Refugee Settlement And Identity Crisis In North America

The Plight of War-Torn Refugees

Question:

Discuss about the Mirgation and Settlement in Canada.

The world has hitherto moved on to the realm of humanism and social justification pertaining to ensuring settlement to the homeless people. War-torn Africa and Middle East have been witnessing unnecessary damages that resulted in severe unaccounted migration of the people to the European and North American Countries. USA and Canada has been the most suitable places for those distressed to seek refuge (Riaño-Alcalá & Goldring, 2014). The government of both the countries have been helpful and ethical towards the settlement of the refugees. These refugees or immigrants are mostly Africans, Afghani and Syrian (Nettelbeck et al., 2016). Continuous war and interior corruption within these countries have forced their compatriots to leave their own motherland and resettle somewhere they do not know about (White & Domene, 2017).

The report somehow acts like an initiative to emancipate the people detached from their homeland, and tries to provide them with a new identity to live with. There are different segments if the report. The first segment reviews a documentary film directed by Monika Delmo that projects the arrival and settlement of two teenagers- both from African continent. Once the film is reviewed, the report aims at identifying the micro, mezzo and macro issues followed by designing intervention strategies for the welfare of the immigrants. The report ends with an effort to legitimise the situational outcome of the refugees.

When a child is carried by a mother, it is called the mother’s baby; when it is born it becomes everybody’s child. Every Body’s Children is a documentary directed by Monika Delmo. The director has captured several moving images portraying an invisible ladder. The film depicts the pathway of two teenagers seeking refuge in Toronto. Saillieu Dankieh 16 leaves his country Sierra Leone because of continuous effect of war. He loses his mother in the war and takes a flight to Canada with a single bag. On the other side, Joyce Nsimbah arrives at Toronto with $20 in hand. Joyce is a 17 years old teenage girl from Republic of Congo. She narrates that her father forced her for prostitution. Joyce had lost her mother during a war in Congo.

Both the teenagers arrive at Canada without knowing anything about the country. The very first problem they face is that the English language.           These two teenage ‘kids’ somehow receives aid from the Government of Canada regarding their settlement in the country. Joyce is a French-speaking girl with tremendous talent of music. She possesses excellent vocal quality, which, she thinks, she has inherited from her mother. Nevertheless, both of them start staying alone in an apartment thus seeking comradeship. The plot of the film is woven very neatly highlighting the struggles of the refugees through Joyce and Saillieu. Saillieu is helped by the Red Cross society in Canada. They are to apply for refugee settlement, but initially they lacj money. Joyce strives to find a job so that she manages to save money for her application fee. Saillieu moves to Matthew House, which is a service home for refugee settlement in the city of Toronto. Joyce finds some French-speaking friends who reasonably ease her difficulty. The Government with $630 aids both of them so that they can continue their study in schools, which is spent in their room rent and expenditures for other commodities. However, they have the same goal that is to receive a Permanent Resident Identity.

A Film Review: Every Body’s Children

Identity crisis has been a major problem for the refugees in the North American countries (Tecle & James, 2014). They know that they are no compatriots. Joyce seeks friendship with those who can speak French, on the contrary Saillieu learn English very fast. Both these teens face positive response from the Canadian Government regarding their permanent settlement.  

Joyce wants to get diploma, but she has to complete her high school course at first. Saillieu finds a job as a fire fighter in the city so he decides to go to evening school while working at day time. It is not Joyce or Sallieu struggling to exist in a newer world. Thousands and millions of refugees in both the United States and Canada are craving for their identity. Joyce is introduced to a settlement service where she is asked about her homeland and her father. She undergoes all the official procedures to apply for permanent residence. Fortunately she qualifies all the settlement criteria. Finally they find a new world where they can life their life hoping for prosperity.

Both the teens fall in favour of the government. However, majority of the immigrants are stuck in the whirl of law. Thousands of immigrants are homeless in Canada. They do not have a permanent residential address (Robinson, 2016). They do not have a job. They are aided by the Red Cross and some of the settlement service agencies so that they can go to school or college. However, the problem lies in this fact that they can hardly bare the money. Saillieu and Joyce have nothing to save as they are to pay the accommodation fee, electric bill, food cost and telephone bill. Yet, there are hopes for many like these two teens as they are permitted for permanent settlement in the country.

According to the ecological viewpoint, the environment comprises of natural factors such as chemical, biological and physical ones. These are known as the natural resources. Since human being is a part of the natural resources, Ecological approach to social work suggests viewing human and environment unitarily as an integrated part of each other. Since the theory always supports empirical study of social work, the practitioners are expected to follow the dynamics of it. There are some issues faced by the social workers while dealing with the most complex events in the society. Ecological approach views the issues in different level to specify their complexities. These are – micro level issues, mezzo level issues and macro level issue.

There are three levels of interventions and issues designed according to the ecological approach-      

Micro level	Issues faced by individual social workers
Mezzo Level	Issues faced by institutions
Macro Level	Community, political system and other social bodies

Micro level social work is performed usually by individuals, small groups, families to provide help and aid to the victims. The “New Canadians” in the country are greatly assisted by the individuals.

However there are certain issues faced by the immigrant, and the social workers are not able to eliminate the matter from the heart of the people. The first hindrance that the immigrants face in the new countries is the prevalence of xenophobia (Beiser, Puente-Duran & Hou, 2015). This is a social issue though it is not being uprooted from certain communities. Many individual initiatives have been witnessed while making a firm effort to settle the refugees in the country, yet individuals cannot perform strongly because of the complexities in the system.

Identity Crisis and Settlement

Another dire issue that the individuals face while helping the refugees or the newcomers in Canada is that they cannot easily avail the contact of the Settlement Agencies as the entire process is absolutely confidential. Without government’s interference, they cannot exercise legitimate aid (Stewart et al., 2015).

National security in modern days has adapted austerity in terms of laws as well as judicial practices. There are provisions of asylum for the refugees so that they can live together without paying money. Keeping that in mind, individual assistance is tending to become obsolete in the country (Gibson, 2014)..

Another hindrance the individuals are while interacting with the immigrants is the language barrier. Most of the foreign immigrants coming to Canada belong either to Africa or to Afghanistan. Hence, language stands like a major hurdle between the immigrants and the social workers.

There are group of social workers who try to perform social welfare through the help of some organisations. Somehow these small groups include the small NGOs who take care of the settlements in the countries. Followings are the issues that are faced during mezzo level social work-

Small groups or organisations like community building, schools for the refugees, neighbourhood perform mezzo level social work. The most important body in this case is community building. As per the film is concerned, Joyce finds a community of her own where she meets people of her category-the refugees. The members of the community are different in ethnicity, language and religion, yet they have a common string to weave themselves together. The string is the urge for better life and a concrete identity in a new country.

The church plays an important role in Joyce’s life. She finds a new dimension in her life in the church. She is eased and comfortable in the church. She sings there and builds her confidence. However, these communities are themselves secluded from the main force of the core society. They are only passionate and helpful towards their own members because they are the ‘other’ to the natives.

Mathew House is another fine example of the mezzo level social work. It provides refuge to the homeless. Saillieu finds a new home with the people living in Mathew House. They have a feeling of togetherness. Saillieu’s apartment seemed claustrophobic to him as he used to live alone. He had no one to talk to; neither could he afford expensive room rent. Mathew House is a paradigmatic example of neighbourhood where people like Saillieu can afford their livelihood easily. Hoever, there are problems. Not many neighbourhoods are responsive towards the refugees. The settlement policies of these groups are not always friendly to them (Root et al., 2014).

Macro Level social work is the outcome of constant effort by the individual or people belonging to other two categories. There is intervention of law and the judicial and legislative body that helps change the society (Goldring, & Landolt, 2013). Immigrants directly face the macro level work. However, they are only interrogated by them. Red Cross to Saillieu has proved to be the greatest benefactor by helping him during the war. In the case of two youngsters (Joyce and Saillieu) government and law-practitioners have been kind and understanding. They are not necessarily same towards everyone. Recent security issues have drawn limitations and bound the hands of the Government thus making the entire process a critically complex one. Local agitation against the refugees (lack of employment among the native Canadians) is one of the major hindrances that the government faces.

Micro Level	In this category, social workers can help the individuals with the help of collecting data from the immigration department. i)                    Monetary aid is one of the initial interventions practised by the social workers. ii)                  The individuals can be contacted to the settlement service agencies. iii)                The official needful formalities such as collecting information regarding a particular immigrant- his/her actual address in homeland, the parental identity and so on can be initiated by the social workforce.
Mezzo Level	i)                    Some workers can go to the town schools where majority of the immigrants are admitted to study. The schools need to be directed properly so that minority education is ensured. Provision of second language teaching has to be focused because most of the immigrants belong to non-English speaking countries (Sullivan & Simonson, 2016). ii)                  Implementation and practice of ESL(English as Second Language) is another intervention of the social workers in the country(Lantolf, Thorne & Poehner, 2015). iii)                The workers can help the immigrants meet the community of the same kind where they spend time an lead a happy life. iv)                A social campaign should be spread properly in the neighbourhood to form a better friendly society that can be compassionate to everyone. v)                  Since healthcare issue is another concern for the social workers, they should contact the hospitals and clinics in the country so that the immigrants can enjoy medical facilities.( Kalich, Heinemann & Ghahari, 2016)
Macro Level	i)                    This is the toughest and most tiresome job of the social workers. Since the refugees are not aware of the existing rules and regulations of a country they are staying at, social workers need to come forward to provide information about the immigration and settlement laws to them. ii)                  It shall be the job of the social workers at macro level to prepare necessary papers for the immigrants so that they can attend the hearings without much difficulty.

Conclusion:

Without proper assistance of the social workers, the immigrants seem to be blind on a busy highway. There are strict laws pertaining to the settlement of immigrants. Canadian Immigration Acts and Legislation was regulated in order to provide better settlement and environment to those who have sought refuge in the country. The social workers need to ensure a society with zero tolerance to racism and xenophobia. Since most of the immigrants have brutal past, they are to be legally pampered to the country. Immigration and refugee settlement is a big challenge in many countries like USA, Australia, Canada, UK, India and other. It is being taken care of sensitively with the help of social workers and NGOs.

References:

Beiser, M., Puente-Duran, S., & Hou, F. (2015). Cultural distance and emotional problems among immigrant and refugee youth in Canada: Findings from the New Canadian Child and Youth Study (NCCYS). International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 49, 33-45.

Gibson, J. J. (2014). The ecological approach to visual perception: classic edition. Psychology Press.

Goldring, L., & Landolt, P. (2013). Producing and negotiating non-citizenship: Precarious legal status in Canada. University of Toronto Press.

Kalich, A., Heinemann, L., & Ghahari, S. (2016). A Scoping Review of Immigrant Experience of Health Care Access Barriers in Canada. Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health, 18(3), 697-709.

Lantolf, J. P., Thorne, S. L., & Poehner, M. E. (2015). Sociocultural theory and second language development. Theories in second language acquisition: An introduction, 207-226.

Nettelbeck, A., Smandych, R., Knafla, L. A., & Foster, R. (2016). Fragile Settlements: Aboriginal Peoples, Law, and Resistance in South-west Australia and Prairie Canada. UBC Press.

Riaño-Alcalá, P., & Goldring, L. (2014). Unpacking Refugee Community Transnational Organizing: The Challenges and Diverse Experiences of Colombians in Canada. Refugee Survey Quarterly, hdu005.

Robinson, V. (Ed.). (2016). The international refugee crisis: British and Canadian responses. Springer.

Root, J., Gates-Gasse, E., Shields, J., & Bauder, H. (2014). Discounting immigrant families: Neoliberalism and the framing of Canadian immigration policy change. Ryerson Centre for Immigration & Settlement (RCIS) Working Paper No, 7.

Stewart, M., Dennis, C. L., Kariwo, M., Kushner, K. E., Letourneau, N., Makumbe, K., ... & Shizha, E. (2015). Challenges faced by refugee new parents from Africa in Canada. Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health, 17(4), 1146-1156.

Sullivan, A. L., & Simonson, G. R. (2016). A systematic review of school-based social-emotional interventions for refugee and war-traumatized youth. Review of Educational Research, 86(2), 503-530.

Tecle, S., & James, C. E. (2014). Refugee students in Canadian schools. Immigrant and Refugee Students in Canada, 147.

White, M., & Domene, J. (2017). Education in the Context of Internationalization, Immigration, and Forced Migration: Introduction to the Special Issue. Antistasis, 6(2).