immigrantchildren.ca

The 12th annual Metropolis conference will be held March 18-20, 2010 in Montreal. The theme this year is Immigration and Diversity: Crossroads of Culture, Engine of Economic Development. immigrantchildren.ca is pleased to see so many workshops and roundtables addressing issues related to newcomer families and young children, including:

Transnational Families: Where race, culture and adoption intersect, by Susan Crawford, lead for the Halton Multicultural Council project “Transracial Parenting Initiative”. From the abstract: “This workshop presents research on transracial and transnational families created through adoption across Canada. Presentations examine cultural enrichment through adoption, gaps in delivering pre- and post-adoption services and the needsof transracial familites; and adult adoptees’ complex experiences and understandings of ethno-racial identity”.

Conflict and Violence in Immigrant Families, by Madine VanderPlaat, St. Mary’s University. From the abstract: “This workshop will examine issues related to gender, conflict and violence within immigrant families. Participants will discuss the factors that contribute to stressors as well as the challenges and opportunities for culturally competent social responses”.

Health and Access to it for Migrants after Birth, by Anita Gagnon, Denise Bradshaw, Marlo Turner-Ritchie. From the abstract: “Tri-city (Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal) data on the health and service needs of refugee, asylum-seeking, non-refugee immigrant and Canadian-born women and their infants during pregnancy, at birth and during the first four months after birth will be presented in conjunction with potential policy responses to these date”.

School, Community and Collaborative Practice: Fostering the Integration of Immigrant and Refguee Youth in the Canadian School Context, by Sophie Yohani, N. Ernest Khalema. From the abstract: “Creating welcoming communities in educational settings is vital for newcomer students who may have a history that hinders adaptation. This workshop brings together academic researchers, non-profit practitioners, a government program officer, and a graduate student who share expertise in community-based collaborative practice to address the adaptation of refugee and immigrant students in the Canadian school context”.

Taking Care into Consideration: Local and Transnational Implications for Families, Children and Youth, by Alexandra Dobrowolsky and Evangelia Tastsoglou. From the abstract: “Familial networks, local and transnational, are critical to immigrants’ decision-making processes. The accommodation of care concerns (care of children, elderly parents, etc). also becomes a key consideration for migrants, especially for women. This workshop explores the repercussions of familial networks, and the complex negotiation of care concerns vis-a-vis attraction and retention”.

For more details on the above, see the conference program page.

The YWCA has developed and has been running a play program for refugee children entitled “Playing with  Rainbows”. Development of the program included four phases:

Phase 1 was a feasibility study that explored the feasibility of refugee children and the ability of the YWCA member association to implement a play program;

Phase 2 involved the development of a Facilitator’s manual, to guide member associations to guide members and other agencies in implementing the play program;

Phase 3 was the provision of training and support to member associations to facilitate the play program in six pilot sites;

Phase 4 include the evaluation of the training model and overall project implementation and the development of a manual.

Please visit the YWCA site for information on the Playing with Rainbows play curriculum.

BRYCS – the US-based group – Bridging Refugee Youth and Children’s Services has released a guide on best practices in interviewing newly-arrived immigrant or refugee children. The introduction to this guide says that in the US, agencies that receive any federal funding must provide “services of an equal quality to people who have Limited English Proficiency” (LEP) and “To provide equal quality services, it is vital to allow LEP children and families to use the language that they are most comfortable speaking”, meaning that federally funded agencies must provide bilingual interviewers or foreign language interpreters.

Does anyone know if Canada has any similar requirement? Should we?

The Canadian Council for Refugees Winter Working Group meetings will be held in Toronto February 26-27/10. On Fri Feb 26/10, 2 working groups will address Overseas Protection and Sponsorship and Immigration and Settlement. On Sat Feb 27/10, the working group will be meeting on Inland Protection. All working group meetings will include discussion of family reunification. See the page for more information.

Folks who attend the CCR meetings rave about them. Have you ever been?

Forced Migration Online has available for downloading a collection of audio podcasts. The latest addition is the Harrell-Bond Lecture by former UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, entitled Beyond Blankets: In search of political deals and durable solutions for the displaced.

The Forced Migration Online podcast series includes lectures and discussions between experts from academia, practitioners and policy-makers and displaced persons.

The Community Health Systems Resource Group, Learning Institute at the Hospital for Sick Children presents a symposium on Dec 1/09 on Multiple Diversities: Child/Youth Identity and Life Outcomes.

From the flyer: “How do the ways that we see young people affect the way they see themselves?  What are the impacts on their health and well being? How can we use existing knowledge to ensure optimal life outcomes for all of Canada’s immigrant and refugee children? This symposium will be of particular interest to:  educators, health care professionals, social service providers, policy makers, non governmental organizations, child/youth associations, researchers and students”.

The symposium will be held in the MaRS Discovery District, Toronto.

This year’s Summer Course on Refugee and Forced Migration Issues by the Centre for Refugee Studies, York University will be held May 8-16/10 at the Keele Campus. Fee is $975 Cdn, if you register before Feb 26/10 (fee goes up to $1100 after that date).

For more information, visit the conference course website , email summer@yorku.ca and refer back to previous postings at immigrantchildren.ca.

From the H-CHILDHOOD@H-NET.MSU.EDU listserv: Proposed panel on changing intra- and inter-generational relationships in migration contexts for CAFRMS 2010:

“I am interested in proposing a panel on intra- and inter-generational relationships in migration contexts for the third annual conference of the Canadian Association for Refugee and Forced Migration Studies (CARFMS), hosted by McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada on May 6-8, 2010. The conference theme is Forced Migration: Challenges and Change.

“Within this context, I am soliciting expressions of interest from colleagues working on age, generation and family relations to participate in a proposed panel on dynamic intra- and inter-generational relationships within contexts of migration. I believe that this could be an opportunity for researchers and practitioners working with migrants (interpreted broadly to include asylum seekers, refugees, internally displaced people,at different phases of the life cycle from infancy to old age to come together around the common theme of dynamic generational relationships. The panel would seek to address the overarching conference theme of challenges and change. Papers addressing conceptual, theoretical, empirical and/or methodological issues are welcome.

“Please submit a 250 word abstract and short (one paragraph) bibliography by January 5th, 2010 to: cclark-kazak@glendon.yorku.ca. The panel proposal will then be submitted to the conference organizers, who will take the final decision on whether or not the panel will be accepted”.

Christina Clark-Kazak, DPhil
Assistant Professor, International Studies, Glendon College, York University
2275 Bayview Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, M4N 3M6
Tel: 416.736.2100 ext 88106

Related immigrantchildren.ca post: Call for papers: Canadian Association for Refugee and Forced Migration Studies

For more information on the CARFMS conference, contact Heather Johnson – johnsohl@mcmcaster.ca, or visit the conference website.

The Institute on Globalization and the Human Condition, McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario will host the 3rd annual conference of the Canadian Association for Refugee and Forced Migration Studies (CARFMS) from May 6-8, 2010.

From the call, as posted on the forced migration discussion listserv*:

“In recent years, the idea of change has charged political debate in countries around the world and has, in some cases, catalyzed the election of new governments and the creation of innovative programs and policies. This period has also been one of significant change for the field of forced migration.  New policies and increasingly securitized perceptions of forced migration have created new practices such as interdiction, detention and expedited deportation that have changed the protection landscape in both the global North and South. At the same time as scholars have questioned the labelling and bureaucratic categorization of forced migrants, the United Nations has piloted new approaches to improve the protection and assistance available to members of traditionally marginalized categories, particularly internally displaced persons. Massive displacement in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and Cyclone Nargis raised the profile of environmental refugees as an issue predicted to grow in importance as the impacts of climate change become increasingly evident. In Canada, the government has recently announced that it is preparing a package of changes to the refugee determination system, including the fast-tracking of claims from countries that are generally considered safe. As a precursor to more sweeping anticipated changes, the government has already imposed visa requirements on Mexico and the Czech Republic in an attempt to stem the flow of refugee claimants from those countries.

“The 2010 CARFMS Conference will bring together researchers, policymakers, displaced persons and advocates from diverse disciplinary and regional backgrounds to discuss the changes and challenges faced in the field of forced migration. We invite participants from a wide range of perspectives to explore the practical, experiential, policy-oriented, legal and theoretical questions raised by different processes of change affecting forced migrants at the local, national, regional and international levels.

“Proposals are being sought from the following broad sub-themes:

• Asylum, protection and durable solutions: Needs, current practices and prospects for reform
• Theorizing the changing field of forced migration
• Experiencing displacement: Changes and challenges”.

250-word abstracts for proposed conference papers and panels are due by January 29, 2010 and must be submitted via the conference website. For more information, contact Heather Johnson – johnsohl@mcmcaster.ca.

* The Forced Migration Discussion List is moderated by the Refugee Studies Centre (RSC), University of Oxford. It does not necessarily reflect the views of the RSC or the university.

Refugees International presents Futures Denied: Statelessness among infants, children and youth. According to tthe childtrafficking.com listserv, some 11-12 million children, “though born and raised in their parents country of habitual residence” are stateless or without effective nationality.

Stateless was a concern raised when new citizenship policy, impacting first generation of international adoptees, was introduced by the federal government in the Spring of 2009. The new regulations offered an option to grant immediate Canadian citizenship to adopted children, but put limits or conditions on any children they might have outside of Canada. The rationale for the policy change was to provide an additional option for adoptive parents who were pursuing citizenship status for adopted children through the naturalization process. For more info, including to external links, see the posts at immigrantchildren.ca and chidinterrupted.ca.

The partnership of the International Metropolis Project Canada, the Australian Multicultural Foundation and the Monash Institute for the Study of Global Movements presents Refugee Futures Conference 2009, from Sept 10-12/09, to be held at Monash University in Prato Centre, Italy.

The conference will be attended by policy makers, academics, administrators and service providers and will address the future challenges of refugee movements and settlement, including environmental refugees.  immigrantchildren.ca is pleased to see a session on refugee children, chaired by Jeff Crisp, UNHCR with speakers Su-Ann Oh, Room to Grow Foundation, Thailand and Dr. Stepan Kerkyasharian, Community Relations Commission, NSW, Australia. From the program:

The future for refugee children

Perhaps the best barometer of the state of the global refugee regime is the future it affords children and youth brought into its midst. Apart from basic necessities, key factors affecting the future for refugee children include protection from violence and abuse, opportunities for education,and social supports for themselves and their families, among others. What if we were to also include the availability of livelihood opportunities for their family and community, or perhaps even more to the point, the prospect of a solution to their plight within their lifetime? What would the answer be for the majority of refugee children today? Is it likely to improve over time? What can the international community do to improve outcomes? What is at risk if we cannot provide a better answer?

Cultures West magazine, Vol 27, No. 1: Spring 2009 of the Affiliation of Multicultural Societies and Service Agencies (AMSSA) is subtitled “Promoting Mental Health for Immigrants and Refugees” and includes a strong call to action with regard to children. From the first article, on starting a dialogue about mental health and newcomers:

“…children are caught between two cultures and face regular trauma all day long. They wake up with their traditional culture, spend six to seven hours engrossed in Canadian culture and then go home where they are again encouraged to stick with their traditional culture”.

An interesting portrait of the Multicultural Outreach Counselling Program highlights the need to be responsive to the needs of diverse communities and to ensure that parent-child conflict and differences in parenting styles are addressed. This edition includes several first-person accounts and case studies to illustrate the need for culturally-competent service providers and culturally-appropriate services and programs in mental health.