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*In April 2022, the university announced our new name of Toronto Metropolitan University, which will be implemented in a phased approach. Learn more about our next chapter.*

RCIS Digital Series, Session 3 – Refugee Resettlement and Integration in Canada: Lived Experience, Lessons Learned, and Promising Practices

Date
November 19, 2020
Time
5:00 PM EST - 7:00 PM EST
Open To
Students, Faculty, Public
Contact
rcis@torontomu.ca


Refugee Resettlement & Integration Series – Session 3

 

Between October 2020 and February 2021, the Ryerson Centre for Immigration and Settlement (RCIS) hosted a six-part digital series focused on Canada’s approach to refugee resettlement and integration. The series aimed to engage stakeholders to consider Canada’s approach to refugee resettlement and identify changes to policy and practice that will make Canada more inclusive and responsive to refugees’ needs. Over the course of the six sessions, refugees, settlement workers and service providers, policymakers, researchers, and students were brought together to share insights and lessons learned from lived experience, settlement practice, and research.

The third session of the series took place on November 19th, 2020 and featured three speakers – Mohamad al Chebli, Wael Wahba, and Hasan al Shebli – discussing their lived experiences of refugee resettlement in Canada. The speakers responded to questions in Arabic and English interpretation was subsequently provided by Mounir Nasri, a Social Entrepreneur and Advisor in the field of Community Development. The session was moderated by Genevieve Ritchie, a Doctoral candidate in Adult Education and Community Development at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) at the University of Toronto. 

Initial settlement experience

Organizations accessed and barriers faced

Importance of Arabic speaking community to initial settlement

Gaps in settlement services

Access to housing

Access to employment

Employment strategies

The Canadian education system

Perception of Canada before arrival and how perception has shifted

Government assistance to refugees and how to improve the settlement system


 (PDF file)  Read the summary of session 3  (opens in new window) 
View all series sessions

This series was funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC).

Series coordinators: Saad El Hakmi and Sohail Shahidnia
Series director: Dr. Usha George
Series producer: Tearney McDermott

TMCIS occupies space in the traditional and unceded territory of nations including the Anishnaabeg, the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee, and the Wendat peoples, and territory which is also now home to many diverse First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples. This territory is covered by Treaty 13 signed with the Mississaugas of the Credit, as well as the Williams Treaties signed with multiple Mississaugas.