The Refuge

Nothing About Us Without Us: Meaningful Youth Engagement

Welcome to the tenth and final episode of The Refuge. In this episode, we discuss an issue that we’ve come to view as essential to the integration of children and youth with refugee experience in Canada - the meaningful involvement of those youth in the program and policy decisions that affect them. Our guests include Ani Gurtsishvili - a first-generation immigrant committed to advancing equity and inclusion in her work as the Program Associate Mariam Assefa Fund with World Education Services (WES); Craig Carter-Edwards - Analyst with Settlement and Integration Policy at Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) and the co-founder of Welcome Home TO; and Theresa Jones - Coordinator for Programs and Policy with the World Education Services (WES) where she supports the development of program and policy interventions to facilitate the labor market integration of immigrant communities.

Policy Matters: The Question of Belonging

Welcome to Policy Matters, a special mini-series of The Refuge podcast that focuses on policy issues and connects policy makers with academics, community partners, and people with lived experience.  This episode features Ali Duale – MLA for Halifax Armdale and former refugee from Somalia, Dr. Nicole Ives – Associate Professor of Social Work at McGill University, and Sherman Chan – Director of Family and Settlement Support at MOSAIC B.C., discussing the importance of newcomers’ sense of belonging, factors affecting belonging, and recommendations on how to improve belonging for newcomers to Canada.

Policy Matters: School Supports for Youth

Welcome to Policy Matters, a special mini-series of The Refuge podcast that focuses on policy issues and connects policy makers with academics, community partners, and people with lived experience.   Our guests in this episode include Dr. Andrea MacLeod - professor in Communication Sciences and Disorders at the University of Alberta; Kathleen Vyrauen - co-chair of the Newcomer Education Coalition and Project Manager with Immigration Partnership Winnipeg; and Jayesh Maniar - English as an Additional Language and Newcomer Education Consultant for the government of Manitoba. The discussion covers the unique supports needed to support children and refugee youth at school.

Policy Matters: Why Collaboration Matters

Welcome to Policy Matters, a special mini-series of The Refuge podcast that focuses on policy issues and connects policy makers with academics, community partners, and people with lived experience.  This episode features a conversation between Dr. Howard Ramos - political sociologist and Chair of Sociology Department at Western University; David Cashaback - senior director for Settlement and Integration Policy at Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC); and Hanen Nanaa - Ontario regional advisor at the Liberal Research Bureau, in the Parliament of Canada, founder of Books, Art, Music Collective for Youth; and a former Syrian refugee. They talk about the importance of collaboration, what effective collaboration looks like, and offer recommendations on how to include people with lived experience in policy and program development.

Starting Over: Refugee Youth and Interrupted Schooling

Welcome to the ninth episode of The Refuge in which we discuss experiences of youth who arrive in Canada with interrupted schooling. What are the challenges of re-entering the school system? What supports are needed for youth? Our guests include Anyieth Maduk Manyuon – who came to Canada from Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya in January 2022. She was in her final year of Pharmacy in Medical College when she relocated and is now working while waiting to resume her education; Reuben Garang – Executive Director of Immigrant Partnership Winnipeg and former Policy Analyst and Community Outreach Advisor for the Government of Manitoba; and Susan Brigham – Professor in the Faculty of Education at Mount Saint Vincent University (MSVU), her research interests include immigration, diversity, adult and higher education, and gender.