Overcoming Barriers to Integration:
Livelihood Rebuilding Strategies of
Refugees in Vancouver
Kirby Huminuik
Psychosocial Counsellor, Vancouver Assoc. for Survivors of Torture
MA (Cand.) Counselling Psychology, UBC
Overview



Success stories: overcoming barriers to
integration
Livelihood rebuilding strategies used by
refugees and their unresolved problems
Recommendations of refugee working
group
Success stories

A major indicator of integration is the
acquisition and maintenance of stable work

This process is very demanding for refugee
newcomers



Pre-migration stressors: Well-founded fear of persecution
Post-migration stressors: Challenges of re-settlement
A measure of ‘success’ is the fact that all participants
developed livelihood rebuilding strategies, however
we do not ignore the unresolved problems they
encountered throughout this process
Table 1. Descriptive Information for the Interview Sample (n= 10)
Characteristic
Region
F (n=5)
M(n=5)
% of Total
Middle East
3
2
50
Africa
2
2
40
1
10
Latin America
Age
Family status
English skill
Empl. history
20-25
1
1
20
25-35
2
2
40
35-55
2
2
40
Single income/ no
depend.
1
4
50
Single income/ depend.
2
0
20
Two income no children
1
0
10
Two income with children
1
0
10
Fluent on arrival
1
1
20
Learned in Canada
4
4
80
No prev. employment
1
0
10
Semi-skilled worker
2
0
20
Trades/ skilled worker
0
2
20
Professional
2
3
50
Livelihood rebuilding strategies




Establishing safety
Increasing English
language fluency
Creating social support
networks
Accessing social
services (especially
income assistance and
settlement services)




Seeking initial
Canadian
employment
Increasing job
satisfaction
(Re)training
Relying on personal
coping resources
1. Establishing safety for oneself and immediate
family members


For those who are fleeing political violence and who come
to Canada to seek protection as refugees, safety is of
paramount concern
The foundational strategy for all subsequent livelihood
building is to obtain refugee protection and family
reunification
“For the immigrant person, everything is easy. But for the
refugee, you can’t use your power for your work, because you
have a lot to worry about: your life is in danger! And so only
when you become safe, only then can you start your life here.
We have a saying in Arabic: you can’t take two watermelons in
one hand.”
Establishing Safety,
Unresolved Problems:


Safety implies not only freedom from abuse in one’s country of
origin but also the freedom from threats to security, and the ability
to access societal resources in the new environment
Participants described on-going threats to safety, including:
 Fear of being returned to their country of origin while awaiting
lengthy refugee determination processes
 Fear for spouses and children remaining in unsafe conditions
while awaiting family reunification
 Systemic barriers related to their immigration status
 Experiences of discrimination and racism
2. Building a social support network
Benefits of social support to livelihood building:
 Practical assistance


Accommodation, clothing, orientation to processes and
systems, referral to social service organizations,
financial help
Job opportunities: a ‘foot in the door’
“I think the best way to start to work here in Canada is to know
somebody. You can’t just knock on the door. You need help to
come in.”
Benefits, continued


Mentorship - sharing knowledge and
experience within newcomer communities
Psychological support - coping with
emotional suffering
“Coming to Canada you don’t know anybody, you
don’t have family here. I was once very depressed and
sometimes it still comes. But meeting people and
having some reason to go out there, by the end of the
day you are happy, you feel alive again.”
Building Support Networks,
Unresolved problems:

Financial precariousness


Participants sometimes found, or feared, that their
newly established social networks would not be able to
support them in times of dire need
Mis-information from community members

Several participants described receiving discouraging,
inaccurate, or exploitative information from community
members who had been in Vancouver longer than they
had
3. Seeking Initial Canadian Employment

Developing job search strategies
Learning about the formal and informal ways of obtaining
employment in the new environment, promoting their practical and
transferable skills to potential employers, and building a network
of personal contacts for referrals and childcare
 Participants emphasized informal means of obtaining employment,
such as through social networks and volunteering
“I checked the local newspaper and I sent resumes to the people that
were asking for employees… but I didn’t get any calls… This was
kind of depressing but I learned then that if you want to succeed in
Canada you can’t sit and wait for them to call. Because once you
get that work permit now it is left to you to do it.”

Initial Canadian Employment

Willingness to accept unsatisfying initial employment
 Regardless of education or experience, all participants
entered the job market through temporary, unskilled work,
often holding a range of part-time jobs until they were able to
find something more secure
 Many felt that it was most important simply to be working,
and that having a choice of occupations would hopefully
come later
“Any kind of work you have to do here, it doesn’t change
who you are, it just helps you. If you start any kind of job
you can make your life better. You can go up and show
your education later.”
Seeking initial employment,
Unresolved problems:

Limited social network


Unrecognized credentials and experience


Social contacts without access to higher levels of
employment
Beginning with entry-level, unskilled jobs as if they
were novice workers was frustrating, demoralizing and
time-consuming for all of the participants
Distraction from further job seeking

Entry-level jobs were so demanding that they did not
have the time to continue the job search or to improve
English skills, and were not in the right environments to
make contacts in their field
Unresolved problems, continued

Lack of enforcement of employment standards and
difficult working conditions



Participants found that employers often did not understand the
regulations governing work permits, were simply unwilling to hire
work permit holders, or used participants’ desperation to enter the
workforce to exploit them
Several participants shared stories of being paid in cash, being paid
less than minimum wage, working more than eight hours with no
overtime and no paid breaks, and of feeling fear that they would
lose their job unless they over-worked
Several participants reported being overwhelmed by hard physical
labour and sustaining serious injuries due to fatigue, lack of
training or inexperience
4. Strategies for Increasing Job Satisfaction

All of the ten participants were able to move into
more satisfying positions using the following
strategies:





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Gaining Canadian experience
Adapting to the new employment culture
Defending their rights as workers in Canada
Having adequate childcare
Volunteering
Moving frequently from job to job in search of better
opportunities
Deciding to upgrade or retrain
Increasing Job Satisfaction,
Unresolved Problems:

Participants are only five years into the
livelihood rebuilding process.
Recommendations to address
unresolved problems:
A refugee working group reviewed the
findings and made recommendations,
including:



Promote anti-racism and antidiscrimination with
a refugee specific focus
Outreach to ethnic communities to ensure
members are well informed
Enforce employment standards
Recommendations, continued



Counselling services for refugees
 Longer term supportive and career counselling in addition to
the orientation, information, practical assistance and trauma
therapy currently available
Formalized volunteer program for refugees
 Refugee serving agencies should develop a volunteer program
so that refugees can access their field, learn the new culture of
their profession, make contacts and gain Canadian experience
Refugee mentorship and support group meetings
 Social support, encouragement, information
 Anti-discrimination/ anti-racism strategies
 Community building and mutual aid
In Conclusion


The strategies refugees use to successfully
overcome challenges to livelihood building
depend on their individual well-being and
capacity for action and are supported by
social and societal resources
The refugee working group has made
recommendations that would strengthen all
three domains