The Settlement and Integration Needs of Refugees in Surrey, Bc
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OUR COMMUNITY, OUR VOICE: THE SETTLEMENT AND INTEGRATION NEEDS OF REFUGEES IN SURREY, BC In Partnership: Our Community, Our Voice: The Settlement and Integration Needs of Refugees in Surrey, BC 2 THE OCOV TEAM This project has been deeply collaborative and would not have been possible without the efforts and support of many people and organizations. OUR PARTNERS Kwantlen Polytechnic OCOV Core Research OCOV Steering University (KPU) Team Committee Stephen Dooley, SFU Surrey Ravi Basi, Surrey Libraries, Multicultural Surrey Schools Outreach Nav Chima, SFU Surrey City of Surrey Sireen El-Nashar, S.U.C.C.E.S.S. Nathalie Gagnon, KPU Immigrant Settlement and Integration Tara Holt, Surrey Schools Program (Arabic) DIVERSEcity Community Resources Society Sharalyn Jordan, SFU Surrey Chris Friesen, Immigrant Services Society of Britsh Columbia (ISS of BC) Melissa Roberts, Langara College Fraser Health Authority Connie Hong, Options Community OCOV Report Writing Services Immigrant Services Society of Tahzeem Kassam, DIVERSEcity Britsh Columbia (ISS of BC) Sarah Jarvis, Ethics Application and Methods Community Resources Society Section, SFU Surrey Caroline Lai, Surrey School District #36, Options Community Services Carolina Rojas, Literature Review, SFU Surrey English Language Learner Welcome Centre Pacific Community Resources OCOV Research Jenny Lam, S.U.C.C.E.S.S. Immigrant Society (PCRS) Assistants Settlement and Integration Program Rachel Nelson, SFU Surrey, Community Progressive Intercultural Yansie Ardon Relations and Engagement Community Services Society Dani Barito Diane Purvey, KPU, Dean of Faculty of (PICS) Victor Cortez Arts Semihamoo House Society Sarah Jarvis Michelle Shaw, Pacific Community Resources Society (PCRS) Kue K’nyawmupoe S.U.C.C.E.S.S. Immigrant Mufaro Mbudzi Olga Shcherbyna, Surrey LIP and City of Settlement & Integration Surrey Yvonne Mburu Program Rosy Takhar, Surrey RCMP Mohamed Mussa Doug Tennant, Semiahmoo House Society Surrey Libraries James Bond Ochan Samantha Tong, Fraser Health Authority Carolina Rojas Surrey RCMP Eva Touzard, Progressive Intercultural Joseph Shaboo Community Services Society (PICS) Nay Bu Taw Project Assistance Focus Group and Public Barinder Dhesi, SFU Surrey Consultation Venues Andrea Williamson, SFU Surrey City of Surrey Janet Yan, SFU Surrey Invergarry Adult Education Centre SFU Surrey Graphic Facilitators S.U.C.C.E.S.S. Immigrant Settlement and Sam Bradd, Sam Bradd Drawing Change Integration Program Yolanda Liman, Drawing it Out Graphic Facilitation City of Surrey Partners Aileen Murphy Olga Shcherbyna Our Community, Our Voice: The Settlement and Integration Needs of Refugees in Surrey, BC 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to acknowledge the contributions of the Our Community, Our Voice (OCOV) Steering Committee in the development and delivery of this project, and for providing direction and support in the research method, the recruitment of peer research assistants and focus group participants and ensuring the project stayed grounded to the principles of the Active Community Engagement Model as described in this report. The group truly committed to this project at a time of shifting dynamics in settlement needs and opportunities in Surrey. I am hopeful we can find a reason to keep the group together as the City of Surrey moves forward to develop a refugee settlement and integration plan. I also want to thank the work of the interdisciplinary research team – Nav Chima, Nathalie Gagnon, Tara Holt, Sharalyn Jordan, and Melissa Roberts. Representing 4 different organizations – SFU, KPU, Langara College and the Surrey Schools and coming from very different academic backgrounds, the group brought a diverse skill set to the project that added immeasurably to the depth of the investigation. I want to acknowledge the amazing work of the peer research assistants that supported this project. A total of 12 Research Assistants (RAs) - 4 SFU students, 1 KPU student and 7 community RAs – were hired for the project. Carolina Rojas, a Master’s student at SFU, researched and wrote the literature review with support from the research team. Additionally, Sarah Jarvis, a Master’s student at SFU, wrote the ethics application for SFU and contributed to the methods section with support from the research team. As well, Sarah provided training and guidance to the other RAs. The 7 community RAs were themselves refugees and came from Myanmar, Somalia, Iraq and El Salvador. The RAs helped refine the research project and lead the focus groups with adult and youth refugees. All of the RAs were amazing and demonstrated (in real time) what we already know about the refugees who are coming to Canada. They come with an amazing array of skills, a capacity to learn and a desire to contribute to the community they live in. In many ways, the RAs were the story of this project and I look forward to future opportunities to work with this amazing group of individuals. And last, but certainly not least, on behalf of the research team, I would like to thank the new and recently settled refugees, service providers, agencies and community stakeholders that participated in this study. Without their insights and contributions, the depth, perspective and creation of this report would not be possible. Stephen Dooley OCOV Principal Investigator SFU Surrey Our Community, Our Voice: The Settlement and Integration Needs of Refugees in Surrey, BC 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS Executive Summary .................................................................................................................................7 Introduction ..........................................................................................................................................................7 The Key Research Questions: ................................................................................................................8 Method ..................................................................................................................................................................8 Results ...................................................................................................................................................................9 Pre-Arrival...................................................................................................................................................9 Arrival ...........................................................................................................................................................9 Settling-In .................................................................................................................................................11 Long Term .................................................................................................................................................12 Service System Coordination ..............................................................................................................12 Recommendations ...........................................................................................................................................13 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................. 15 The Syrian Refugee Crisis ..............................................................................................................................16 Literature Review ..................................................................................................................................18 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................................18 Refugees: Beyond the definition ..................................................................................................................19 Forced Migration Trajectories: Policies and pathways to protection ................................................20 Government Assisted Refugees.........................................................................................................20 Privately Sponsored Refugees ...........................................................................................................21 Refugee Claimant ...................................................................................................................................22 Diverse Pre-Migration Contexts/Migration Trajectories ......................................................................23 Iraq ..............................................................................................................................................................23 Somalia ......................................................................................................................................................23 Colombia ....................................................................................................................................................24 Myanmar (Burma) ..................................................................................................................................24 Protracted Camp Living ........................................................................................................................25 Urban ..........................................................................................................................................................25 Settlement