Research Library

The success of the out-of-school time collaborative program coordinated by REACH Edmonton in empowering immigrant and refugee children and youth was evaluated. The report provides a high-level summary of the program’s description and reach, highlighting the various programs offered by the 13 organizations in the collaborative. The report also includes an overview of the themes found across all programs from the summer youth feedback sessions. The report concludes with recommendations for future program development and expansion. Overall, the report demonstrates the positive impact of the Bridging Together collaborative in promoting the well-being and integration of immigrant and refugee children and youth in Edmonton. The success of the out-of-school time collaborative program coordinated by REACH Edmonton in empowering immigrant and refugee children and youth was evaluated. The report provides a high-level summary of the program’s description and reach, highlighting the various programs offered by the 13 organizations in the collaborative. The report also includes an overview of the themes found across all programs from the summer youth feedback sessions. The report concludes with recommendations for future program development and expansion. Overall, the report demonstrates the positive impact of the Bridging Together collaborative in promoting the well-being and integration of immigrant and refugee children and youth in Edmonton.
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Sexual orientation and gender identity or expression (SOGIE) refugees face discriminatory and harsh experiences in the refugee claimant and hearing process in Canada. Additionally, SOGIE refugees face higher risks, barriers and vulnerability than some other refugee groups. After Bill C-31 (Protecting Canada’s Immigration Act) was passed in 2012, the Immigrant and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB) was responsible for determining which SOGIE refugee claims were ‘authentic’ or not, despite little knowledge on the 2SLGBTQ+ community. The IRB recently released guidelines to improve this practice. This policy brief describes the state of SOGIE refugees in Alberta and Canada, challenges the group faces, and the efficacy of the new guidelines for the SOGIE refugee claim process. Sexual orientation and gender identity or expression (SOGIE) refugees face discriminatory and harsh experiences in the refugee claimant and hearing process in Canada. Additionally, SOGIE refugees face higher risks, barriers and vulnerability than some other refugee groups. After Bill C-31 (Protecting Canada’s Immigration Act) was passed in 2012, the Immigrant and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB) was responsible for determining which SOGIE refugee claims were ‘authentic’ or not, despite little knowledge on the 2SLGBTQ+ community. The IRB recently released guidelines to improve this practice. This policy brief describes the state of SOGIE refugees in Alberta and Canada, challenges the group faces, and the efficacy of the new guidelines for the SOGIE refugee claim process.
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Beginning in April, 2020, The Immigrant Education Society conducted an internal study on staff and student reactions to the transition to remote services delivery precipitated by the COVID19 Pandemic. This consists of a preliminary survey deployed by the Research and Program Development Department, and the compilation of independently developed surveys deployed in June by the Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada (LINC) department and the Human Resources department. The analysis of the raw survey data was conducted by the Research and Program Development department. This document encompasses results from the Human Resources and LINC surveys. Beginning in April, 2020, The Immigrant Education Society conducted an internal study on staff and student reactions to the transition to remote services delivery precipitated by the COVID19 Pandemic. This consists of a preliminary survey deployed by the Research and Program Development Department, and the compilation of independently developed surveys deployed in June by the Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada (LINC) department and the Human Resources department. The analysis of the raw survey data was conducted by the Research and Program Development department. This document encompasses results from the Human Resources and LINC surveys.
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ECELC sought to consult with newcomer communities in Edmonton, specifically in regard to planning a centralized system of early learning and care that honours the realities of marginalized families and works to mitigate and remove institutional and/or systemic disadvantage for these families. The information from these consultations will be used to ensure ECELC’s activities take into account the lived experiences of newcomer families and that it considers an inclusion/equity lens in its work as it moves forward. Multicultural Family Resource Society (MFRS), one of the ECELC members, was approached to conduct this work on behalf of the Council through MFRS Coaching, Advisory, and Research Services. The consultations involved meeting with key groups of people to learn about what is already known about this topic and to identify who some of the ‘knowledge keepers’ are on this topic. MFRS consulted with Multicultural Health Brokers Cooperative; Jasper Place Child and Family Resource Centre; Intercultural Child and Family Centre; University of Alberta, Community-University Partnership for the Study of Children, Youth, and Families (CUP); MacEwan University, Human Services and Early Learning and Care; and Muslim Community of Edmonton (MCE) Child Care Centre to assess what work has already been done recently on the topic of newcomer families and early learning and care and to identify existing groups of practitioners and community members that would be good candidates for further consultation. The consultations also sought to identify facilitators for future conversations as community consultation often generates the richest data when the facilitators are known to participants and this would be an important aspect to future ECELC work. ECELC sought to consult with newcomer communities in Edmonton, specifically in regard to planning a centralized system of early learning and care that honours the realities of marginalized families and works to mitigate and remove institutional and/or systemic disadvantage for these families. The information from these consultations will be used to ensure ECELC’s activities take into account the lived experiences of newcomer families and that it considers an inclusion/equity lens in its work as it moves forward. Multicultural Family Resource Society (MFRS), one of the ECELC members, was approached to conduct this work on behalf of the Council through MFRS Coaching, Advisory, and Research Services. The consultations involved meeting with key groups of people to learn about what is already known about this topic and to identify who some of the ‘knowledge keepers’ are on this topic. MFRS consulted with Multicultural Health Brokers Cooperative; Jasper Place Child and Family Resource Centre; Intercultural Child and Family Centre; University of Alberta, Community-University Partnership for the Study of Children, Youth, and Families (CUP); MacEwan University, Human Services and Early Learning and Care; and Muslim Community of Edmonton (MCE) Child Care Centre to assess what work has already been done recently on the topic of newcomer families and early learning and care and to identify existing groups of practitioners and community members that would be good candidates for further consultation. The consultations also sought to identify facilitators for future conversations as community consultation often generates the richest data when the facilitators are known to participants and this would be an important aspect to future ECELC work.
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Alberta has seen a significant increase in refugees in recent years, however, Immigrant and Refugee Board (IRB) hearings are backlogged and refugee claimants have limited access to services in the interim. AAISA is asking the Ministry of Labour to update Alberta Labour and Immigration’s strategic framework for newcomers, as well as increase funding for service provider organizations (SPOs) to provide services to refugees and refugee claimants. Alberta has seen a significant increase in refugees in recent years, however, Immigrant and Refugee Board (IRB) hearings are backlogged and refugee claimants have limited access to services in the interim. AAISA is asking the Ministry of Labour to update Alberta Labour and Immigration’s strategic framework for newcomers, as well as increase funding for service provider organizations (SPOs) to provide services to refugees and refugee claimants.
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Health is a basic human right for all. The Ministry of Health needs to increase health providers’ awareness of the Interim Federal Healthcare Benefit (IFHB), provide immediate coverage from the Alberta Health Care Insurance Plan (AHCIP) to refugees, and include refugees as eligible beneficiaries under Alberta Labour funding accessibility. Health is a basic human right for all. The Ministry of Health needs to increase health providers’ awareness of the Interim Federal Healthcare Benefit (IFHB), provide immediate coverage from the Alberta Health Care Insurance Plan (AHCIP) to refugees, and include refugees as eligible beneficiaries under Alberta Labour funding accessibility.
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It is imperative that the Ministry of Justice improves the capacity and accessibility of Legal Aid, particularly when Alberta has seen a large increase in refugees in recent years. This will mitigate a significant barrier in the settlement sector, as well as strengthen Alberta’s social and economic fabric. It is imperative that the Ministry of Justice improves the capacity and accessibility of Legal Aid, particularly when Alberta has seen a large increase in refugees in recent years. This will mitigate a significant barrier in the settlement sector, as well as strengthen Alberta’s social and economic fabric.
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Calgary Catholic Immigration Society (CCIS) is a non-profit organization with expertise in providing settlement and integration services to immigrants and refugees. The Family and Children’s Services (FCS) Division of CCIS has specific expertise in facilitating the integration of families and children into the community, enhancing the provision of services to newcomers by community resources, and promoting the healthy development of children using a holistic strengths-based approach. The Cultural Brokerage Program designed and facilitated through the FCS Division of CCIS provides direct supports, services and referrals to newcomer families involved with Children’s Services with the aim of ensuring newcomer children are safe and families are able to flourish in Canada. Since its inception, evaluation of the Cultural Brokerage Program has revealed that the most prevalent concern leading to Children’s Services involvement amongst newcomer families is family violence. At the same time, research and experience have shown that newcomer families experience significant barriers to accessing the mainstream family violence support services available in the community. In response to the specific challenges faced by newcomer families with family violence concerns and Children’s Services involvement, in 2017 and 2018 CCIS began implementing practice-based innovative programming as an extension of the proven Cultural Brokerage Program. The Family Violence (FV) Specialist is a resource for the Cultural Brokerage Program team to access when families are facing issues related to family violence. This new team member supports families in understanding the impacts of family violence, responses to family violence, expectations around family violence in Canada, and community resources available. Recognizing that families often face hardship when a period of family separation is needed to address family violence, and in an effort to decrease the burden placed on victims of family violence who are often encouraged to flee violent situations and stay in a women’s shelter, the Apartment 1310 Program offers temporary accommodation, counselling, referrals and supports for perpetrators of family violence from newcomer families involved with Children’s Services. This innovative approach to supporting newcomer families with family violence issues supports the unique goals and desires of newcomer families and provides an opportunity to work directly with perpetrators to create long-term behaviour change. The addition of an FV Specialist to the Cultural Brokerage Program team in 2017 and the establishment of the Apartment 1310 Program in 2018 has advanced CCIS’ responsiveness to family violence concerns amongst newcomer families and is contributing to innovation in the family violence response sector. Given that the FV Specialist and the Apartment 1310 Program are new approaches to addressing family violence amongst newcomer families, CCIS has engaged external evaluation experts at Constellation Consulting Group to evaluate the implementation and impacts of this programming. Using a developmental evaluation approach to capture emergent learnings and provide a continuous feedback loop alongside program innovation, important learnings have been garnered. Since the establishment of FV Specialist role in the spring of 2017, key output statistics have been tracked through the evaluation to ensure the mandate of supporting newcomer families with education, referrals and supports to address violence in the home is being met. Calgary Catholic Immigration Society (CCIS) is a non-profit organization with expertise in providing settlement and integration services to immigrants and refugees. The Family and Children’s Services (FCS) Division of CCIS has specific expertise in facilitating the integration of families and children into the community, enhancing the provision of services to newcomers by community resources, and promoting the healthy development of children using a holistic strengths-based approach. The Cultural Brokerage Program designed and facilitated through the FCS Division of CCIS provides direct supports, services and referrals to newcomer families involved with Children’s Services with the aim of ensuring newcomer children are safe and families are able to flourish in Canada. Since its inception, evaluation of the Cultural Brokerage Program has revealed that the most prevalent concern leading to Children’s Services involvement amongst newcomer families is family violence. At the same time, research and experience have shown that newcomer families experience significant barriers to accessing the mainstream family violence support services available in the community. In response to the specific challenges faced by newcomer families with family violence concerns and Children’s Services involvement, in 2017 and 2018 CCIS began implementing practice-based innovative programming as an extension of the proven Cultural Brokerage Program. The Family Violence (FV) Specialist is a resource for the Cultural Brokerage Program team to access when families are facing issues related to family violence. This new team member supports families in understanding the impacts of family violence, responses to family violence, expectations around family violence in Canada, and community resources available. Recognizing that families often face hardship when a period of family separation is needed to address family violence, and in an effort to decrease the burden placed on victims of family violence who are often encouraged to flee violent situations and stay in a women’s shelter, the Apartment 1310 Program offers temporary accommodation, counselling, referrals and supports for perpetrators of family violence from newcomer families involved with Children’s Services. This innovative approach to supporting newcomer families with family violence issues supports the unique goals and desires of newcomer families and provides an opportunity to work directly with perpetrators to create long-term behaviour change. The addition of an FV Specialist to the Cultural Brokerage Program team in 2017 and the establishment of the Apartment 1310 Program in 2018 has advanced CCIS’ responsiveness to family violence concerns amongst newcomer families and is contributing to innovation in the family violence response sector. Given that the FV Specialist and the Apartment 1310 Program are new approaches to addressing family violence amongst newcomer families, CCIS has engaged external evaluation experts at Constellation Consulting Group to evaluate the implementation and impacts of this programming. Using a developmental evaluation approach to capture emergent learnings and provide a continuous feedback loop alongside program innovation, important learnings have been garnered. Since the establishment of FV Specialist role in the spring of 2017, key output statistics have been tracked through the evaluation to ensure the mandate of supporting newcomer families with education, referrals and supports to address violence in the home is being met.
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This research is purposed for an assessment of needs so as to identify the barriers to successful on-line language learning for new immigrants, especially those with language proficiency at CLB 3. This research is purposed for an assessment of needs so as to identify the barriers to successful on-line language learning for new immigrants, especially those with language proficiency at CLB 3.
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Surveys and focus groups were conducted with immigrants and service providers in Fort McMurray and the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo (RMWB) in Alberta. The population of immigrants in these areas has increased greatly over the years, and these communities hold mixed attitudes towards immigrants. Service needs and gaps, as well as future recommendations in a 10 year timeline, are also identified. Surveys and focus groups were conducted with immigrants and service providers in Fort McMurray and the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo (RMWB) in Alberta. The population of immigrants in these areas has increased greatly over the years, and these communities hold mixed attitudes towards immigrants. Service needs and gaps, as well as future recommendations in a 10 year timeline, are also identified.
This publication has no Abstract to dispaly