alberta. This chapter demonstrates how gender roles, labour migration and identity construction are interconnected. A concluding section deals with the prospect of whether these Filipina immigrants will stay or leave the city, emphasizing the best the city has to offer or not. Migration is an experience of the self, a personal journey for those who leave their places of origin. The movement from one place to another carries with it material and subjective meanings. Mobility also implies change, transformation or seeming difference in its social interactions with another culture or a different social system. These changes undeniably affect one’s notion of identity and belonging. This chapter uses a feminist approach in examining selected personal case studies of Filipina immigrants in Lethbridge, a small city in southern Alberta. This chapter demonstrates how gender roles, labour migration and identity construction are interconnected. A concluding section deals with the prospect of whether these Filipina immigrants will stay or leave the city, emphasizing the best the city has to offer or not.
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In this paper, I illustrate how race and class hierarchies mark Filipino temporary foreign workers as foreign ‘others’. Because public spaces are structured in gendered and racialized ways, Filipino migrants have to carefully navigate public spaces to ensure their safety and create their own spaces of belonging that give them refuge against xenophobia. I argue further that the paradoxical discourses of multicultural inclusion and economic protectionism invoke the figure of the ‘good’ migrant and the ‘bad’ migrant. These, in turn, promote contradictory actions towards migrants, whose public acceptance hinge on wildly variable and changing notions of inclusion/ exclusion and economic acceptability. These lead to the passage of inconsistent policies where migrants are read as being ‘good’ one day, and as being ‘bad’ the next. In this paper, I illustrate how race and class hierarchies mark Filipino temporary foreign workers as foreign ‘others’. Because public spaces are structured in gendered and racialized ways, Filipino migrants have to carefully navigate public spaces to ensure their safety and create their own spaces of belonging that give them refuge against xenophobia. I argue further that the paradoxical discourses of multicultural inclusion and economic protectionism invoke the figure of the ‘good’ migrant and the ‘bad’ migrant. These, in turn, promote contradictory actions towards migrants, whose public acceptance hinge on wildly variable and changing notions of inclusion/ exclusion and economic acceptability. These lead to the passage of inconsistent policies where migrants are read as being ‘good’ one day, and as being ‘bad’ the next.
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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.
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There is limited global research addressing the professional adaptation of migrant social workers in general, and a dearth of scholarship specific to the unique context in Alberta, Canada. While academic attention on the broad topic of professional migration of social workers has gained some traction over the past decade, the emerging literature has so far lacked a comparative gender analysis of the experiences of professional migration among social workers. The purpose of the present study was to develop enhanced understanding of the experiences of professional adaptation of migrant social workers in the Albertan context through a comparative gender analysis. This dissertation emerged from my involvement as a research assistant on a national study on the professional adaptation of migrant social workers in Canada. While coordinating data collection for the Alberta site of the national study, I conducted in-depth interviews with 17 male and female migrant social workers that had migrated to Alberta, Canada within the past decade. From these 17 interviews, 10 transcripts of interviews were selected as cases for secondary analysis in order to answer the question: How do female and male migrant social workers in Alberta experience their professional adaptation to practice in their new context? The research method employed in the secondary study was interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA), a form of qualitative inquiry that examines how people make sense of significant lived experiences. Intersectionality theory and postcolonial feminisms provided the theoretical framework for the study, facilitating attention to both the macro-level factors that structure lived experiences and interactions, and the micro-level processes and interpretations that shape social identities. Engaging with the detailed personal accounts of the participants provided new understandings of how male and female migrant social workers both similarly and differentially interpret and make meaning out of their experiences of professional adaptation. The study makes an important contribution to existing knowledge about professional adaptation in the context of transnational labour mobility. Notably, it is among the first studies to explore the professional adaptation processes of migrant social workers in Alberta, as well as among the earliest works to engage in a qualitative comparative gender analysis that explores these experiences. There is limited global research addressing the professional adaptation of migrant social workers in general, and a dearth of scholarship specific to the unique context in Alberta, Canada. While academic attention on the broad topic of professional migration of social workers has gained some traction over the past decade, the emerging literature has so far lacked a comparative gender analysis of the experiences of professional migration among social workers. The purpose of the present study was to develop enhanced understanding of the experiences of professional adaptation of migrant social workers in the Albertan context through a comparative gender analysis. This dissertation emerged from my involvement as a research assistant on a national study on the professional adaptation of migrant social workers in Canada. While coordinating data collection for the Alberta site of the national study, I conducted in-depth interviews with 17 male and female migrant social workers that had migrated to Alberta, Canada within the past decade. From these 17 interviews, 10 transcripts of interviews were selected as cases for secondary analysis in order to answer the question: How do female and male migrant social workers in Alberta experience their professional adaptation to practice in their new context? The research method employed in the secondary study was interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA), a form of qualitative inquiry that examines how people make sense of significant lived experiences. Intersectionality theory and postcolonial feminisms provided the theoretical framework for the study, facilitating attention to both the macro-level factors that structure lived experiences and interactions, and the micro-level processes and interpretations that shape social identities. Engaging with the detailed personal accounts of the participants provided new understandings of how male and female migrant social workers both similarly and differentially interpret and make meaning out of their experiences of professional adaptation. The study makes an important contribution to existing knowledge about professional adaptation in the context of transnational labour mobility. Notably, it is among the first studies to explore the professional adaptation processes of migrant social workers in Alberta, as well as among the earliest works to engage in a qualitative comparative gender analysis that explores these experiences.
This publication has no Abstract to dispaly

Inequities in social determinants of health create a strain that may cause increased engagement in criminal behavior. Furthermore, immigrants may face greater inequities in social determinants than their Canadian-born counterparts. Personal experiences of adult, male immigrant ex-offenders in Alberta were examined to study various circumstances that contributed to their criminal behavior. The participants were in consensus that social determinants of health such as income, education, employment, stress and health risk behaviors have led them to commit crime. Increased research and intervention on risk factors, as well as creating targeted crime prevention programs, are recommended. Inequities in social determinants of health create a strain that may cause increased engagement in criminal behavior. Furthermore, immigrants may face greater inequities in social determinants than their Canadian-born counterparts. Personal experiences of adult, male immigrant ex-offenders in Alberta were examined to study various circumstances that contributed to their criminal behavior. The participants were in consensus that social determinants of health such as income, education, employment, stress and health risk behaviors have led them to commit crime. Increased research and intervention on risk factors, as well as creating targeted crime prevention programs, are recommended.
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Acculturation has been associated with decreased physical activity among immigrants. This study assessed the process of changing physical activity patterns within the context of Latin American immigrant women’s migration experiences to Canada. Overall, 86 % of the participants of this study reported gaining weight since coming to Canada. Participants reported becoming more sedentary upon arriving in Canada. Only 27.3 % of recent and 41.7 % of non-recent immigrant women were considered sufficiently physically active. Lack of time, resources, social support, and migration stress were identified as key barriers to physical activity. Migration stress associated with social integration barriers strongly influence physical activity among Latin American immigrant women. Acculturation has been associated with decreased physical activity among immigrants. This study assessed the process of changing physical activity patterns within the context of Latin American immigrant women’s migration experiences to Canada. Overall, 86 % of the participants of this study reported gaining weight since coming to Canada. Participants reported becoming more sedentary upon arriving in Canada. Only 27.3 % of recent and 41.7 % of non-recent immigrant women were considered sufficiently physically active. Lack of time, resources, social support, and migration stress were identified as key barriers to physical activity. Migration stress associated with social integration barriers strongly influence physical activity among Latin American immigrant women.
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When re-establishing their lives in Canada, international migrants with dependent children regularly encounter dramatically different conditions for family life. The parents’ employment situation, the limited availability of extended kin to help with child rearing, and a multicultural and relatively more permissive social environment, all of these invite or even demand changes in newcomers’ family practices. Yet, more information is needed about the ways in which skilled immigrants negotiate the changed conditions for work and family life in this country, and the impact this has on family dynamics during settlement. This study explores how coming to Canada impacted participants’ situations of paid work, parenting practices, and familial gender relations. Findings suggest that strained economic and social resources often limited the extent to which mothers and fathers were able to maintain an organization of family life similar to what they had established in their country of origin. However, while in some cases, shifts in family formation caused heightened levels of stress and strain and further entrenched the doing of conventional gender roles, in others, changed conditions acted as a catalyst for positive change. When re-establishing their lives in Canada, international migrants with dependent children regularly encounter dramatically different conditions for family life. The parents’ employment situation, the limited availability of extended kin to help with child rearing, and a multicultural and relatively more permissive social environment, all of these invite or even demand changes in newcomers’ family practices. Yet, more information is needed about the ways in which skilled immigrants negotiate the changed conditions for work and family life in this country, and the impact this has on family dynamics during settlement. This study explores how coming to Canada impacted participants’ situations of paid work, parenting practices, and familial gender relations. Findings suggest that strained economic and social resources often limited the extent to which mothers and fathers were able to maintain an organization of family life similar to what they had established in their country of origin. However, while in some cases, shifts in family formation caused heightened levels of stress and strain and further entrenched the doing of conventional gender roles, in others, changed conditions acted as a catalyst for positive change.
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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