Addressing Marginality and Exclusion: The Resettlement Experiences of War-Affected Young People in Quebec, Canada.

Andie Buccitelli,Myriam Denov

doi:10.3390/children6020018

Andie Buccitelli, Myriam Denov

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/children6020018

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Journal: Children (Basel, Switzerland)	Publication Date: Jan 30, 2019
Citations: 8	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Dawson College, McGill University

Abstract

Accessing meaningful forms of support can be an onerous experience for young people resettling from war-affected contexts. In addition to facing linguistic and financial barriers in this process, these young people negotiate care systems that are often structurally and culturally insensitive to their unique needs, values, beliefs, and intersectional experiences of oppression. Drawing on interviews with 22 young people from war-affected areas living in Quebec, Canada, this paper critically examines how dominant cultural norms and social relations in Quebec’s health, social and educational services network shape their experiences in seeking care, healing and belonging. Alternative care systems and approaches, as proposed by the participants, are then explored. The findings emphasize the need for spaces and care services where war-affected young people’s identities and lived realities are validated and represented.

Highlights

Wars continue to alter the lives of children, young people, and families around the world with devastating social, economic, political and psychological effects
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) lauded Canada’s resettlement of 46,700 refugees, a record high in refugees admitted since the implementation of the 1976 Immigration Act [4]
To examine the resettlement experiences of young people affected by war living in Quebec, in-depth interviews were conducted with 22 young people (11 male and 11 female) living in Montreal and St-Hyacinthe, a small-sized city located approximately 60 km east of Montreal

Summary

Introduction

Wars continue to alter the lives of children, young people, and families around the world with devastating social, economic, political and psychological effects. More than 600 million, or one in four, of the world’s youth, live in areas affected by armed conflict and insecurity [1]. Within these wartime contexts, children and young people are killed, exploited, abused, injured, orphaned, separated from family and/or recruited into armed groups Thousands of children enter Canada, fleeing war zones [2].

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