Working Paper Series
No. 09 - 02
April 2009
“You cannot settle like this”:
The housing situation of African
refugees in Metro Vancouver
Jenny Francis
Series editor: Linda Sheldon, SFU;
Krishna Pendakur, SFU and Daniel Hiebert, UBC, Co-directors
Metropolis British Columbia
Centre of Excellence for Research on
Immigration and Diversity
MBC is supported as part of the Metropolis Project, a national strategic
initiative funded by SSHRC and the following organizations of the federal
government:
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Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA)
Canada Border Services Agency
Canada Economic Development for the Regions of Quebec (CED-Q)
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC)
Canadian Heritage (PCH)
Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC)
Federal Economic Development Initiative for Northern Ontario (FedNor)
Human Resources and Social Development Canada (HRSD)
Department of Justice Canada
Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC)
Public Safety and Canada (PSC)
Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP)
The Rural Secretariat of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (Rural Sec’t)
Statistics Canada (Stats Can)
Metropolis BC also receives funding from the Ministry of Advanced Education
and Labour Market Development (ALMD) of the Government of British Columbia. Grants from Simon Fraser University, the University of British Columbia and the University of Victoria provide additional support to the Centre.
Views expressed in this manuscript are those of the author(s) alone. For
more information, contact the Co-directors of the Centre, Krishna Pendakur,
Department of Economics, SFU ([email protected]) and Daniel Hiebert, Department of Geography, UBC ([email protected]).
Table
List
of
of
Contents
Acronyms
6
Acknowledgements 6
Executive Summary
7
1.0 Introduction
1.1
1.2
1.3
14
The Onion: Layered Challenges for African Refugees
Research Methods
The Study Sample 2.0 Social Exclusion: Poor Housing Outcomes
in
14
21
23
Metro Vancouver 26
2.1
Overview
2.2 Refugees and housing 2.2.1 Government Assisted and Privately Sponsored Refugees
2.2.2 Refugee Claimants
3.0 Major Structural Forces: The Outer Layers 27
29
31
32
34
3.1 Lack of Money
3.1.1 Low Incomes for Racialised Newcomers and Refugees 3.1.2 Low Rates of Government Assistance (RAP and Welfare)
3.2 Lack of Information 3.2.1 Inadequate Orientation and Follow-up 3.2.2 Weak Social Support Networks
3.3 Lack of Affordable Housing 4.0 Institutional Barriers
34
34
38
43
43
47
48
50
4.1 Private Barriers
50
4.1.1 Discrimination and Exploitation in the Private Rental Market 50
4.1.2 Utility companies and billing agencies
60
4.2 Public Barriers
61
4.2.1 CIC Debt for Government Assisted Refugees
61
4.2.2 Long CIC Processing Times for Refugee Claimants
62
4.2.3 Barriers to Accessing Subsidised Housing 63
5.0 Overlapping Layers
and
Intersections: Housing
5.1 . . .Health
and
...
65
65
3
5.2 .
5.3 .
5.4 .
5.5 .
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Interaction with the Criminal Justice System
Lack of Educational Opportunities
Lack of Subsidised Daycare
Family Separation
6.0 Immigrant Serving Agencies
66
68
70
71
73
6.1 View from the Outside 6.2 View from the Inside
6.3 African Francophones: Doubly Minoritised 6.4 African Community Centre
7.0 Consequences
75
78
80
82
83
7.1 Consequences for African Refugees 83
7.1.1 Social Isolation and Psychological Stress 83
7.1.2 Difficulties Advocating for Themselves
84
7.1.3 Instability, Substandard Housing and Vulnerability to Homelessness 87
7.2 Consequences for Canadian Society 89
8.0 Success Stories: What Worked
91
9.0 Recommendations 92
10.0 Conclusion
97
Appendix A:
104
Case Study: Daniel (RC)
104
Appendix B
106
Case Study: Bernadette (GAR)
106
Appendix C
109
Case study: Patrice and Eveline (GARs)
Appendix D
109
112
Interview Questions: African refugees
Appendix E
112
113
Interview Questions: Settlement Workers
Appendix F
113
114
Focus Group Questions
114
Appendix G
115
CERTIFICATE OF APPROVAL - FULL BOARD References
115
116
4
List
of
Figures
Figure 1. ISA Representatives (settlement
groups assisted
workers) sorted by
Figure 2. Participants’
countries of origin
Figure 3. Status
on entry
Figure 4. Length
of time in
Figure 5. Status
at time of interview
Figure 6. Educational
Figure 7. Official
Figure 8. Place
Figure 9. Type
(n=61)
24
Metro Vancouver 26
26
attainment
26
language ability at time of interview
26
30
30
of residence at time of interview
Figure 11. GARs
Figure 12. GARs’
Figure 13. RCs’
real estate market participation
and
Figure 15. RCs’
PSRs’
32
housing stress
32
frequency of moving
stress
Figure 17. Sources
housing wage in
October 2006
of income
rates in
Figure 20. Refugees’
33
38
38
2007
welfare rates in
33
33
real estate market participation
Figure 16. Minimum
32
and overcrowding
Figure 14. Housing
Figure 18. RAP
24
of residence at time of interview
Figure 10. GARs’
Figure 19. BC
24
39
2005 use of welfare
41
41
Figure 21. Housing starts by intended market,
Vancouver CMA, 1996-2004
49
Figure 22. Family
72
separation for
RCs
5
List
of
AMSSA
BC
BCAAF
BCSAP
CCR
CMHC
CHRA
CIAI CIC CMA
CMHC
EAL EI
GAR ISA ISS LICO LSIC MEIA
MSP
NOS OLA PR
PSR
RAP
RC
SIN SPARC
TR TRAC
TWF UN
UNHCR
Acronyms
Affiliation of Multicultural Societies and Service Agencies
of British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia Association of African Francophones
British Columbia Settlement Assistance Program
Canadian Council for Refugees
Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation
Canadian Housing and Renewal Association
Centre of Integration for African Immigrants
Citizenship and Immigration Canada
Census Metropolitan Area
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation
English as an Additional Language (formerly ESL)
Employment Insurance
Government Assisted Refugee
Immigrant Serving Agency
Immigrant Services Society (operates Welcome House)
Low Income Cut-Off (the “poverty line”)
Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Canada
Ministry of Employment and Income Assistance (“welfare”)
Medical Services Plan of British Columbia
National Occupancy Standards
Official Languages Act
Permanent Resident
Privately Sponsored Refugee
Resettlement Assistance Program
Refugee Claimant
Social Insurance Number
Social Planning and Research Council of British Columbia
Temporary Resident
Tenant Resource and Advisory Centre
Total Welfare Income
United Nations
United Nations High Commission for Refugees
Acknowledgements
This project received funding from the Homelessness Partnering Secretariat, Human
Resources and Social Development Canada (HRSDC). Photo credits: Jenipher Wasike
and Paul Mulangu.
The research and recommendations are the responsibility of the author of the report
and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Homelessness Partnering Secretariat,
Human Resources and Social Development Canada (HRSDC).
6
Working Paper Series
“You cannot settle like this”: The housing
of African refugees in Metro Vancouver
situation
Jenny Francis
Department of Geography, University of British Columbia
Executive Summary
Despite their increasing numbers, there has been little research about
Africans in the Canadian context. Their experiences are usually subsumed
under categories such as “Visible Minority” or “Black,” which both show the
continuing salience of race in Canadian identity constructions and also conceal
the variety of experiences within black communities.1 For African refugees arriving in Metro Vancouver, housing is a crucial component of settlement and
integration; not only is it the first and most immediate need for people who
have just arrived, but where one lives affects, and is affected by, other social
relations. While some of the housing challenges African refugees face also
1 Ongoing conversations among writers and others about whether “black” and/or “white” should be capitalized when referring to racialised groups reflect the difficulties of writing sensitively and consistently about
a fundamentally problematic concept. Language is constantly in flux. The main question is: how can we
address racism?
7
8
MBC: “You cannot settle like this”
affect other newcomers, it is necessary to understand how challenges are
layered and compounded in specific ways for particular groups. The central
finding of this report is that African refugees are facing an availability and affordability crisis in Metro Vancouver that forces them to accept substandard
housing that is neither suitable, adequate nor affordable, and that these unstable conditions are both symptomatic and generative of other problems.
Based on interviews with sixty-one African refugees, as well as ten representatives of Immigrant Serving Agencies (ISA), eight of whom also immigrated
from Africa, this study provides an overview of the challenges African refugees
face in accessing suitable and affordable housing, identifies gaps in service
provision, and concludes with seven policy recommendations.
The metaphor of an onion is used to demonstrate how overlapping configurations of race, gender, socioeconomic class, immigration status and family
composition affect the housing trajectories of African refugees. The outer
layers of the onion represent larger structural factors facing Canadians and
newcomers generally: low income, lack of information, and lack of affordable
rental housing. Peeling away those layers, the report finds that coming as
a refugee of any class confers further disadvantages, and these are exacerbated as a result of persistent stereotypes if one is African/Black. Institutional
barriers comprise the middle layers and include discrimination in the private
rental market, as well as obstacles presented by public institutions, such as
the CIC (Citizenship and Immigration Canada) travel loan for Government
Assisted Refugees (GARs), long processing times for Refugee Claimants (RCs),
and barriers to accessing subsidised housing. If we continue to peel away
the layers, it becomes evident that problems are further compounded if one
is a woman, a single parent, unable to read or speak English, educated only
to a primary school level, suffering from trauma or ill health, or the survivor
MBC: “You cannot settle like this” 9
of several years in a refugee camp. At the heart of the onion is a homeless
African woman refugee with limited English and literacy skills who is also a
single parent with several children, and who came from a protracted refugee
situation.
However, while the report approaches those at the heart of the onion, they
are not represented in the study sample as a consequence of the pathways
along which participants were recruited. These networks do not include sites
of extreme marginalisation, such as homeless shelters, so that as a result, the
people at the very bottom of the social ladder are also excluded; their lives are
too unstable to permit an interview with an unknown university researcher.
When corroborated with evidence from previous research, it seems that those
who took part in the current study likely represent a “middle” experience; they
are neither the poorest nor the most well off. However, if the people in this
report represent the average African refugee experience in Metro Vancouver,
then the challenges are immense indeed.
In order to better understand African refugees’ housing experiences and
seek solutions, the study also employs the concept of “social exclusion,” which
is the inability of certain groups or individuals to participate fully in Canadian
life due to inequalities in access to resources arising out of intersecting social
and economic disadvantages. The framework of social exclusion is important
first, because it puts the burden of addressing marginalisation on the society
rather than on the individuals who are its victims, and secondly because, like
the layers of an onion, the characteristics of social exclusion occur in multiple dimensions simultaneously and are mutually reinforcing. Thus, people
living in low income areas are also likely to experience substandard housing,
inequalities in access to education and employment, social service deficits,
disconnection from civil society, increased health risks, stigmatization, and
10 MBC: “You cannot settle like this”
isolation. Metro Vancouver has the most expensive housing market in Canada
and a consistently low vacancy rate, which is exacerbated by the declining
availability of non-market housing and various forms of income assistance.
For many African refugees, these conditions have led to chronic poverty and
inadequate housing as they are forced to spend most of their revenue on accommodation with little or none left for other needs.
Within this larger context, the report finds that a key difference between
GARs and RCs coming from Africa is that the former tend to arrive with large
families of up to eleven people, often headed by a single parent while, due to
the difficulties of getting here from Africa, RCs tend to arrive as singles or couples with one or two children. Immigration status also affects the type of assistance refugees receive, so that GARs and RCs tend to move along different
initial housing trajectories. GARs’ housing experiences are characterised by
overcrowding and an inter-generational cycle of poverty and hunger, in part
due to the strain caused by low Resettlement Assistance Program (RAP) allowances, which are further compromised by CIC transport loan repayments.
The larger the family, the greater the difficulties as both debt and living costs
are higher. Further, because RAP payments are so low, GARs cannot afford
apartments large enough to adequately accommodate them, so it is common
to find, for example, eight or more people living in three bedrooms. Due to
the difficulties in finding accommodation, GARs tend not to move even when
they are living in desperate conditions. In contrast, RCs “bounce around” more
than GARs; their housing trajectories are characterised by chronic instability,
which is linked in important ways to long processing times for work permits
(which forces them onto welfare), refugee determination (resulting in long
term temporary status and costly legal fees), and family reunification (forcing
RCs to maintain two households for up to several years and causing extreme
MBC: “You cannot settle like this” 11
stress). GARs’ and RCs’ experiences converge, however, around poverty, language difficulties, underdeveloped social networks, exploitation by unscrupulous landlords and employers, and discrimination.
There is also widespread agreement that mainstream ISAs can be intimidating or unwelcoming for African refugees, especially women and those from
protracted refugee situations. Yet unlike some newcomer groups who enter
a relatively well-developed social network that can help overcome deficits in
service provision, the legacy of past discrimination and relatively small numbers of African migrants in Vancouver mean that African refugees do not enter
a well-developed network of landlords, business people, politicians or professionals. Without these extra supports, inadequate orientation to Canadian
life and lack of accompaniment services are crucial factors inhibiting African
refugees’ smooth integration, as they have to figure things out for themselves
and often make costly mistakes. Within these contexts, francophone Africans
are doubly minoritised. Although speakers of other languages face similar
challenges, French speakers from Africa are in a special position due to the
status of French as an official language in Canada, yet they are frustrated
by the lack of appropriate services in French. Moreover, due to the choice
of “mother tongue” in the Official Languages Act as the criteria for defining
French speakers outside Quebec, African francophones are not counted in
Canadian censuses because their mother tongue is a local language. As a
result, funding is not allocated for adequate services in French, while agencies geared to the needs of Canadian francophones coming from Quebec are
unable to adequately address refugees’ needs.
In terms of vulnerability to homelessness, the risk for African refugees
is extremely high, although levels and characteristics vary for GARs and RCs.
Seventy-three percent of RCs in this study had experienced at least one epi-
12 MBC: “You cannot settle like this”
sode of homelessness since arriving and several were living in extremely precarious accommodation at the time of the interviews. In general, RCs’ housing
experiences depend in large part on the networks they initially get connected
into. Only a fortunate few find a place in a refugee transition house—most are
left to fend for themselves and many fall through the cracks. In contrast, GARs
are funded by RAP for their first year. However, because they receive so little
settlement support, many go from RAP to welfare, under which the monthly
allowance is even lower. GARs need more supports because many come from
protracted refugee situations and the trauma that has resulted from their experiences does not necessarily go away after one year. Also, GAR families have
no opportunity to build assets because without access to affordable daycare,
single parents are forced onto welfare, while learning a language takes years,
especially if one is also struggling with literacy. Together, these factors make
finding employment difficult. As a result, GARs are extremely vulnerable to
homelessness because any unexpected cost or change in financial or residential arrangements can tip them into crisis. Potential shocks include eviction,
rise in rent, fire, redevelopment, conflict with neighbours or landlords, illness,
and so forth. Although a Canadian family might recover from those events
without slipping into homelessness, for African GARs, unfamiliarity with the
system, lack of family and other supports, restrictions on the availability of
subsidised housing, as well as a low vacancy rate and large family size, mean
that once they become homeless, it is difficult to get back into housing. In
the current study, 14 percent of GARs had experienced at least one episode of
homelessness, and there have been several recent cases of families of seven
and eight remaining homeless for months at a time.
MBC: “You cannot settle like this” 13
Recommendations
While the report repeats recommendations from previous studies, the urgency surrounding them increases with each day that needs continue to go
unmet.
1. Provide intensive orientations on arrival for at least two weeks,
including accompaniment.
2. Speed up processing times (family reunification, refugee determination,
work/study permits).
3. Waive the repayment of CIC travel loans for GARs.
4. Make Rental Assistance Programs and subsidised BC Housing available
to refugees on arrival.
5. Raise RAP rates.
6. Expand ISAs’ mandate and funding so they can effectively assist
refugees with housing.
7. Provide transitional housing where refugees can live for up to five
years with extra support.
14 MBC: “You cannot settle like this”
1.0 Introduction
“If you look at the paper, we are Canadian, but psychologically we don’t
believe we have a voice, and if we don’t have a voice, we can’t contribute,
because you cannot contribute to a country when you feel like you are on
the edge. You have to be inside the house, be part of the place. We are
here, but we are really just hanging on the edge of the house . . .Whether
people are educated, self taught, or whatever, we don’t feel like we have a
program. There are so many problems.” –Pierre
“They call us ‘visible minority,’ but I would say ‘invisible minority.’”
–César
1.1 The Onion: Layered Challenges for African Refugees
Despite their growing numbers, there have been few studies focusing on
the experiences of continental African immigrants in the Canadian context.2
This is in part because their experiences are usually subsumed under categories such as “Visible Minority” or “Black,” which both show the continuing
salience of race in Canadian identity constructions, and also conceal the range
of experiences within black communities. In fact, “Black” is one of only two
Visible Minority categories that have no specific national or geographic reference (the other is “Arab”); this is in contrast to Asians and Europeans who are
usually broken down into more specific divisions. In general it may be said
that as a group, African refugees’ experiences are located at the intersection
of at least three categorical descriptors that have become synonymous with
disadvantage in Canada: “Refugee,” “Black,” and “Visible Minority.” Because there are so few studies focusing specifically on the experiences of continental Africans in Canada, their stories must be teased out from
2 For exceptions, see the anthology edited by Wisdom J. Tettey and Korbla P. Puplampu, The African
Diaspora in Canada: Negotiating Identity and Belonging (Calgary: University of Calgary Press, 2005).
MBC: “You cannot settle like this” 15
more general studies of refugees, persons identifying as black, and Visible
Minorities. In the housing market, members of these “groups” experience
well-documented challenges related to low incomes and discrimination based
on skin colour, source of income, family size, and immigration status; overall,
whites do better than Visible Minorities in terms of both income and housing
outcomes. According to Statistics Canada (2007), the incomes of members of
the African population in Canada are below those of the rest of the population
by an average of six thousand dollars per year. In 2001, 40 percent had incomes below the poverty line, compared to 16 percent for the rest of the population, while 47 percent of African-Canadian children were living in poverty,
compared to 19 percent for the general population. Given these statistics, it
is not surprising that across Canada, those who identify as “Black” are also
among the groups with the lowest home ownership rates (Hiebert, Mendez and
Wyly 2008). In addition to low incomes, many studies have identified racism
on the part of landlords and housing providers to be among the most formidable barriers to accessing affordable and appropriate housing facing black
Africans (e.g., Danso and Grant 2000; Miraftab 2000; Danso 2001; Teixeira
2006, 2008; Dion 2001, and others). People identifying as black typically live
in neighbourhoods with the highest density, lowest average educational attainment, and the highest percentage of low-income families and unemployment (Fong and Gulia 1999; Myles and Hou 2004). For example, in Toronto,
Murdie and Teixeira (2000) found Black Africans and Caribbeans to be among
those with the most problematic housing conditions, with racial discrimination
seemingly the major barrier preventing more successful integration. Similarly,
Murdie (2003a) found that Somali immigrants in Toronto faced greater affordability challenges than either Jamaican or Polish newcomers, with over 70
percent paying more than 30 percent of their income on rent, and 50 percent
16 MBC: “You cannot settle like this”
paying more than half their income. Hiebert et al. (2006) also found that
black people face the greatest financial difficulties of any group in the Toronto
housing market. Similarly, Danso and Grant (2000) found that the majority
of Black Africans in Calgary are living in core housing need. As a result of
low incomes (due in part to discrimination in the labour market) as well as
discrimination in the private rental market, they are forced to accept housing
that is overcrowded, unsuitable and inadequate. Again, in Montreal, Rose,
Germain and Ferreira (2006) show that despite lower rents, higher vacancy
rates, and relatively large black and African populations (25 percent and 12
percent respectively), African refugees still face greater housing challenges
than any other group.
Although all black Africans are forced to contend with the racism that
pervades Canadian society, those who come as economic immigrants have
advantages over those who come as refugees. Immigrants generally arrive
with money, education, pre-existing social networks, and other resources that
enable them to integrate successfully into Canadian society. In contrast, due
to their low incomes and lack of social networks or assets, on top of trauma
and family separation, refugees are disproportionately disadvantaged in the
housing market. In this context, Hiebert and Mendez (2008) find that although
overall averages for immigrants indicate progressive housing trajectories, this
is not the case for the vast majority of refugees. Even four years after arrival, less than 20 percent have achieved home ownership (and this figure is
regarded as astonishingly high, given the challenges they face), compared
to 60 percent for Family Class migrants and nearly 75 percent for Economic
Migrants. Case studies of major Canadian cities demonstrate that the disadvantages refugees face in the housing market constitute a national trend. In
a study of Mozambicans and Angolans in Toronto, Teixeira (2006) found that
MBC: “You cannot settle like this” 17
those who came as refugees face the greatest housing challenges, including
overcrowding, frequent moves, and unaffordable and substandard housing.
Murdie (2005) also found that in Toronto, both RCs and GARs face immense
affordability challenges that force them to “trade off” between shelter, food,
clothing, and other essentials. Similarly in Montreal, Rose and Ray (2001)
found that refugee claimants spend inordinately high portions of their income
on rent, and that even though rents in Montreal are considerably lower than in
Toronto or Vancouver, refugees are among the most precarious social groups,
with 61 percent spending over 50 percent of their income on rent. What
these authors demonstrate is the existence of a disconnect between refugee
settlement and housing policy. One manifestation of this gap is that ISA staff
are unable to assist with housing due to lack of knowledge, resources or mandate, while housing providers lack the cultural and linguistic sensitivity that
would enable them to adequately assist refugees, particularly those coming
from protracted refugee situations (Wasik 2006). Since immigrants are able to
draw on other resources, they are generally able to find, and even purchase,
adequate housing, while refugees struggle to find even appropriate rental
housing.
In BC, Yu, Ouellet and Warmington (2007) also found that low incomes
and high rents constitute a major barrier for refugees in finding “permanent”3
housing. Specifically, for GARs low RAP rates mean that over 50 percent of
refugees in BC spend more than 50 percent of their income on rent. Despite
spending such a high proportion of their income on accommodation, Mattu
(2002) found in Vancouver that refugees suffer from overcrowded, poorly
maintained, and unaffordable housing for which they are forced to pay higher3 Although many authors have used the phrase “permanent housing” it is unclear what is meant by this
term since rental housing can never be considered permanent, given the constant possibility of eviction
(whether due to redevelopment, sale, conflict, landlord’s relatives arriving, or any other reason).
18 MBC: “You cannot settle like this”
than-normal deposits, while complaints to landlords are ignored and deposits
are not returned. Refugees also face discrimination based on family size and
source of income. It is worrying in this context to note that families constitute
the fastest-growing group of homeless people in Canada (Hulchanski 2004b).
Looking at the experiences of Somali and Kurdish refugees in Vancouver,
Miraftab (2000) found that refugees tend to arrive in large and/or fragmented
households, often headed by single parents. Further, due to language difficulties, racism, low incomes, lack of references, and administrative barriers to
accessing subsidised housing, overcrowding is common, with 63 percent of
those interviewed living in illegal basement suites that are also substandard.
Moreover, some refugees have to lie about the number of children they have
in order to convince a landlord to take them; this is extremely painful and
puzzling for families who love and deeply value their children (see also Murdie
2003a). In another study, Hiebert, D’Addario and Sherrell (2005) found high
levels of hidden homelessness among refugees in Vancouver, as well as overcrowding, unsafe neighbourhoods, substandard accommodation, and discrimination based on skin colour, family size, ethnicity, gender, source of income
and immigration class. They also found that refugees lack information about
public housing, which in any case is extremely rare in Vancouver, and that low
incomes present almost insurmountable barriers. All of the RCs they spoke to
spent more than 50 percent of their income on housing in the first six months
after arrival. Although that figure was later reduced for a few people, it is
clear that all the refugees in that study began their lives in Canada in poverty.
This is important not only in terms of human suffering but also because these
initial experiences have long-term effects (Hiebert and Mendez 2008). For African refugees settling in Metro Vancouver, housing is a crucial
aspect of settlement and integration that affects and is affected by all other
MBC: “You cannot settle like this” 19
aspects. Thus their housing conditions cannot be studied in isolation from
family composition, immigration status, employment situation, and widespread discrimination in the housing and labour markets. This study looks at
the housing trajectories of sixty-one African refugees who have immigrated to
Metro Vancouver over the last ten years in order to provide an overview of the
challenges they face in accessing suitable affordable housing, identify gaps in
available service provision, and make policy recommendations. In addition,
the study also includes ten interviews with representatives of local Immigrant
Serving Agencies (ISAs), eight of whom also immigrated from Africa. According
to the 2006 Canadian census, there are approximately 27,000 people of African
origin living in Metro Vancouver, while 20,670 identify as Black. Although only
a portion of either of those groups immigrated to Canada as refugees, a study
of this size is unlikely to be fully representative of the entire African refugee
population in Metro Vancouver;4 the aim of this study is to reveal patterns and
identify particular groups whose needs are not being adequately met under the
current system. Key research questions centered around the adequacy, suitability and affordability of refugees’ current housing; the processes through
which they found accommodation and the challenges they faced; the nature
and extent of assistance they received; and suggestions for policy makers and
service providers to improve the housing situations of African refugees. In
other words, how are African refugees coping in Vancouver’s housing market?
Are they able to access suitable, affordable housing? Without additional study
it is difficult to say how accurately the sample represents the “average” experience of African refugees in Vancouver. However, in the context of the extensively documented challenges that are known to exist for Visible Minorities
4 For example, sexual orientation as an axis of social inequality and/or variable affecting housing was not
examined, nor was age, religion, country of origin, language, etc.
20 MBC: “You cannot settle like this”
and refugees generally, the findings underline the fact that African refugees
face immense barriers in the housing market.
A useful metaphor for understanding these processes is that of an
onion. The outer layers represent larger structural challenges faced by many
Canadians and newcomers generally: low incomes, lack of affordable housing,
and lack of information. Peeling away these outer layers, it becomes evident
that coming as a refugee of any class implies further disadvantages, which
are exacerbated as a result of persistent stereotypes when one is African/
Black. Institutional barriers comprise the middle layers of the onion and include discrimination in the private rental market, as well as obstacles presented by public institutions, such as the CIC travel loan for Government
Assisted Refugees, long processing times for Refugee Claimants, and barriers to accessing subsidised housing. If we continue to peel away layers, we
discover that problems are further compounded if one is a woman, a single
parent, unable to speak or write English, the survivor of years in a refugee
camp, or only formally educated to a primary school level. The combination
of these factors means that in terms of vulnerability to homelessness, African
refugees are at high risk indeed. At the heart of this metaphorical onion is a
homeless African woman refugee from a protracted refugee situation, who is
also a single mother with limited English and literacy skills. It is a disturbing
indication of the inadequacy of current settlement service provision that this
situation is becoming increasingly common in Metro Vancouver.
In order to better understand the challenges African newcomers face, this
study also employs the concept of “social exclusion,” which is the inability
of certain groups or individuals to participate fully in Canadian life due to
inequalities in access to resources arising out of intersecting disadvantages
based in race, class, gender, disability, and immigrant status. The framework
MBC: “You cannot settle like this” 21
of social exclusion is important because it puts the burden of addressing marginalisation on the society and not on the individuals who are its victims. Like
the layers of an onion, the characteristics of social exclusion occur in multiple
dimensions simultaneously and are also mutually reinforcing. Thus people
living in low income areas are also likely to experience substandard housing,
inequalities in access to employment and education, social service deficits,
disconnection from civil society, increased health risks, stigmatization, and
isolation (Galabuzi 2006). The fact that there are immigrant households that
have been in Canada for more than ten years and still face acute affordability
issues demonstrates that some are locked into these vulnerable situations for
long periods of time (Hiebert, Mendez and Wyly 2008). 1.2 Research Methods
“We just hope that our voices may reach a higher point so that they can
hear what we are crying for.” –Paul
“I suggest you take five hours so I can tell you the suffering we are going
through . . .” –Kupakwashi
It is important to note that the pathways along which research participants are recruited affects who is represented in the study. In the current
study, participants were located through networks developed by the researcher
over several years of community involvement and which include connections
to local ISAs and African community groups. Participants were also found
through other interviewees, who tended to suggest people they knew in similar circumstances. The use of this snowball sampling technique implies some
limitations as these networks excluded homeless shelters and other sites of
extreme marginalisation, although flyers were posted in those sites. While
there were many stories circulating about people at the very bottom of the
22 MBC: “You cannot settle like this”
social ladder, they were ultimately excluded from the study because without a
permanent address or phone, the lives of traumatised homeless refugees who
may not speak English are so unstable that setting up an interview with an
unknown university researcher presented insurmountable difficulties. Thus,
although we approach the heart of our onion, the stories of those trapped in
its very centre are not revealed by this study. It is also possible that there are
African refugees in Metro Vancouver who have become extremely wealthy, and
it may be a limitation of the study that none are included in the sample, for
the simple reason that none were found during the recruitment process. This
is not surprising since, as discussed further below, a powerful social network
of professionals, civil servants, politicians or business people among African
immigrants and refugees does not exist in Vancouver. Also, while anecdotes
about those at the lowest end of the socio-economic spectrum were plentiful,
the researcher heard no stories of African refugees who had attained a place
at the top of the social ladder. In fact, only one refugee in the current study has a mortgage for an apartment.5 This particular finding is supported by data
demonstrating disproportionately low rates of home ownership among both
refugees and those who identify as black (Hiebert, Mendez and Wyly 2008);
presumably those who fall into both categories are doubly marginalized in the
housing market. Moreover, the few studies that explicitly mention the experiences of African refugees paint an overall picture of poverty (Masinda and
Ngene-Kambere 2008), discrimination (Mattu 2002), poor housing (Danso
2001), and inadequate settlement service provision (Komeza 2007). This
is not to imply, however, that people who came from Africa to Canada under
other immigration categories and subsequently became economically successful do not exist.
5See Section 8, “Success Stories,” later in this paper.
MBC: “You cannot settle like this” 23
Interviews lasted from one to four hours (for interview schedules, see
Appendices D, E and F) and were semi-structured; the schedule was not followed precisely but rather used as a guide so that throughout the course of
the conversation, answers to all of the questions were obtained. Each participant interviewed as a refugee received a thirty-dollar honorarium. Although
most interviews were conducted in English, in a few cases a family member
who was also being interviewed assisted as an interpreter, while the two focus
groups were conducted in Arabic through an interpreter. Interviews primarily
took place in participants’ homes; however, five were held in cafés and two
in the researcher’s home. The focus groups took place at an ISA that participants regularly visit and where they felt comfortable. The interviews with
settlement workers occurred at their places of work. All the interviews except two were audio recorded. Following the interviews, the recordings were
transcribed by the researcher. The data was then coded using simple coding
techniques to draw out both quantitative and qualitative data for analysis and
interpretation. All of the names used in this paper are pseudonyms.
1.3 The Study Sample
“By the rules of the system I am tied already…Honestly, we want to talk
about the system and make it good—that’s why I’m talking to you like this.”
–Youssouf
In addition to the sixty-one people interviewed as refugees (thirty
women; thirty-one men), the study sample also includes interviews with ten
settlement workers who are employed at nine ISAs (fig. 1). Eight of the ten
settlement workers had immigrated from Africa. Altogether participants came
from a total of twenty countries in East, West, South and Central and South
Africa (fig. 2).
24 MBC: “You cannot settle like this”
Figure 1. ISA Representatives (settlement
workers) sorted by groups
assisted
Africans/
All newcomers
Mansa
Betty
Anita
Primarily RCs
Simon
Robert
Figure 2. Participants’
Primarily GARs
Garang
Tunde
Francophones
Kagiso
Thomas
Annie
countries of origin
In terms of status at the time of entry, fifteen of those interviewed as refugees came as Refugee Claimants (RCs), forty-two as Government Assisted
Refugees (GARs), and four as Privately Sponsored Refugees (PSRs)(fig.
3). Figure 3. Status
GAR
PSR
RC
42
4
15
on entry
(n=61)
69%
6%
25%
GARs are UNHCR Refugees selected abroad by the Canadian government. They have often lived some or all of their lives in refugee camps
and tend to have the lowest educational attainments among immigrant
groups, as well as the lowest capacity in either official language. A shift
in Canadian resettlement policy from selecting those deemed most likely
MBC: “You cannot settle like this” 25
to establish themselves independently in Canada, to those with the most
pressing needs, occurred in 2002. However, few changes were made to how
refugees are supported in their integration process, despite the fact that social programs geared to the mainstream do not adequately address refugee
needs, particularly those of single parent families coming from protracted refugee situations (Pressé and Thomson 2007). In contrast, PSRs are supported
in their resettlement by various private groups. Those in the current study
were sponsored by family members with the assistance of church groups. Of
the forty-six sponsored refugees, 80 percent had been in Canada three years
or less (fig. 4), and 89 percent were Permanent Residents (PR) (fig. 5). One
quarter had only primary school education or less (fig. 6), and two thirds could
not speak English (fig. 7). Had the interviews been conducted at the time of
arrival, even fewer would have spoken English. While some who flee persecution seek protection in a refugee camp, RCs
make their own way to the Canadian border. However, the number of RCs arriving from Africa is relatively small given the restrictive visa criteria, the geographical distances involved, and the fact that there are only four Canadian
visa offices on the entire African continent. Overall, RCs tend to have higher
official language abilities and education than GARs. Over half of those in
the current study had some postsecondary education (fig. 6), and all spoke
English, while nearly 50 percent spoke both English and French (fig. 7). This is
possibly because two thirds had been in Canada for at least three years (fig.
4). However, despite this, 40 percent were still Temporary Residents (fig. 5),
in one case for eight years.
Figure 4. Length
Less than 1 year
of time in
15
All
Metro Vancouver
25%
GARs & PSRs
14
30%
1
RCs
7%
26 MBC: “You cannot settle like this”
1 – 3 years
3 – 5 years
5 – 10 years
27
10
9
Figure 5. Status
44%
16%
15%
23
5
4
50%
11%
9%
4
5
5
27%
33%
33%
at time of interview
Permanent
Resident
Temporary Resident
Canadian citizen
47
7
7
Figure 6. Educational
Postsecondary
Secondary school
Primary school
All
16
33
12
77%
GARs & PSRs
41
89%
6
11%
11%
1
4
2%
9%
6
3
GARs & PSRs
8
17%
27
59%
11
24%
8
6
1
RCs
40%
40%
20%
attainment*
All
26%
54%
19%
RCs
53%
40%
7%
* Indicates attendance rather than completion
Figure 7. Official
English only
French only
Neither English nor French
Both English and French
language ability at time of interview
13
18
12
18
All
20%
30%
19%
30%
GARs & PSRs
5
11%
18
39%
12
26%
11
24%
2.0Social Exclusion: Poor Housing Outcomes
Vancouver
8
0
0
7
in
RCs
53%
0%
0%
47%
Metro
“If people have a good place to live, it makes all the difference to their
stability and ability to start a life . . . A whole series of things have to be
working in tandem, but without good housing, the rest become more tangled
and messy: you’re moving, missing mail, and the stress . . .” –Simon
“Without you having a place to put your head you are nothing, nothing. So
everything must start from housing.” –Esther
“Housing is a story and a half.” –Daniel
MBC: “You cannot settle like this” 27
2.1 Overview
Housing is one of the first and most immediate needs for newcomers,
and where one settles has long-term implications; housing is not only a basic
need but also impacts social relations. The housing choices of immigrants and
refugees are constrained by affordability, which is exacerbated by the declining
availability of non-market housing as well as various forms of income assistance, which has occurred in the context of neoliberal economic policies that
promote social polarization and increase poverty (Stapleton 2004; Hulchanski
2004b). For example, Hulchanski (2004a) shows how the wealth and income
gap between renters and owners is increasing across Canada. Hiebert, Mendez
and Wyly (2008) also find increasing polarization in the Vancouver housing
market. For the lowest income households, cuts in social spending have led to
chronic poverty as they are forced to spend most of their revenue on accommodation, with little or none left over for other needs such as food, medicine
or clothing (Hiebert, D’Addario and Sherrell 2005; Mattu 2002; Murdie 2003b).
For households at risk (spending at least 30 percent of their income on rent),
their average 2001 income of $19,300 was not much more than their average
housing expenses of $18,700. Overall, tenants at risk pay higher rents than
other immigrants and the Canadian born, while Visible Minorities pay higher
than average rents and have lower incomes. Peeling away a layer from our
onion, we find that the average total household income for black tenants at
risk in Metro Vancouver was $16,345. For black tenants paying at least 50
percent of their income on rent, their average total household income was only
$9,033 (Hiebert, Mendez and Wyly 2008). This possibly points to undeclared
income or high debt burdens. One settlement worker in this study mentioned
several families in which teenagers had gone thousands of dollars into debt
28 MBC: “You cannot settle like this”
to help their mothers pay for rent and food despite (or perhaps because of) a
lack of understanding around credit.
These racialised processes are also distinctly gendered. African women,
especially single women with children, are particularly disadvantaged in
Canadian society as they earn less than their male counterparts (Statistics
Canada 2007), suffer the most intense discrimination based on skin colour
and source of income (Dion 2001; Diène 2004; Novac et al. 2004), and are
more likely to be taken advantage of by landlords (Mattu 2002; Novac et al.
2004). Furthermore, refugee women are more likely to live in poverty than
men (Hiebert, D’Addario and Sherrell 2005). At the same time, young black
men are often assumed to be connected with crime or drugs and so also face
tremendous obstacles in the housing market (Hiebert, D’Addario and Sherrell
2005; Danso 2001).
When it comes to housing, by almost all accounts, Visible Minorities do
worse than whites, but in Vancouver, a careful distinction needs to be made
between people who immigrate as economic—especially Business Class—
migrants (often from Asia) and refugees. This is important because immigration category and housing outcome are closely linked; the lack of adequate
and secure housing disproportionately affects refugees so they face the most
difficult challenges (Wayland 2007; Hiebert and Mendez 2008). Vancouver receives the smallest ratio of refugees and also has the most expensive housing
market in Canada, with a vacancy rate that has not risen above 2 percent in
the last ten years and even dipped below 1 percent in 2008 (Hiebert, Mendez
and Wyly 2008; CMHC 2008). Measuring housing stress based on Longitudinal
Survey of Immigrants to Canada (LSIC) data, 96 percent of refugees in
Vancouver experience extreme, high or moderate housing stress in their first
six months (Hiebert, Mendez and Wyly 2006). Refugees also experience high
MBC: “You cannot settle like this” 29
levels of hidden homelessness (Hiebert, D’Addario and Sherrell 2005). In contrast, people from Asia tend to come as either Business or Family Class migrants and, as a result, these groups are often able to own homes inhabited by
extended families (Hiebert, Mendez and Wyly 2008). Refugees, however, tend
to be the least linked to social networks and come without savings (Wayland
2007; Mattu 2002). Discrimination further exacerbates these challenges. In
these contexts, a bundle of interconnected factors needs to be taken into account to comprehend the desperate housing situation of many African refugees. The central finding of this study is that African refugees are facing an
availability and affordability crisis in Metro Vancouver that forces them to accept substandard housing that is not suitable, adequate or affordable,6 and
these unstable conditions are both symptomatic and generative of other problems. Throughout this paper, these layered factors are examined separately,
but it is important to bear in mind that it is the overlapping and compounded
nature of the circumstances African refugees find themselves in that determines their housing trajectories.
2.2 Refugees and housing
At the time of the interviews, participants lived in Vancouver, Surrey,
Burnaby or New Westminster (fig. 8). The overwhelming majority (89 percent)
were in market housing, primarily basement suites or three-storey apartment
blocks (fig. 9). Most of the latter were located in larger complexes and were in
obvious need of improved maintenance and repairs both inside and outside.7
6 “Adequate” dwellings are those reported by their residents as not requiring any major repairs; “suitable”
dwellings are those that have enough bedrooms for the size and make-up of the resident households according to the National Occupancy Standards (NOS); and “affordable” applies to accommodation that costs
less than 30 percent of the resident’s gross income. For renters, shelter costs include rental payments and
utilities such as oil, gas, electricity, water, heat, municipal services, and so forth. (CMHC 2004)
7
Low-rise apartment complexes make up a disproportionate percentage of buildings in need of minor and
major repairs in Vancouver (Hiebert and Mendez 2008).
30 MBC: “You cannot settle like this”
Figure 8. Place
Vancouver
Burnaby
Surrey
New Westminster
Figure 9. Type
Basement
Apartment (3 storey)
Co-op
BC Housing
Other
of residence at time of interview
13
31
15
2
All
21%
51%
25%
3%
GARs & PSRs
7
15%
25
55%
12
26%
2
4%
6
6
3
0
RCs
40%
40%
20%
0%
of residence at time of interview
13
34
4
3
7
All
21%
56%
6%
5%
11%
GARs & PSRs
7
15%
32
70%
0
0%
3
6%
4
9%
6
2
4
0
3
RCs
40%
13%
27%
0%
20%
The photos below were taken in a complex where several participants
live. Although it is difficult to capture problematic housing conditions photographically because they cannot depict the smell of mould, bugs, rodents,
dampness, overcrowding, or the overall conditions, they can give some idea
of the conditions people are living in.
Sink coming detached from wall. Hole in floor to space below.
2.2.1 Government Assisted and Privately Sponsored Refugees
“. . . surviving by the grace of God.” –Michel
African GARs tend to arrive from protracted refugee situations in large
families with up to ten children, often headed by a single parent. Some studies
MBC: “You cannot settle like this” 31
refer to such families as “multi-barriered,” and it is tempting to understand the
layers of the onion that way. However, drawing on the concept of social exclusion, it is not the marginalized people that have the barriers; rather, the barriers are thrown up by the new society’s institutions and individuals. Just as it
is not having “black” skin but rather racism that creates a barrier, the problem
is not that African refugees have “too many” kids but that there are no apartments to adequately accommodate them, and no affordable daycare or living
wage work available. PSRs’ immediate housing needs are lower than GARs
due to the terms of the sponsorship agreement. However, they often struggle
with finding affordable housing in the long term, especially if the agreement
breaks down, as it did for Sarah, whose abusive husband drove her and their
four children out of the house. At the time of the interview, Sarah was living in
a refugee shelter and the children were in temporary foster homes. Moreover,
when the sponsored family members arrive, the cost of providing for several
dependents can severely strain sponsors’ resources, yet because of the terms
of the sponsorship agreement, sponsored relatives are not eligible for government support. This is true even if they are senior citizens, like John and
Charity, whose relatives are struggling to care for them with minimum wage
jobs. Despite their greater support needs, GARs and PSRs in this study overwhelmingly live in overpriced market housing in run-down complexes (fig.
10). Overcrowding is practically universal (fig. 11). Of the twenty-six GARs
interviewed who had three or more children, only one had more than three
bedrooms. Based on qualitative interview data on the affordability, suitability
and adequacy of participants’ accommodation, over 90 percent experienced
moderate, high or extreme housing stress (fig. 12), while 14 percent had suffered at least one episode of homelessness (fig. 10).
Figure 10. GARs’
real estate market participation
32 MBC: “You cannot settle like this”
Number:
Percent:
Own
0
0%
Rent (market)
43
93%
Figure 11. GARs
# family members
# bedrooms
BC Housing
3
7%
Ever homeless
6
14%
and overcrowding
6
3
Figure 12. GARs’
Low or none
Moderate
High
Extreme
Co-op
0
0%
and
8
3
3
1
PSRs’
GARs & PSRs
4
9%
7
15%
8
17%
27
59%
6
3
8
5
8
3
6
3
8
3
8
3
7
2
8
4
6
3
5
2
housing stress
11
11
11
32
All
17%
17%
17%
49%
2.2.2 Refugee Claimants
“Housing is soooo difficult, you look at it like a nightmare.” –Daniel
Unlike GARS, RCs from Africa tend to arrive as either singles or couples with one or two children. They usually have no idea where to stay and
often find themselves homeless within the first week, as whatever money
they came with runs out. At that point, they may stay at a shelter downtown
or sleep outside until they connect with somebody. The African RCs in this
study invariably began by looking for another black person, in hope that they
would understand their situation and offer assistance. For example, Iman
said, “It’s a long story, oh my God! I was eight months pregnant, I was very
very hungry! I was seeing people eat and just salivating with hunger! The
first black person I saw, I said, ‘Can you give me something to eat?’ He gave
me twenty dollars—it was like he gave me twenty million.” Ultimately, RCs’
housing trajectories depend on what kind of social network they get connected
into. A lucky few find a place in a transition house for RCs, but the rest are left
to fend for themselves, and many end up in extremely precarious situations.
MBC: “You cannot settle like this” 33
In general, RCs’ housing is characterised by instability and poverty, which is
related to the long processing times that prevent them from settling down,
with the result that they “bounce around” from place to place (fig. 13). RCs
in the current study experienced lower levels of housing stress than GARs (fig.
14), in part because one third were in subsidised housing8 (fig. 15). However,
nearly three quarters had been homeless at least once since coming to Metro
Vancouver (fig. 15).
Figure 13. RCs’
Years here
# moves
2
3
frequency of moving
5
3
Figure 14. Housing
Low or none
Moderate
High
Extreme
6
2
2
5
Own
1
7%
5
5
4
5
4
5
6
5
6
4
7
8
2
4
8
4
2
5
2
8
stress
RCs
40%
13%
13%
33%
Figure 15. RCs’
Number:
Percent:
3
4
11
11
11
32
All
17%
17%
17%
49%
real estate market participation
Rent
10
66%
Co-op
4
27%
BC Housing
0
0%
Ever homeless
11
73%
3.0Major Structural Forces: The Outer Layers
The following section examines how the conjunction of low incomes, low
rates of government assistance, lack of affordable housing, and lack of information affects African refugees’ housing situations.
8 This figure is much higher than the average for Refugee Claimants in subsidised housing, and indicates
a limitation of the study’s small sample size and snowball recruitment technique.
34 MBC: “You cannot settle like this”
3.1 Lack of Money
3.1.1 Low Incomes for Racialised Newcomers and Refugees
“You can’t get any good job as a refugee—for fifteen hundred dollars a
month? No way.”
–Focus Group
“It’s hard for Africans to get a job because they are Black.” –Thomas
“If you do manage to find a job, it will never be full time, it will never be
permanent, it will be low paid, and you find yourself in the ocean drowning.”
–Bernadette
Immigrants and refugees are often shocked at the reception they get in
the Canadian labour market. In order to get a foothold, they are often forced
to volunteer or start at the bottom; therefore much of their time is spent
catching up regardless of their skills or qualifications. There is also evidence
that refugees are misled about economic opportunities in Canada by Canadian
officials overseas. For example, Onani said, “They told me, ‘We need pharmacists.’ I told this guy, ‘No, I want to go to the USA,’ but he said, ‘No, there it’s
no good, but Canada will be very nice for you, Onani.’ So when I came, the
first question I asked was about working in my field and they told me, ‘No you
cannot work, you have to go to school.’ I said, ‘Okay, but I don’t have money,’
and they said, ‘That’s your problem!’ I’ve been here two years and I still earn
nothing—it’s not fair.” Recent immigrants also occupy jobs in the lower echelons of the labour market for longer periods of time than previous immigrant
groups (Wayland 2007; Hiebert, D’Addario and Sherrell 2005). Differential
outcomes have been attributed to discriminatory practices including extensive reliance on non-transparent forms of recruitment such as word of mouth,
which reproduces existing networks; demands for Canadian experience and
references; and the use of immigrant status as a proxy for lower human
MBC: “You cannot settle like this” 35
capital (Galabuzi 2006). As Onani’s story suggests, another factor is “skill
discounting,” or the devaluation of foreign credentials that are deemed sufficient in the country of origin and elsewhere, apart from Canada, and which
particularly affects visible minorities (Esses, Dietz and Bharwaj 2006; Esses et
al. 2007). Michel described the “catch 22” he found himself in when he went
for a job interview: “They said, ‘Your profile is too high, you are overqualified
to work in such a job.’ But that is how I talk, how can I force myself to be on a
lower level? On the one hand, my profile is too high; on the other side, they
don’t recognize my qualifications. . .it’s a huge barrier!” Not only are African
certifications arguably at the bottom of the accreditation hierarchy, but other
variables are also used to disqualify Africans from positions they are qualified
for, including accent, temporary status, and misunderstandings about cultural
differences (Laryea and Hayfron 2005; Danso and Grant 2000). This occurs
even when applicants have obtained their qualifications in Canada, leading
some researchers to ask, “What colour is your English?” (Creese and Kambere
2002; see also Diène 2004). Ahmed, who has been in Canada for eight years,
expressed his frustration:
I’ve been working in many different dirty jobs—factory, tree planting, se-
curity, warehouse, logging . . . I hold a Business Management Diploma, a
Private Investigations Diploma, I’m a graphic artist and a journalist . . . but
nobody trusts me! They still see me as an immigrant with an accent, even
though my diplomas are all from Canada and I got over 90 percent in all of
them!
Refugees face particular challenges. In addition to overall lower educational attainments for GARs, papers may be lost in flight or during a protracted
stay in a camp, or cannot be obtained from war zones. Consequently, GARs
with formal qualifications often give up ever having them recognized (Yu,
36 MBC: “You cannot settle like this”
Ouellet and Warmington 2007). For RCs, on the other hand, Dada believes
“that 9 [at the beginning of a SIN indicating temporary status] contributes
a lot because when [employers] see 9, they know that you are temporary
and that you don’t have experience . . . so it’s difficult to get a job with that
9 . . . and if you get one, you won’t get full payment like somebody that has
PR.” According to the findings of this study, African refugees are concentrated
in precarious employment (i.e., security, cleaning, warehouse, factory, etc.)
characterised by low pay, no job security, poor and often unsafe working conditions, excessive hours, and no benefits. Moreover, several people from this
study who work in the service industry and light manufacturing are on contracts from employment agencies that pay them a fraction of what they earn
and appear to be holding those contracts even though employers require the
workers permanently.
African refugee women especially suffer multiple forms of discrimination
that put them at the bottom of the economic ladder (Wasik 2006; Yesufu 2005;
Komeza 2007). For those who do not speak fluent English (whatever their
qualifications) or who have little formal education, cleaning is practically the
only employment option; 50 percent of the women in this study had worked or
were working as cleaners (see also Wasik 2006). At eight dollars per hour, the
pay is well below what could be considered a living wage. Moreover, most of
the work takes place at night, so the women may not return home until 3 or 4
a.m. After catching a few hours of sleep, they have to be up to get their older
children to school and look after the younger ones, then perhaps try to concentrate through an English class. For single mothers, such a routine quickly
becomes exhausting and can lead to the well-evidenced cycle of poverty associated with low wage labour. In addition, there are reports of chronic illnesses
among immigrant women who do cleaning jobs that require heavy lifting or
MBC: “You cannot settle like this” 37
exposure to dangerous chemicals without adequate protection, including several women from this study. Illnesses often go untreated because they get lost
in the daily struggle to survive, yet ultimately income is negatively affected
(Wasik 2006; Komeza 2007). The Minimum Housing Wage measures the level of hourly wages that a
household must earn to afford an average-rent unit without paying more than
30 percent of their before-tax income on housing. In Vancouver a single
parent must find a job paying almost three times the minimum wage to cover
the rent for the average two-bedroom apartment (fig. 16). However, in the
current study, 80 percent of GARs and PSRs were under- or unemployed or
earned ten dollars per hour or less. Only 33 percent of RCs and 17 percent
of GARs were working full-time, while 40 percent of RCs and 76 percent of
GARs were looking for work at the time of interview. Fifty percent of GARs
had never worked, even though only 21 percent were on RAP (fig. 17). Only
three participants earned more than fifteen dollars per hour. In the context
of these difficulties, some understood the problems they face in the housing
market as being due to affordability rather than availability; as Obiajulu explained, “There are lots of houses, but since I cannot find a good job I cannot
afford them.” The fact that only three out of the sixty-one refugees in the current study earn enough to afford an average two-bedroom apartment shows
that it is not sufficient to “just get a job” to address the problem of housing
affordability.
Figure 16. Minimum
housing wage in
October 2006
Vancouver average monthly rent
Required minimum wage ($/hr)
Bachelor 1-bdrm 2-bdrm 3-bdrm Bachelor 1-bdrm 2-bdrm 3-bdrm
$701
$816
$1045
$1220
13.48
15.69
20.10
23.46
Source: Canadian Housing and Renewal Association, 2007
Real min. wage
$ / hour
8.00
38 MBC: “You cannot settle like this”
Figure 17. Sources
Working full-time
Working part-time
Never worked
Looking for work
RAP (GARs only)
12
12
22
38
9
of income
All
20%
20%
36%
62%
15%
GARs & PSRs
7
17%
9
20%
21
46%
32
70%
9
21%
5
3
1
6
0
RCs
33%
20%
7%
40%
0%
3.1.2 Low Rates of Government Assistance (RAP and Welfare)
Low RAP Rates for GARs
“I can say honestly we have to thank the federal government, but the
budget is not enough. There will always be somebody who says it is not
enough, but please let it be a little bit realistic. . .Although we have to say
thank you, we still have to look at what needs to be improved.” –Youssouf
“We have a food bank here at the church; without that, you cannot survive.” –Justice
When they arrive in Canada, GARs receive one year of government assistance through the federal Resettlement Assistance Program (RAP). However,
given the level of RAP payments (and the need to repay the CIC travel loan,
discussed below), even where a dwelling large enough for families can be
found, GARs cannot afford it. In Vancouver, the average rent for a two-bedroom apartment is $1071 while a three-bedroom is $1500 (CMHC 2008);
however, the total RAP allowance for a family of five is only $1447, and as
family size increases, so do the difficulties (fig. 18). Because of low RAP rates,
GARs are forced to convince landlords to allow extra people, which results in
families of four to eleven sharing two- or three-bedroom apartments, while
single mothers with one to three children live in bachelor suites or share
a two-bedroom apartment with another newcomer. Moreover, even though
they live in small apartments, African refugee families pay high rents because
MBC: “You cannot settle like this” 39
landlords inevitably charge extra for additional occupants. It is important
to emphasize that the overcrowding among African refugees in Vancouver is
predicated upon survival rather than a deliberate strategy working towards
homeownership. While the level of RAP payments are possibly sufficient elsewhere Canada, in Metro Vancouver current RAP rates mean that GARs have
to spend money intended for food on rent and utilities. As one settlement
worker pointed out, “There are the homeless and the foodless. The homeless
are visible because they are on the street; the foodless are ‘invisible’ African
refugees who go to bed hungry.”
Figure 18. RAP
Individual
Family of 2
Family of 3
Family of 4
Family of 5
Family of 6
Family of 7
rates in
SHELTER
$400
$620
$655
$690
$725
$760
$795
FOOD
$235
$307
$508
$615
$722
$829
$936
2007
TOTAL
$ 635
$ 927
$1,163
$1,305
$1,447
$1,589
$1,731
ANNUAL
$7,620
$11,124
$13,956
$15,660
$17,364
$19,068
$20,772
Source: Immigrant Services Society, June 2007
Low Welfare Rates
“It’s not my fault, I wasn’t lazy in Africa!” –Justice
For those forced to rely on government income assistance, life is very
hard indeed. In BC a single parent with one child receives just 54 percent of
the Low Income Cut-Off (LICO), and a single “employable” only 31 percent
(fig. 19). However, poverty cannot be defined simply in terms of absolute
minimum levels of material well-being; it is also necessary to look at an individual’s or group’s position relative to other people in the society. In some
ways, refugees share the same problems as others, but their challenges are
intensified because they are also trying to learn the language and customs of
40 MBC: “You cannot settle like this”
a new country and have been through traumatic experiences. One discouraged settlement worker said she feels
helpless and hopeless about housing . . . the city is becoming more and
more expensive and people still need places to stay. . . and the money they
give on income assistance—if they give $375 and they know there is nowhere in Vancouver that they can get housing, then there has to be some
way to bridge the gap. After all, some people are going to be on income
assistance not because they don’t want to work but because their circumstances don’t allow them to. In the current study, approximately one third of all refugees interviewed were
on income assistance at the time of interview, while 43 percent of GARs and
100 percent of RCs had relied upon it at some time (fig. 20). Thus, perhaps
more important than the question of whether welfare rates should be raised
is addressing the ways in which African refugees are forced onto government
assistance.
Figure 19. BC
welfare rates in
2005
Total Welfare Income
(TWF)
$6,456
Single “employable”
$10,656
Person with a disability
$13,948
Lone parent, one child
$18,466
Couple, two children
Source: National Council of Welfare 2006
Figure 20. Refugees’
Currently on welfare
Ever used welfare
19
35
Low Income Cut-Off
(LICO)
$20,778
$20,778
$25,867
$38,610
TWF as % of
LICO
31%
51%
54%
48%
use of welfare
All
31%
57%
GARs & PSRs
15
33%
20
43%
4
15
RCs
27%
100%
One major barrier for RCs is the amount of time needed to obtain a work
permit. RCs in the current study waited between six months and one year.
This basically results in a time of enforced welfare, yet as Mamoud insisted,
“We want to work! But we need the papers to come on time! That would make
MBC: “You cannot settle like this” 41
a real difference!” One alternative is to work under the table, which two participants admitted doing. Daniel worked for ten dollars per hour (but did not
get paid for all hours), and Fatuma worked for eight dollars per hour (however, after working one month, she was accused of stealing and fired without
pay). In these cases, coping strategies actually served to increase vulnerability. At the same time, enforced inactivity can also affect mental health. For
example, Iman observed, “It took one year for my work permit and Mamoud,
around eight months . . . all the time I had a headache, I had no hope, no
money, nothing! Me and Mamoud were fighting like cats and dogs . . . I was
depressed about everything.” While RCs are forced onto welfare by long processing times, GARs often
move from RAP to welfare in part because they receive so little settlement support in their first year and also because issues around language and trauma
cannot always be resolved in such a short time period. Another factor is the
lack of affordable daycare, which forces many single parents to stay home and
collect income assistance even when they want to work or study. Moreover,
as low as RAP rates are, GARs forfeit them if they work, a limitation of the
RAP program that many see as counterproductive because it prevents families
from building assets, which in turn leads to more difficulties when the year
finishes. Regarding the lack of settlement support, Felix noted that, “When
the year [of RAP] expires is when most people get the really big problems
because they don’t get [settlement] assistance during that year, so when it’s
over you still don’t know what to do.” Kasinda, a single mother of seven with
limited English and only a few years of formal education, is perpetually looking
for work. She explained, “I’m so tired. Every month they ask, ‘Do you have a
job?’ No . . .‘Okay, next month you won’t get any money.’ I go there and cry,
‘Please give me a job! If you have a cleaning job, give it to me, I can work,
42 MBC: “You cannot settle like this”
just give me a job!’” Betty also pointed out that when GARs finish their year of
RAP, most have to move; they can no longer afford where they are staying because welfare rates are even lower than those provided under RAP, yet moving
is costly and undermines stability.
Finally, a related issue arises for refugees who are disabled. Afua,
Bernadette, Afifa, and Ahmed were tortured before coming to Canada, yet
they are expected (by welfare workers) to take jobs as cleaners or in warehouses, where the work requires heavy lifting or standing for long hours.
This lack of understanding is disturbing for refugees, who argue that they
were sponsored in part because they were tortured. Cecile, John, and Joseph
also have permanent disabilities that make it nearly impossible to find work
in Canada. Similarly, Fatuma’s and Billalou’s stories illustrate how an accident can set already vulnerable people back. Billalou could not work for nine
months following an automobile accident, while Fatuma has been unable to
work for two years because after waiting nearly a year for a work permit, she
broke her leg twice.
Not surprisingly, interviewees receiving income assistance unanimously
disliked it; they felt they were “accepting handouts” and that it prevented
them from advancing. For those with no alternative, this is a keen source of
frustration. Like many others, Marie insisted, “I don’t want to stay home! I’m
still young—just thirty-five, even if I have seven kids, I’m still a young strong
mother . . . I must work very hard to find money to take care of myself and
my kids, that’s all I want, but now I don’t have a job and I don’t know how to
write English . . . I just don’t know what to do.”
MBC: “You cannot settle like this” 43
3.2 Lack of Information
3.2.1 Inadequate Orientation and Follow-up
GARs
“Because we’re not citizens yet, we need to be shown how to do things first
. . . I’m not just waiting for people to do everything for me, but just show
me how and then I can do it myself.” –Adele
“The major limitation I have [as a settlement worker] is that I can’t accompany people.” –Anita
For the GARs in this study, the pressure to find a place to live started the
day after they arrived. Despite their best efforts, Welcome House,9 with its
one overstretched Housing Assistant who is also a newcomer, is unable to find
a place for every refugee who comes through the facility, meaning that some
people inevitably receive more assistance than others. Those with any English
at all are given a newspaper containing classified ads for rental accommodation; others are sent off with their deposit and a map. However, since most
African refugees cannot read maps, getting around is a difficult experience,
even if somebody has already found the apartment and made the arrangements. Much is taken for granted; some refugees from rural areas have never
read a newspaper before, much less attempted to interpret a classified ad for
a rental apartment in an unfamiliar urban setting (see also Wayland 2007).
As a result, there is a tremendous lack of information available and accessible
to refugees about how to find a place to live, and these difficulties are exacerbated for those who cannot use a computer, or who cannot speak or read
English. In her study of African refugee women in Vancouver, Wasik (2006)
also found that refugees conducted housing searches on their own without
9 Welcome House is a twelve-apartment reception facility run by ISS in Vancouver, offering temporary
accommodation (usually up to a maximum of fifteen days) to GARs who are resettled in BC from refugee
camps overseas.
44 MBC: “You cannot settle like this”
the help of a settlement counselor and that the failure of the government to
assist GARs with housing was a turning point in the women’s lives where they
experienced a sense of abandonment and desperation. In general, the process
of gathering information about housing can be quite random. According to
Youssouf,
The answer to the question, if anybody at ISS helps you to find a house,
honestly, no. They just give us the newspapers and then you check yourself
. . . But even the system of calling in Canada is very different—we are always losing our money with continuously putting coins. They just disappear
and the phone at Welcome House is so busy . . . Then we don’t know the
city—even if you give me the map, I don’t know how to arrive there, or how
to buy a ticket . . . I got lost looking for my first place and when I arrived
there, it was nighttime and the owner had already left, and I didn’t have a
phone to call him, it was a horrible thing! It’s a serious problem to find a
house.
Similarly, Erasto remarked,
They leave you alone from the first day you arrive. The next day they just
give you a map and say, ‘go this way,’ but for most people from Africa, it’s
difficult to use a map, so it’s very hard. The other day I helped a single mom
who I met at Welcome House when I was there to see somebody. I knew the
place [where she was going] so I took her . . . She came one day and the
following day she just had the map—you see how people are challenged! Although individual needs vary, anyone who has visited a foreign country
will likely understand why accompaniment for at least a few weeks is crucial and why a longer period may be necessary for people who do not speak
English or who need extra help dealing with landlords. Lack of accompaniment
services is also a major barrier to accessing other assistance and information.
A woman in a focus group explained, “I have many papers of programs but I
MBC: “You cannot settle like this” 45
don’t understand the place. If somebody could just show me once, the next
day I could go by myself, but I have no help, so I just come here and go to
my son’s school. In my country I went everywhere, but here it’s very difficult
. . . If you are a single mother, you have nobody to help you.” Within the first
few days of their arrival, GARs are given a brief orientation and receive a large
folder of papers containing information about available settlement services,
but this takes place immediately after arrival, when they are still exhausted
and overwhelmed. Consequently, it is unsurprising that few can remember
anything of the orientation or access the information in the papers. When
asked if they had received an orientation at Welcome House, almost all of the
GARs in the current study insisted that they had not. Whether or not their
recollections are accurate, they indicate that whatever orientation they did
receive was insufficient for their needs.
Inadequate Assistance for RCs
“When I came, it was like I’m on a different planet . . . I couldn’t do it all
on my own.”
–Billalou
As Murdie (2005) found in Montreal, RCs face particular challenges because, unlike GARs, who go directly to a reception center (e.g., Welcome
House), most newly arrived RCs have no place to go. Simon described what
he called a “classic story”:
A fellow was released from a detention center in Maple Ridge at 11 p.m.
on a Friday. He somehow gets out to the main road and catches whatever
bus is going by . . . He tells the driver, “I’m new and I don’t know where I
am and I need help, so if you know any Ethiopian restaurants, just take me
there.” But the guy doesn’t know any Ethiopian restaurants, so the bus
comes all the way downtown . . . and the driver says, “‘It’s actually 1 a.m.,
and I have to shut the bus down—why don’t you come home with me?” So
46 MBC: “You cannot settle like this”
they agree that the guy will sleep in his car for the weekend and then on
Monday, they’ll find an Ethiopian restaurant . . . So that’s how it worked
out. Then I started getting these calls from various people: there’s someone
looking for housing. We had a space so he ended up here. But just the vulnerability of people! Absolutely no sense of where they are in the world. Esther’s description of her panic on being evicted after being wrongfully accused of theft emphasizes Simon’s point: “They said, ‘We want you to go.’ To go, go where? They said, ‘Just look for a house,’ but how do I look for a
house? How do people look for houses? Where do I go from here? I cried for
two days and asked God what was happening.” Esther also underlined the
need for orientation to Canadian life to help RCs avoid costly mistakes and
overcome fears:
Let them arrange a place where you can stay at least for one month where
they can teach you these things: if you need this, do that . . . You see, because we just learn the hardest way . . . nobody tells you anything so
you learn by yourself by doing the wrong thing . . . you are afraid—you don’t
know, so it’s difficult.
Because of the many disadvantages they face, the provision of adequate orientation services should seen as part of Canada’s humanitarian obligation
in the settlement of refugees, whether they come as sponsored refugees or
claimants. Not only would orientation and accompaniment services assist RCs
in their integration process, but they would also likely reduce their dependence on social income assistance later on.
3.2.2 Weak Social Support Networks
“If you are Chinese or Indian, there is a large community to help you, but
for Africans, that’s not the case—you have to do it yourself.” –Isaac
MBC: “You cannot settle like this” 47
Further compounding the difficulties stemming from lack of information
is the fact that relatively small numbers of African immigrants to BC and the
legacy of past discrimination have discouraged the growth of a well-developed
social network of landowners, managers, civil servants, politicians or professionals among people of African origin in Metro Vancouver. This adds another
layer to our onion because, as a result, the networks African refugees rely
upon tend to be marginalized and mis- or uninformed. Thus, as has been
argued in other contexts, although newcomers receive help through social
networks, those offering assistance are often in precarious housing situations
themselves, with little separating them from those they are assisting (Simich
et al. 2004; Hiebert, D’Addario and Sherrell 2005). In the current study, participants found that community networks were crucial, yet at the same time
many contrasted the experiences of Africans with those of people coming from
Asia, arguing that unlike other groups, Africans have to learn English before
they can find work or move ahead. Kwame pointed out that “the car dealer is
Chinese, the bank manager is Chinese, the construction foreman is Chinese .
. . [They] can find [their] network, and before you know it, everything is okay
. . . And me, I haven’t even crossed the first obstacle yet: upgrade! Science
grade 10, English 12 . . .” This is not to dismiss the challenges faced by other
groups, yet the fact remains that lacking effective support networks and sufficient orientation to Canadian life, African refugees are left to fend for themselves and many simply fall through the cracks. Independent immigrants also
lack information when they arrive, but they come with qualifications, professional contacts, urban experience, money and other resources. Refugees from
Africa come to Metro Vancouver with nothing and enter a relatively weak
social network. Consequently, they suffer disproportionately from inadequate
orientation and accompaniment services.
48 MBC: “You cannot settle like this”
3.3 Lack of Affordable Housing
“Barriers to settlement in general? The biggest is affordability and avail-
ability of housing: there’s just hardly anything out there.” –Simon
“Most of the people I deal with struggle with affordable housing.”
–Garang
Due to increasing problems of affordable housing availability and homelessness, no Metro Vancouver municipality received either an A or a B grade
in the Municipal Report Card on Housing and Homelessness issued by the
Tenant Resource and Advisory Centre (TRAC 2007). Moreover, although rental
demand is increasing, rental supply is shrinking, especially at the lower-rent
end. A 2008 Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) housing
starts report notes that in 2008 over 98 percent of construction has been of
units for sale rather than for rent. This comes on top of a decade of similar
trends, and no new co-ops have been built in the last five years (fig. 21). As
always, resource shortfalls that affect the general population are exacerbated
for refugees on fixed incomes, especially single parents. Larger families face
particular challenges because there are few places to accommodate them,
while those that can are extremely expensive. Thomas complained that “BC
presents itself as a ‘family friendly province,’ but two bedrooms is not family
friendly! One bedroom is not family friendly! . . . People come with six kids,
brought by the government . . . in Africa people share bedrooms, but here
there are residency standards.” Figure 21. Housing
2004
Rental
#
%
1996
715
4.6
starts by intended market,
1997
1,248
7.8
1998
499
4.2
1999
988
11.4
2000
1,145
14
Vancouver CMA, 1996-
2001
2,721
25.1
2002
1,302
9.9
2003
944
6
2004
746
3.8
MBC: “You cannot settle like this” 49
Owned* #
%
Condo #
%
Co-op
#
%
5,149
33.3
9,505
61.5
83
0.5
4,937
31
9,694
60.8
71
0.4
3,710
31.2
7,669
64.6
0
0
3,912
45.1
3,762
43.4
0
0
3,602
43.9
3,421
41.7
29
0.4
4,054
37.3
3,960
36.5
124
1.1
5,569
42.2
6,275
47.5
51
0.4
5,759
36.9
8,923
57.1
0
0
6,037
31.1
12,647
65.1
0
0
* Excludes condos
Source: Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation 2005
The problems are not limited to families. Simon described the plight of
single people: “Economically you just can’t find a place that’s affordable on
your own, it’s chronic, so you end up going into some sort of bunking-in scenario.” Many single people pay between $375 and $500 for a room in a substandard basement suite shared with several other strangers paying the same
rate. Sometimes the bedrooms do not even have locks on them, which raises
concerns about privacy and personal safety. Onani commented, “When I came
here, I wanted to live properly. I also wanted to live alone, but the problem
is that I don’t have money, so you have to share . . . But even when you find
somebody to share with, the places you can find are not good . . . so I have
to accept this place.”
4.0 Institutional Barriers
“Sometimes I say to people that the racism is institutional because there
are so many laws that people don’t know about that limit things for immigrants. But they doubt you, they just say, ‘Oh if you’re an immigrant, you
can have all things just like a Canadian.’ It’s not true.” –Cecile
“I tell people we came to Canada, but even if you get citizenship, you are
not Canadian.”
–Patrice
“When you come here, you realize that you are down to zero.” –Lily
50 MBC: “You cannot settle like this”
4.1 Private Barriers
We have seen how broader structural concerns around low income, lack of
information and shrinking affordable rental stock affect African refugees. The
following section examines how discrimination in the private rental market
compounds these challenges. According to the findings of this study, discrimination leads to lengthier searches, inadequate housing, more expensive accommodation, and undesirable or unsafe neighbourhoods. These conditions
in turn contribute to substandard educational and employment opportunities
as well as poorer access to services such as health care and transportation.
In other words, delays in obtaining appropriate housing undermine African
refugees’ ability to access other services and can spark a complex cycle of
marginalization.
4.1.1 Discrimination and Exploitation in the Private Rental Market
“When you approach the landlord, you want to be as humble as you
can! ‘Where I came from in Africa, I never even killed a fly. Please give me a
chance, I’m not what you think I am!’—like that.” –Kwame
“It’s good to let people know what new immigrants could be going
through and maybe they can help. But when I say ‘help’ it’s not all about
giving money; there’s a lot of help you can provide as a neighbour or a citizen to someone who is just a newcomer. It is good for people to be aware
that even accepting a newcomer can make a big difference. . .But we can’t
do anything without the government: they need to sensitise people and let
them know there are people who come from other places . . . that could be
in need, and to be welcoming, because if you go somewhere and the people
are not welcoming then, you know, you can get depressed.” –Mamoud
There is extensive evidence showing that racism in the housing market is
a major barrier preventing members of Visible Minority groups from obtaining
MBC: “You cannot settle like this” 51
adequate and affordable housing in Canada. At the same time, discrimination
in the housing market is just one aspect of broader systemic racism in Canada
(Dion 2001; Fong and Gulia 1999). Here I will refer only to those studies that
describe the experiences of African/Black people, but it should be kept in mind
that there is also a significant body literature on the housing challenges faced
by Asians, First Nations, Arabs and other non-white residents of Canada. As
Visible Minorities, members of all of these groups face difficulties in both the
housing and labour markets; moreover, the legacy of colonialism in Canada
continues to exert a significant influence on the way non-white minorities are
perceived by some Canadians. A key difference, however, between Africans
and other groups is that Africans are the only group that was brought to Canada
as enslaved labour; although many Africans also entered as free women and
men, slavery persisted for over two hundred years (Mensah 2002). In contemporary times, Bashi (2004) argues that Western governments
individually avoid black immigration and that when viewed as a policy corpus,
their actions may be seen as an “anti-black immigration policy” on a global
scale. Danso and Grant (2000) also believe that Canadian immigration policy
does not encourage the settlement of African refugees, and the disproportionately low numbers (as well as the fact that there are only four Canadian
visa offices in Africa) appear to bear these claims out. Similarly, Richmond
(2001) argues that the use of deterrents by the Canadian government to prevent refugees from entering Canada constitutes institutional racism, given the
fact that most refugees today are of non-European origin. Thus, even though
explicitly racial categories have been removed, Canadian policy makers’ antiblack sentiments have continued, enabling them to claim to have transcended
racism while retaining racial hierarchies (Bashi 2004). Moreover, a recent UN
Mission to Canada found that policy makers were reluctant to admit the reality
52 MBC: “You cannot settle like this”
of racial discrimination, that the judicial system fails to protect victims of racist
discrimination, and that the insufficiency of resources allocated to anti-racist
strategies is a major limitation of existing attempts to address the situation
(Diène 2004). As Myles and Hou (2004) explain, one of the legacies of conquest and subjugation in Canada is an enduring racial hierarchy, or “vertical
mosaic” based on skin colour. For example, Teixeira (2008) found that in the
Toronto housing market, the darker one’s skin, the greater the barriers presented by landlords. Similarly, the Ethiopian and Somali refugees in Danso’s
2001 study believed that Black Africans are not welcome in Canada and would
never be accepted as equals by whites in Canadian society.
Every study that looks at the connections between discrimination and
housing concludes that racism and other forms of discrimination have negative consequences for housing. In fact, Dion (2001) insists that the negative impact of discrimination in the housing market cannot be overstated.
Furthermore, the greater the level of discrimination, the less successful the
immigrant’s overall incorporation into Canadian society. In this sense, it is
worrying that audits, academic research, and anecdotal evidence all suggest
that black immigrants experience more discrimination in the Canadian housing
market than other Visible Minority groups. What is more is that discrimination
tends to lead to the same negative consequences whether it occurs in Calgary,
Montreal, Toronto, Regina or Vancouver: overcrowding, unsafe neighbourhoods, substandard accommodation, higher rents, longer housing searches,
increased stress, less successful integration overall, more frequent moves,
housing segregation, social exclusion, absolute and hidden homelessness, and
even self-exclusion (Galster 1992; Bianchi et al. 1982; Teixeira 2006, 2008;
Danso and Grant 2000; Owusu 1998; Skaburskis 1996; Galabuzi 2006; Fong
and Gulia 1999; Myles and Hou 2004; Dion 2001; Mensah 2002; Henry et al.
MBC: “You cannot settle like this” 53
1995; Murdie 2003a, 2005; Novac 1996; Miraftab 2000; Mattu 2002; Danso
2001; Wasik 2006; Novac et al. 2004; Qadeer 2004; Mattu 2002; Preston
and Murnaghan 2005; Darden 2004; Hiebert and Mendez 2008; Hulchanski
and Shapcott 2004; Diène 2004; Hiebert, Mendez and Wyly 2008).10 Such
overwhelming evidence of the persistent discrimination experienced by communities of African and Caribbean origin supports Diène’s (2004) claim that
the contrast between those communities’ strong and deep rooted feelings of
discrimination on the one hand, and the lack of political will by federal and
provincial authorities on the other, indicates a lack of understanding and sympathy by policy makers.
In the current study, discrimination based on accent, skin colour and
country of origin, as well as family size and immigration status, is a common
theme running throughout the interviews.
Every single participant in the current study mentioned at least one incident of what they explicitly considered racist behavior. What was troubling was
the obvious change in manner among many when they broached the subject,
as if they were expecting to be met with disagreement. However, it appeared
that the longer participants had been in Canada, the more confidently and
openly they spoke about racist discrimination they had experienced or witnessed. Some authors have suggested this could be because recently arrived
immigrants are unaware of the workings of systemic or institutional racism in
Canada (e.g., Simich et al. 2004). Alternatively, newer arrivals might be less
willing to criticize a society that has offered them refuge out of fear, gratitude
or some other reason. Ahmed also shed some light on this phenomenon when
he explained that after having lived in Canada for eight years, he has seen
10 Note that these studies are focused on housing; there is also a significant body of literature on the
prevalence of anti-Black racism in media, education and other aspects of Canadian life.
54 MBC: “You cannot settle like this”
how “it is almost like talking about racism itself is the crime; you are the racist
because you raised the issue.” Participants repeated the same stories over and over: “They hear my accent on the phone, ‘Where are you from?’ Africa. ‘Oh . . .’” and, “You know the
place is for rent because you just talked to them by phone . . . but when you
get there, they take one look at you, ‘Oh sorry, the place was just rented.’” Some participants watched landlords replace the “for rent” sign after they left.
Several also asked a white friend to visit on their behalf, and they inevitably
found that the suite was available, even when the African applicant had been
told it was taken (see also Teixeira 2006; Miraftab 2000; Dion 2001). After
being repeatedly turned down, Kwame noted, “A friend told me, ‘You see, you
have a thick accent and when they hear that . . . they don’t want to live with
[you].’ If you speak [with a Canadian accent] and you are a murderer, there’s
no problem, but if you’re a good Christian and you have an accent, you have
a problem!” As Billalou observed, “Race can be a really important factor. You
might not want to say it out loud, but it’s there.”
Participants also argued that media reports perpetuating the notion that
Blacks/Africans are prone to crime impacts their treatment in the housing
market because when landlords associate black people with crime, they are
reluctant to rent to them. Thomas insisted that,
what the media says affects housing because if they say Vancouver is the
“capital of bank robbery,” and they show a black man, then who will rent a
house to a black man? Or if they say Africa is full of AIDS, or Africans don’t
integrate—then who wants to rent them a house? . . . The media needs to
balance better . . . not only show the negative.
Billalou related how a woman in her car at a stoplight became visibly terrified when she caught sight of him on the street outside and hurriedly locked
MBC: “You cannot settle like this” 55
her door. “Imagine,” he said, “if she were a landlord and saw a black person
coming to rent her place—she would just lock the door.” Ahmed pointed out
that it is not always easy for others to see how discrimination works: “When
the landlord says no because you are black, but then a white person gets the
house, [the white person does not] see the blacks who were turned away—
only the black people see.” What is important to note is that while it may not
be possible to end racist behavior, there need to be supports and services in
place that will mitigate its effects on marginalized groups.
Landlords are also reluctant to rent to people who are on income assistance, those whose SIN begins with a 9, families, and Refugee Claimants. For
example, Simon described what one RC went through:
We’d written letters of support . . . we went with them to places. We also
had letters from others who guaranteed that the landlord will be paid, but
as soon as they saw they were refugees, suddenly there were fifteen other
applications, or “somebody just came,” and conveniently they never get the
place.
Similarly, Billalou observed, “It wasn’t easy . . . There were places we
went but they wouldn’t take us. [They told us,] ‘You guys are new, you don’t
have references . . .’ It was very hard.”
Further contributing to the complexity, single parent families make up a
disproportionate number of Black households (Hiebert and Mendez 2008),
and this adds another layer to our onion because without affordable daycare,
single parents are forced onto social assistance, which in turn becomes another
basis for discrimination. Novac et al. (2004) found that families were often refused accommodation, especially if they were headed by a single parent, with
women of colour facing the greatest discrimination. According to Fatuma, “A
good place when you are a newcomer, you cannot find it. First of all they will
56 MBC: “You cannot settle like this”
ask you for a reference, and then they will ask where you work. If they hear
you are on welfare, you will never get the house, and if you are African, you
also can’t get it—that’s something too different for them.” Onani summed up
the challenges for those able to navigate information systems: “The problem
isn’t lack of information; I can find something in the newspaper or on the internet, but I cannot get it—that is the problem.” Many participants also indicated that when they do manage to find a place,
it is common for the landlord to take advantage of them by charging extra
for utilities; imposing strict rules about noise; complaining about the handwashing of clothes; raising the rent; harassing single women, especially those
who do not speak English; refusing to do repairs; telling refugees they are not
allowed to move out; or alternatively, holding the constant threat of eviction
over them. Obiajulu explained,
They might give it to you, but they put the price very high and lay down all
sorts of rules, so you can’t have freedom . . . We like to have three people
visiting just to sit and talk, but other people see that and think, they must
be selling drugs. When other people meet together, it’s okay, but if you
see five black people coming, it’s a problem . . . Or they say, don’t make
noise—how come you on top can make noise and we have to be silent? And
with kids, it’s a lot of problems . . .
Keisha’s experience provides another example:
We never even had hot water . . . I had to boil water for my kids to have a
bath [but he] just said, “My daughter likes to stay in the bath for hours” ...
I had to turn on the oven to keep warm, [and] we would always wake up in
the middle of the night from the cold because he always turned off the heat.
Yet another instance of landlord neglect is described by Onani, who said,
“Water was running down the walls every day and night, so I called him to fix
that, but we had to wait six months. He always said he didn’t have time, or
MBC: “You cannot settle like this” 57
that he would send someone, but as soon as he had the rent, he forgot about
it again.”
Hole in ceiling, 30cm x 5cm. Continuously flooded living area (note reflection).
Additional problems arise when refugees want to move out, especially
around the non-return of deposits, which was virtually universal.
For ex-
ample, Dada and Akanke were given a long list of tasks to complete in order
to have their deposit returned to them:
In our efforts to get that four hundred dollars back, we dry-cleaned the curtains, hired somebody to clean the carpets, we cleaned the walls, and on the
day we were supposed to go, we called the lady to come and check and she
said there was a stain on the wall from a picture, so we couldn’t have our
deposit—but there was nothing there! We were desperate for that money,
but she told us we had to go to court to get it. But I was new and my wife
was quite new so we didn’t know the process, we didn’t have any idea what
to do . . . Akanke had already lost her deposit on the last place, and we had
to pay the deposit for the new place . . . Some people love immigrants, but
many don’t love them at all, but they don’t say it with their mouth, they just
show it by taking advantage of people.
Although it could be argued that landlords generally exploit poor tenants in
these ways, African refugees are particularly vulnerable because of their skin
colour, immigration status and lack of information about their rights. Overall,
the more vulnerable a person is, the more easily exploitable they are. Conflicts
58 MBC: “You cannot settle like this”
with landlords can also be linked to inadequate orientations. Thomas insisted
that,
it’s not always the landlords who are at fault; the people who come also have
to know how to look after their housing . . . at Welcome House, they need a
course for new arrivals about how to vacuum, how to do this and that—it’s a
two way street. Newcomers need some training because we don’t have these
kinds of houses in refugee camps, sometimes there are no stoves [or] electricity . . . so those things have to be looked at from the time they land or the
problems will only get worse.
It is important to note that conflicts between landlords and some African refugees over their lack of information about how to care for a Canadian-style
house do not stem from some immutable aspect of “African culture” but rather
from poverty in the refugees’ home country and in refugee camps. In other
words, unfamiliarity with electrical items such as fridges and stoves needs to
be understood as a consequence of poverty, not as a cultural practice.
Language difficulties also contribute to misunderstandings. Annie pointed
out that many francophones have trouble communicating with the landlord or
knowing what the rental agreement means, and this allows landlords to take
advantage of them. Other non-English speakers face perhaps even greater
challenges. However, Annie and other settlement workers stressed that while
lack of information grounded in language difficulties leaves people vulnerable
to exploitation, these issues could be partially addressed by improving the
orientation and accompaniment services available when refugees first arrive.
Many participants also suggested that governments and ISAs should
work to sensitise housing providers to newcomers. For example, landlords
need to know that refugees may be sensitive to certain situations because of
their experiences. Abdelaziz described one such situation: “The family upstairs
MBC: “You cannot settle like this” 59
bought a new video game, a war game which they played very loud at night.
I asked them, ‘Please, not so loud,’ [shooting noise] agghhh . . . Sometimes I
woke up like crazy—what is that?! [shooting noise].” In contrast, Akanke and
Dada are the only participants living in a building owned by another African,
and they believe it is advantageous. Dada said, “We understand each other.
The amount is less than before, and we didn’t pay a deposit. He said, ‘Do you
have money?’ No, we don’t . . .‘Okay, forget about it.’” Although some participants mentioned landlords who eventually warmed up to their African tenants,
relations could be improved from the start if housing providers were made
aware of and encouraged to engage with refugee issues, especially around
poverty and discrimination, as an important step towards creating more welcoming communities. 4.1.2 Utility companies and billing agencies
“. . . my husband went for [a job as a] security [guard], but as soon as
he starts working, MSP sends us a bill for $1000! We pay $1050 for rent,
and we have to pay
that bill for coming here . . . If we had money, these
debts would not be a problem, butwhen someone only earns $10 per hour
and you have to pay those debts and take care of the children it’s quite
complicated . . . It’s actually not possible, that’s why we are complaining.”
–Justice
Many participants experienced problems with utility companies and other
billing agencies. It is common to be asked for deposits of hundreds of dollars.
For example, Marie, a single mother of seven, was asked for a seven hundred
dollar deposit from Terasen Gas and a three hundred dollar deposit from BC
Hydro. Another family of eight had their electricity cut off when they did not
pay bills they had not received, even though they are still on RAP and speak
limited English. In addition, twelve participants mentioned problems with MSP
60 MBC: “You cannot settle like this”
(BC Medical Services Plan), especially receiving huge bills out of the blue,
being charged for periods they were not eligible for, or being referred to collection agencies. While these might seem like small matters, sorting them
out takes refugees’ time, energy, and money and significantly contributes to
stress. Moreover, due to lack of familiarity with the system and an unwillingness to “cause trouble,” several refugees in this study also ended up paying
previous tenants’ bills or being overcharged by dishonest landlords. Michel
connected these issues with the need for better orientation and follow-up:
The Hydro bill of the last person who was here came to us and we had to
pay it. We didn’t consume that energy but we were told to pay! We went
there, tried to talk to them, we telephoned, they wanted confirmation from
the manager, they confirmed it, but they were still telling us to pay. We
didn’t have money to pay, but when you are a new person in a foreign land,
you don’t want any trouble; they can even bring a bill to you, you say, “‘Let
me pay it to avoid problems.’” When you don’t see where your rights are,
you just pay it—you don’t want problems with the police or with people
. . . If there was an orientation, they could tell us about all that! It’s the
problem of no follow-up. At least they have to tell you what could happen,
how to live in an apartment, pay bills, or whatever.
4.2 Public Barriers
4.2.1 CIC Debt for Government Assisted Refugees
“What that debt means is that those people will stay in poverty for the
rest of their lives.” –Mansa
“. . . condemned in debt.” –Michel
A major financial burden for GARs is the repayment of their transportation loan to CIC, which compromises already low RAP payments. These loans
are usually fifteen hundred to two thousand dollars per person, which means
MBC: “You cannot settle like this” 61
that a single mother of five from a protracted refugee situation starts her
life in Canada with a debt of approximately eleven thousand dollars, which
she must pay off within three years or accumulate interest. In fact, interest
accumulates with each missed monthly payment or is garnished from Child
Tax Benefit cheques. GARs are literally going hungry because of the CIC debt
(see also Wasik 2006). Those in this study often spend their entire RAP (or
welfare) amount on rent, use their Child Tax Benefit for the payment to CIC,
and then have to seek food from food banks that is often expired or otherwise unhealthy. Ninety percent of GARs in the current study were eating from
food banks or had in the past. Patrice explained: “If you don’t pay it, they
add more . . . we feel hunger but we are good with the government. We are
paying that money back, but it’s not a good life.” Although GARs expressed
sincere gratitude and willingness to repay the loan, the short amortization period and high monthly payments for families living well below the poverty line
are a major financial and psychological burden, while harassing letters and
phone calls cause extreme stress that undermines integration (see Appendix
B). One distressed settlement worker said, “I can’t imagine how a government caring for humanitarian ideals could do this to people—force them into
debt that they will never come out of . . . and even when they explain to me on
the phone, I just think if they had any idea what poverty really is, they would
never do this to people.”
4.2.2 Long CIC Processing Times for Refugee Claimants
“I’m surprised that even though education is the key, I had to wait so
long to get a study permit, more than six months just to get into school . .
. If [only] there was a package or guide to help people get into education,
something to make people feel like they are people.” –Joseph
62 MBC: “You cannot settle like this”
Long processing times, which particularly affect RCs, often entail negative consequences for housing. We have already seen how the long wait for a
work permit forces RCs onto welfare even when they want to work. Moreover,
as Joseph’s quote above indicates, the extended wait for a study permit holds
people back as well. Simon also pointed out that RCs arriving now take up
to two months to get into the system and onto income assistance, forcing
some to work underground to survive. On the other hand, the hearing date
for refugee determination takes place so long after arrival that many RCs are
already working by the time it arrives. As a result, Legal Aid does not cover
legal costs, even though RCs with temporary status rarely earn enough to pay
a lawyer and so end up thousands of dollars in debt. In other words, as Rose
and Ray (2001) also found in Montreal and Murdie (2005) found in Toronto,
the long wait for Permanent Residence prevents refugees from improving their
economic situation. Although according to CIC the process takes eighteen to
twenty-four months, several of the claimants in this study have waited even
longer. Fatuma and Afua have been waiting over three years, Isaac has been
waiting four years, Gabriel eight years, and Dada six years. This has potentially long-term repercussions for housing because, according to one settlement worker, “those in limbo waiting for their PR to come through . . . just
don’t know where home is. Then, they get into housing situations that aren’t
stable and it feeds on itself somehow . . .” At the same time, lack of access to
information and orientation services leave RCs extremely vulnerable to exploitation by unscrupulous lawyers, employment agencies, and immigration consultants. Long family separations are also costly. As a result of these factors,
RCs, like GARs, tend to become heavily indebted, with serious consequences
for housing affordability. Long wait times are also the key factor underlying
MBC: “You cannot settle like this” 63
RCs’ extreme housing instability: everything is temporary and up in the air,
making it impossible to settle.
4.2.3 Barriers to Accessing Subsidised Housing
With all the challenges they face, if there is a group of people who need and
deserve subsidised housing, it is refugees. However, with over 14,400 people
on BC Housing waitlists as of 2007 (SPARC 2007) and an estimated 15,000
homeless people in BC (Chudnovsky 2008; Patterson, et al. 2008), there is
simply not enough subsidised housing to meet current needs. Moreover, there
are both formal and informal barriers to accessing subsidised housing that affect refugees. To begin with, GARs are not eligible for BC Housing for their first
year (while they are on RAP), and RCs do not qualify until they are Permanent
Residents, which can take up to two years or longer. Other examples of formal
exclusion criteria include debt and a history of eviction, while informal barriers include application forms in English, opaque adjudication procedures,
and discrimination. In addition, National Occupancy Standards (NOS) meant
to protect people are actually barriers in some cases. The strict application
of NOS by co-ops and BC Housing means that African refugees end up living
in smaller apartments that at the same time cost more to rent, especially as
landlords charge extra for additional tenants (Miraftab 2000; Wayland 2007;
Hiebert, D’Addario and Sherrell 2005). In the current study, for example, a
family of seven in a two-bedroom market apartment was told by BC Housing
that they could not have a four-bedroom apartment in a subsidised complex, even though one was available, because it would contravene NOS (see
Appendix C). Another formal barrier is the requirement that individuals need
to have worked in order to qualify for the Rental Assistance Program. While
RCs cannot work for up to one year while waiting for a work permit, GARs often
64 MBC: “You cannot settle like this”
cannot work because they are on RAP, cannot speak English, are too traumatized, or are single parents. Refugees also lack information about how to access social housing, but given that non-market alternatives are exceedingly
rare in Vancouver (Hiebert, Mendez and Wyly 2008), the fact remains that
even with adequate information, there is still not enough affordable housing to
go around. Due to these difficulties, only two GAR families in this study were
in subsidised housing. According to settlement workers, there are individual
cases where particular criteria have been waived, but this only occurs when
workers with the right connections are willing and able to devote the time
and energy needed to overcome institutional barriers. The struggle can last
for months and requires a significant commitment from the worker because it
takes time and resources away from other issues.
5.0 Overlapping Layers
and
Intersections: Housing
and
...
“With housing, everything is interconnected . . . If somebody comes in
with no language and no education and trauma, especially if it’s severe
trauma, their chances of improving their housing with current supports are
next to none. You will have the unique people who go out and do all these
thousands of jobs and have the thirteen-year old taking care of the siblings
every day and night—then they can change their housing situation, although
other factors may appear: with the parents away, the children could get
into trouble . . . so it’s all interdependent. It’s hard to put housing on its
own, because all those other things affect housing and housing affects all
the other things. It’s one of the biggest factors psychologically and in terms
of safety . . . Also if you live in a better place, your children go to a better
school . . . you have access to way more and it influences your life.” –Betty
“When we are talking about housing, we are talking about everything.”
–Esther
MBC: “You cannot settle like this” 65
The following section looks at how such factors as health, interaction
with the criminal justice system, restricted educational opportunities, lack of
subsidised daycare, and family separation impact and are impacted by African
refugees’ housing conditions, effectively constraining them under layer upon
layer of interlinked challenges.
5.1 . . .Health
“Sometimes we can only eat lunch; there is no way to have breakfast
or supper.” –Chika
Housing and health are closely linked (Bryant 2004; Hwang 2004). As
well, Cooper (2004) found that poor housing has negative consequences for
children in terms of safety, physical health, education, and overall development
and well-being. In the current study, Anita linked the rising cost of housing
with nutrition: “The raise in rent is often reasonable, twenty-five to thirty dollars more, but if that money used to go to buy milk or juice for the child and
now it goes to rent, that strains [a mother’s] resources, and if she’s on welfare,
that raise can make a big difference.” Many participants also complained that
their accommodation is infested with mice, cockroaches or bedbugs. At the
same time, management companies in complexes where several participants
live spray regularly for insects despite the dangers for residents. Another concern for many African refugees is that they live in unsafe neighbourhoods;
fears revolve around drug use, gangs, sexual harassment and racist abuse.
The links between housing and mental and physical health can be complex.
César speculated that when people “are under stress to find housing, they lose
opportunities to get counseling and other help they need, because they don’t
have basic shelter.” Iman offered a related example of how the widespread
lack of sensitivity about refugees’ experiences can indirectly affect the health
66 MBC: “You cannot settle like this”
care they receive: “My nurse came to visit me and I was complaining that the
house was too expensive and I don’t have money . . . and she said, ‘What do
you expect, you came from Africa so be grateful!’. . . I never accepted her in
my house again.” 5.2 . . . Interaction with the Criminal Justice System
“You Black people always steal!” –Store manager who accused Afifa
(later acquitted) of theft.
Many authors have noted that visible minorities and poor people encounter
discrimination in their contact with the criminal justice system (see, for example Razack 1998; Bannerji 2000; Manzo and Bailey 2005, and others). The
refugees in this study were unanimous in their agreement that black people
are criminalized in Canada, and several described negative and intimidating
experiences with the police. For example, Simon described what happened to
Mazin, a single man living in a shared basement suite:
[He] came to [us] because his roommate had pulled a gun on him, so we
called the Police . . . They came and it was the most confusing situation I’ve
ever been in. The police take him outside and it’s about eleven at night and
they’re shouting, “You tell us the truth about what happened! Stop lying to
us that this guy pulled a gun on you! You’re a Refugee Claimant, we know
that, we could take away your documents and have you removed from the
country immediately!” This kind of thing going on at top volume at night,
what do the neighbours think? Talk about total intimidation. Finally they
came inside and I said, do you know anything about this roommate? “Oh
yeah, he’s got a police record, he’s got gun charges from the past . . .” And
here’s this other fellow who’s had a gun pulled on him and then he’s getting
shouted at—it disturbed me really badly.
MBC: “You cannot settle like this” 67
These and similar incidents are upsetting, time consuming and, as Simon
implies, can also affect relations with neighbours and local businesses. Like
Afifa������������������������������������������������������������������������
in the first quote above, Ahmed was also arrested after a false accusation, then acquitted in court. He said, “I won so I have no record, but what
about all those jobs I applied for, all those people who saw me arrested and on
probation [he could only move a short distance from home in one direction],
and what about the trauma I went through?” Simon pointed out that “those
things can really set people back . . . You start living in fear and that makes
you more vulnerable to exploitation because you don’t dare draw attention
to yourself, you’re just trying to live below everybody’s radar. It’s that web of
factors, and how if you don’t have a good place, you’re just constantly moving
and it affects everything.” 5.3 . . . Lack of Educational Opportunities
“Imagine, because you have taken me to school, you have given me a
future . . . You see that is the first thing we need, something that will give
[refugees] a future.” –Esther
“Go to Canada: go to the factory.” –Patrice
Many participants stressed that lack of educational opportunities and the
pressure to accept precarious employment were major obstacles to successful
integration and obtaining reasonable wages, with obvious implications for
housing affordability. Patrice, for example, describes his experience:
When I reached here, I looked to see what kind of job I can do . . . I saw
that I have to go to school first . . . so you have that plan and you go [to
MEIA] but they just tell people: “You don’t have to go to school!” Just, “Are
you looking for a job?” There are a lot of jobs I can do for eight dollars per
hour, but how am I going to support this big family? . . . But I have an idea,
68 MBC: “You cannot settle like this”
so let me go back to school, because after that I can get a good job which
can pay me fifteen or twenty dollars per hour, then I can support [them].
But they say you have to go to work: you just come here and go to the
worst job, you see?
Similarly, one focus group participant remarked, “My biggest problem is lack
of money and I suffer a lot from that . . . I would like to continue my education
but I had to stop it to work and will continue illiterate . . . I cannot study ABC or
there is not enough money to support my family, it is not fair.” Others also find
that financial stresses, related at least in part to high housing costs, impact
their ability to go to school. Marie, for example, has to miss English class
every Friday to go to the food bank. Billalou offered the following perceptive
analysis:
I went through grade 11, then I was so busy with work so I quit. It was
too much for me because I worked eight hours, then went to school for
four hours. If I work less, then I can’t afford to live, and if I go to welfare,
then I can’t study, so it was just there in between that housing should have
kicked in and helped so that I could work slightly less and afford to study
full time . . . I could be educated now if there was affordable housing, but I
didn’t have it, so I had to leave school.
Conversely, people also stop attending classes if their housing situation
becomes too unstable. Thus a cycle can start where unstable housing prevents newcomers from progressing in English, which in turn inhibits them
from finding work, and therefore affects the standard of accommodation they
can afford. Settlement workers also drew attention to the negative effects of
denying traumatized individuals the time needed to recover; in other words,
insisting that vulnerable refugees immediately go to work actually sets them
back. These issues underline the argument made by many GARs in this study
that one year of government assistance is not enough for everybody; some
MBC: “You cannot settle like this” 69
people require extra supports in order to attain a level of stability that allows
them to function and integrate effectively in Canadian society.
Many Canadians are in similar positions, but their situations are different
for important reasons. They are generally on the outer onion layers, as they
have access to some protections and opportunities by virtue of their citizenship.
Refugees have been denied the protection of the country they were
born in, along with the educational opportunities that citizenship normally
implies. Yet they deserve the chance to develop skills and careers like other
Canadians, whom they will soon join as citizens. Moreover, for GARs already
struggling with an overwhelming debt from their CIC loan, with a few lost deposits owed to welfare thrown in, taking a student loan is unthinkable. In this
context, Felix is pessimistic:
I don’t see the future—there’s very little hope. The only thing you can do
is go to school, but that needs money—money for the ticket, for school, everything is money, and when the bills start coming, you feel pressure: I have
to pay [for] the house, I have to pay this, pay that, it’s a problem in daily
life.
5.4 . . . Lack of Subsidised Daycare
“I cannot work because there is no daycare.” –Justice (mother of four)
Without daycare, single parents have no option but to collect welfare.
Then, because welfare rates are so low, families are forced into substandard
housing. The current study included eleven single parents; Jeanne expressed
the frustration felt by many:
If you want someone to take care of your kids, you have to pay around
three to four hundred dollars for each, like eight dollars per hour, so you
give all your money to the daycare—that’s my problem and it’s difficult! After someone is supported by thegovernment for one year, they tell you to
70 MBC: “You cannot settle like this”
go to welfare, but at welfare, they tell you to look for a job. But how can you
look for a job when there’s no one to take care of your kids? Seventy-four percent of GARs and 47 percent of RCs in the current study said
that lack of daycare services prevent them working or attending EAL or other
classes. One option is to leave young children home alone, which is both dangerous and illegal. This is another example of a coping strategy that serves
to increase vulnerability. Again, while there are Canadian families in similar
situations, refugees do not have family or other networks they can draw on.
Although the refugees in this study insisted that they want to work and live
independently, some have no alternative but to stay at home.
5.5 . . . Family Separation
“When people are here without family, they are like without a community.” –Simon
“You cannot settle like this!” –David
One of the most pressing concerns for refugees who have found protection in Canada is for their family left overseas. Fatuma’s husband was killed,
their house burned down, and she was imprisoned. Luckily she made it to
Canada, but had to leave her four children behind. Reuniting with her kids
is all Fatuma can think about, yet due to its focus on economic concerns, immigration policy seems to assume that people function in isolation from their
families. In fact, however, the longer the separation, the slower the integration of the refugee into Canadian society, with significant implications for
housing.
For example, many are so preoccupied that they cannot advance
professionally, exacerbating affordability problems (Dench 2006). Also, during
the long uncertain period when they do not know when their children may ar-
MBC: “You cannot settle like this” 71
rive, refugees do not know from one month to the next how many bedrooms
they will need, leading to instability. One worker described it like this:
They’re in this in-between space, knowing that their family is coming but not
knowing when, but needing to find housing. So it’s always temporary and
that seriously affects the capacity to be stable in housing . . . One woman
got into a co-op, then sponsored her family, and anticipating their arrival, she moved out. She’s now in a market situation, but it’s already been
months that they are arriving “tomorrow” so that really affects where people
live and how they are housed . . . Now she’s ready to look in the paper
every month for a three-bedroom apartment that will accommodate the
family on her salary—it’s really complicated!
That this woman moved out of a co-op (a highly sought-after and increasingly
rare form of subsidised housing) underscores the need for greater access to
information about housing in general. Family separation is also costly; because sponsors are separated from their legal dependents, they must maintain two households (one here and another overseas), possibly for several
years. The phone cards required for international calls is yet another expense
refugees cannot afford. In addition, Africans are disproportionately asked to
provide DNA samples to prove family relationships, which are time consuming
and expensive.11 Meanwhile, security clearances and medical checks expire
and have to be repeated, causing further cost and delays. Finally, processing
times for family sponsorship vary significantly by region, with Africa by far the
slowest (CCR 2004). 11 In 2004, for example, a parent and three children in Congo (DRC) paid $1,225; a parent with five
children paid $1800; and the group rate for eight children was $1,945 (CCR 2004).
72 MBC: “You cannot settle like this”
Figure 22. Family
Separated from:
wife and children
wife and children
husband and children
children
wife and children
children
children
separation for
How long:
3 years
7 years
1 years
3 years
4 years
3 years
6 years
RCs
Reunited?
YES
NO
NO
NO
NO
NO
NO
Among the RCs interviewed, only Joseph has managed to bring his family
(fig. 22). Unfortunately, the marriage did not survive the three-year separation. David comments on the difficulty of long-term separation: “How can you
live with your wife away and you can’t see her for years? . . . Are you supposed to end that relationship and start another one? You don’t know where it
is going to end and your life keeps going like this, it never settles!” As Denton
(2006) argues, family separation inhibits nation building by preventing families from integrating and building assets together. Moreover, from a policy
perspective, family members who have waited for years in precarious situations are likely to have greater needs when they finally arrive in Canada. For
example, children who have missed several years of schooling will need more
help when they enter the Canadian education system, while families who have
been living in dangerous and unhealthy conditions with limited access to health
care are likely to need more from the health care system than if they had been
brought out of such situations sooner. Despite this, and with a backlog of
around one million PR applications (approximately a ten-year waiting period),
CIC processed 36,000 fewer applications in 2007 than in 2006, while at the
same time processing 125,000 Temporary Guest Workers (CIC 2007). Speedy
refugee determination is considered a public good; the same should hold true
for speedy family reunification.
MBC: “You cannot settle like this” 73
6.0 Immigrant Serving Agencies
“We need help, because otherwise we cannot live like Canadians.”
–Justice
“If we have a humanitarian commitment, then we really have to make
it.” –Tunde
Immigrant serving organisations in Metro Vancouver vary in size from
small national groups with a handful of members to ISS and other large multimillion-dollar operations. The current study included interviews with representatives from nine major ISAs located in Vancouver, New Westminster and
Surrey, including three large multi-service providers designed to assist all
newcomers. The annual budgets of the three smallest are under three hundred thousand dollars; the three largest, over five million. In general, the
institutional landscape has changed rapidly over the past decade; half of the
organisations whose representatives took part in this research did not exist
ten years ago. Agencies offering BC Settlement and Assistance Program (BCSAP) services assist clients by filling out forms, providing referrals, and helping them
get on waiting lists, but BCSAP has no mandate to address housing-related
needs. Moreover, because housing searches and meeting landlords takes so
much time, workers are not generally permitted to leave their offices to visit
or find housing for clients. Thus, although housing is viewed by many experts
as a reliable predictor of integration (e.g., Danso and Grant 2001; Rose and
Ray 2001; Hiebert, D’Addario and Sherrell 2005), there is a troubling disconnect between housing and settlement policy (Hiebert et al. 2006). This gap
contributes to the risk of homelessness because it leaves vulnerable and impoverished refugees to fend for themselves in an expensive housing market
in an unfamiliar culture. Finally, ISAs in BC are only funded to provide ser-
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vices to people for their first three years. However, the fact that nearly half
of the refugees interviewed in the current study have been here longer than
that suggests that settlement concerns extend over a longer period of time.
Other studies have also found a gap between the amount of time refugees
require services and the length of time services are provided, as well as a desperate need for better follow-up and monitoring to ensure that needs are met
(Pressé and Thomson 2007; Mattu 2002; Miraftab 2000; Hiebert, Mendez and
Wyly 2005; Hiebert, D’Addario and Sherrell 2005). One research participant,
Michel, summed up his apprehension and uncertainty as follows: “You meet
those people who have been here for five years or more and they are crying.
They are still not settled, and our fear is that could happen to us.” 6.1 View from the Outside
“All they want is your social insurance number.” –Onani
“They’re just pipeline programs.” –Gabriel (i.e., which people pass
through without effect)
Most of the people interviewed were either unaware of existing settlement services or unsatisfied with the services they received. One common critique was that mainstream offices and staff are unwelcoming or intimidating
for African refugees, especially women, francophones, and children. Hiebert,
D’Addario and Sherrell (2005) also found evidence of discriminatory attitudes
among service providers who believe that “services should be for ‘Canadians,’”
insist on clients taking an English name that is “easier” to pronounce, or
are unsympathetic towards particular cultural or religious practices. Another
issue mentioned by almost all the participants in the current study is that
while agencies advertise a variety of services, they sometimes seem to be
interested only in people’s name, SIN, and immigration status when potential clients arrive at their door. Several speculated that this was so they could
MBC: “You cannot settle like this” 75
show funders how many clients they had “served.” In this context, some participants were quite cynical about what ISAs are able to do; as one observed,
“They can’t really help you to get a job, or a place to live, or to sponsor your
family anyway.” In a sense, he is correct; for example, one settlement worker
illustrated some of the limitations settlement service providers currently face
as follows:
We always ask [clients] what they need, and what haven’t we done . . . and
most of the things—like the travel loan—are out of our control. Things to do
with housing are out of our control—like if the landlord says he won’t take
them because it’s over his quota, you can’t force him. Things to do with jobs
are out of our control—we can help with the résumé or how to attend an
interview, but out there, we can’t control anything . . . but people have different expectations.
Further, although BCSAP has recently been extended to include RCs,
Esther’s description of visiting social service agencies is worrying:
When I came, I was looking for such things that help you find a job or
whatever, so you go to those organisations: “Do you have a SIN? What
is it? No, no, no, we don’t help 920. Come back when you are landed.”
Disappointment! One week I walked from one organisation to another and
I ended up with “we only help the landed.” You see, they look at you when
you say you are a Claimant like you are from another planet, nobody pays
you any attention, nobody! They just listen to your problem and then say,
“You are still a Claimant and we can only help you when you are permanent,” but it takes up to two years to become permanent, and it is when you
first arrive that you most need help.
In terms of housing, there are things that service workers could do, if they
were provided with adequate human resources and funding. For example, in
76 MBC: “You cannot settle like this”
2005 ISS took the positive step of creating the position of Housing Assistant
to assist newcomers in their housing search and ensure they are supplied with
basic household items.12 However, possibly in part because the position pays
well under fifteen dollars per hour, even though settling incoming refugee
families is arguably one of the most important jobs in the province, ISS (at
the time of writing) has just hired the sixth Housing Assistant since the position was created. The person who held the position previously was hired after
having been in Canada for only two weeks and held the position for just nine
months. Although the creation of this position was a step in the right direction, success depends on developing relationships with landlords and housing
providers—relationships that are hindered by high turnover—and there are
limitations to what one person can do.
Despite these concerns, many African refugees also received extremely
useful settlement assistance from local agencies and spoke very highly of particular workers. Billalou, for instance, was grateful for the help he did receive
while at the same time admitting it was still not easy. He remarked:
Thank God those offices that help newcomers were able to guide me, to
send me to welfare to get some money so that I could live, and they recommended [other organisations] . . . Everywhere you go, you get some advice
on some particular thing, so luckily I was able to find my way around, but it
was very, very hard.
Many African refugees also received limited forms of assistance from
church groups (primarily food and secondhand items, as well as emotional
support), and to a lesser extent from mosques. Those that volunteered and
attended programs felt they benefited; in Afua’s words, “When you attend
12 There were many complaints about the household items GARs received, especially that
they are damaged or missing necessary parts. Adèle said the broken things she was given
were “like an insult.”
MBC: “You cannot settle like this” 77
programs, your eyes will be opened.” Similarly, Fatuma noted, “There are lots
of activities here, it’s really nice! Even the community kitchens, that’s where
I go and it’s really helpful.” According to those interviewed, the most useful
services, even where they exist only in very limited form, include: accompaniment, pick up and drop off, advocacy, housing search assistance, help
in communicating with landlords, translation and interpretation, transitional
housing, cultural orientation, résumé writing, job search and interview skills,
counseling, food banks, information and assistance to access further education, bus tickets, EAL classes, youth services, and daycare. Although this is
an impressive list of services, they are unevenly available and there are just
not enough of them.
6.2 View from the Inside
“If we keep doing things the way we are, I mean I’ve had families with
me for over five years and nothing changes for them. I can tell you where
they’re going: nowhere, in fact it just gets worse.” –Mansa
Settlement workers in the current study are as frustrated as their clients.
In Betty’s words,
One of the biggest problems is that there are too few providers and too
many people. We are not able to help as we would like—the practicalities of
it just don’t allow us to do that and it’s difficult. There are times when you
have so many files . . . then because of the funding, things are changing
every year or whenever the funding is coming up . . . Moreover, clients tend
to wait until they have fourteen things on their list, but you have to pick two
or three of the main ones to deal with, and then they leave wondering about the others. They think maybe you don’t want to help, or that they’re not
important — they are! It’s just that with thirty clients, each with fourteen
things, you have to choose the main ones.
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ISA representatives also acknowledge that both agencies and individual settlement workers are overloaded, so that people are often passed along from
agency to agency, leading to frustration and disconnections in service provision
(see also Mattu 2002). Part of the problem is the intense competition among
agencies and community groups for funding, which is exacerbated by funders’
focus on numbers rather than needs and also by many funders’ practice of
changing granting criteria every year, so that even small organizations have
to constantly reapply. One settlement worker said, “They want an organisation that is legitimate, but they also just want numbers: everything has to be
reshaped and reformatted so that it’s just plug in numbers.” At the same time,
successful programs are cancelled even when they are still fulfilling a popular
need; many new families, especially those coming from protracted refugee
situations, experience ongoing needs that do not go away when funding priorities change. Reapplication and the requirement for extensive reporting also
mean that too much staff time is spent on administration, while without continuing core funding, there is no job security. This increases turnover and interrupts continuity of services for vulnerable clients who already struggle to
develop trusting relationships.
Another challenge faced by BC ISAs stems from the pushing of all settlement services through a competitive open-tender contracting process, and
settlement workers argue that accepting the lowest bid means offering the
fewest services. According to the director of the Affiliation of Multicultural
Societies and Service Agencies of BC (AMSSA), open tendering resulted in
many offices closing, some services for marginalized groups like single mothers
and RCs being canceled, several lost staff positions, a loss of trust and connection with immigrant communities, and a drastic reduction in sector-wide
collaboration (Welsh 2006). The loss of services for women is crucial. One
MBC: “You cannot settle like this” 79
settlement worker commented, “I feel torn and guilty when women are being
abused at home: Should I tell them to leave? Then where should they go?
And what if they have children? So should I advise them to remain at home
and possibly be killed?” Perhaps the president of Sarah’s national organisation
felt similarly conflicted when he advised her to return to her abusive husband.
Canadian women in abusive relationships experience similar problems but are
more likely to have family support and do not face the additional challenges of
navigating a new country, language, and way of life.
Although there have been positive moves recently to increase the amount
of BCSAP funding available, the challenges for small ISAs and community
organisations have remained or even intensified as large organisations form
consortiums with each other and thereby continue to grow at a more rapid
pace, while at the same time, reporting requirements increase. Robert described the challenges for small organisations:
Smaller NGOs who deal with the marginalized are also marginalized because
[large ISAs] join together, hire a great grant writer, and the mass of what
they can offer sucks all the money their way so they just keep building . . .
So we say, “Is there any way you could include us in that group?” [And they
say,] “Well we don’t really need to . . . so instead [we will] just start our own
program.” So that you are continually shut out more and more.
There also needs to be greater recognition among funders of what small organisations can do; the age of the organisation does not reflect the experience
of the staff, and it is necessary to look at demand rather than focusing on “repetition of services.” Small organisations can also provide more culturally appropriate services for vulnerable groups. This is important because, as Robert
pointed out, “When there are services that are for everybody, the most marginalized always have extra barriers to accessing them.” This clearly applies to
80 MBC: “You cannot settle like this”
African refugees. From a policy perspective, it is also important to note that
“small” needs can grow to overwhelming proportions if left unaddressed.
6.3 African Francophones: Doubly Minoritised
“There’s no question that African francophones really get discriminated
against.” –Annie
African refugees who speak French are in a special position due to the
status of French as an official language. However, francophone participants
are unanimous in their frustration with the lack of services available in French
and lack of supports for francophone Africans, especially refugees and single
mothers. A key issue concerns funding for local organisations, such as the BC
Association of African Francophones (BCAAF), whose members were shocked
to be told at a meeting, “That which we [French Canadians] fought sixty years
for, you wish to achieve in a year.” Madibbo (2005) also documented widespread institutional racism against African francophones in Ontario, in addition
to discrimination on linguistic grounds. In BC, BCAAF’s funding requests have
been rejected by Canadian Heritage based in part on the claim that they will
duplicate services, despite extensive evidence of unmet need. At the same
time, many francophone African refugees mentioned feeling unwelcome in
organisations geared towards the needs of Canadians from Quebec (see also
Masinda and Ngene-Kambere 2008). Another reason given for the denial
of funds was that a center for francophone African youth would reinforce an
“African identity” over a “francophone identity” (personal communications).
This idea relies on the view that the preservation of minority cultures weakens
immigrants’ affinity to their new home; however, that was not true for the
French and English people who became Canada’s “two founding nations,” nor
MBC: “You cannot settle like this” 81
is it true for African immigrants in multicultural Canada today. As one participant insisted, “There can be no diversity without identity.” Unfortunately, the Official Languages Act (OLA) discriminates against nonEuropean French speakers due to the choice of “mother tongue” as the criterion for belonging to a language group outside Quebec. Because the mother
tongue of members of African communities is a local language, they are not
included in Statistics Canada censuses or entitled to the same benefits as
people from Quebec living in English-speaking provinces who are considered
to be genuine French speakers. This effectively means that race and ethnic
origin are indirectly used to determine who is considered French-speaking;
persons of ethnic groups such as Swahili, Wolof, Lingala, Ewe, or Kirundi are
not recognized as francophones, even though French is their official language
in accordance with the OLA (Diène 2004). As such, if the present study is any
indication, refugees from francophone African countries are among the most
marginalized groups in Canada.
6.4 African Community Centre
“I want to be a real part of Canada, that’s why I have to start from my own
community, which is all Africans.”
–Adele
“At the moment, there is a gap between the people out here and the people
in the offices because they don’t really understand each other . . . A center
could help bridge that gap.” –Kupakwashi
Despite the diversity among Africans, there is also a sense of shared identity as African (Tettey 2001). In this context, virtually all participants offered
what they see as a partial solution to the problems described in this report.
Betty explained that
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the ideal situation would be to have a one-stop shop specifically for African
immigrants because they come with very unique challenges—you cannot
compare them to immigrants from other places . . . An African Community
Center which can serve them at their level, in their way, would be great.
Masinda and Ngene-Kambere’s (2008) research also emphasizes the need
for such a centre and supports the argument put forward by participants that
other groups’ (national not continental) community centres enable them to
integrate more easily. Encouragingly, the Centre of Integration for African
Immigrants (CIAI) in New Westminster and Umoja Operation Compassion
Society in Surrey are trying to address some of the gaps in social service
provision to African newcomers, but they are unable to meet the huge need
with current funding. It is worth noting that CIAI and Umoja are inherently
multicultural as they serve people from over fifty-seven countries, as well as
thousands of language, religious and ethnic groups.
7.0 Consequences
7.1 Consequences for African Refugees
“We are good people . . . We have lots to contribute and we want
to contribute, but we don’t have that opportunity so the government has to
give us a chance.” –Bernadette
“That is what is missing here: a chance.” –Kwame
7.1.1 Social Isolation and Psychological Stress
Recent studies have found that economic insecurity and isolation constitute the two most important forms of trauma for black African refugee women
in Vancouver (Komeza 2007; Wasik 2006). The women in this study also found
MBC: “You cannot settle like this” 83
that coming to Canada entailed a loss of control, social connection, security,
and social status; although they have physically escaped a life-threatening
refugee situation, their experiences in Canada continue to be traumatic. In addition, with no affordable daycare, it is, in the words of one settlement worker,
“automatic welfare” for single mothers. Then, with too much time to think,
bad memories come flooding back. Patrice explained that African refugees
passed through a very hard situation: you see people killed next to you and
by the grace of God, you passed that place, but your mind is still thinking
about what happened, and your family is still there, or perhaps they were
killed, so you are not stable . . . They should take care of those people
when they come here—give them an affordable house . . . so that [person]
can feel I am at home, I am safe . . . You know they say, “feeling at home
in a new country takes time”? In these conditions we are living in, it takes a
lot longer, even our kids will feel the same.
Although RCs do not usually come with the same high immediate expectations as GARs, according to those in this study, expectations are crushed over
time as, on top of the traumas of persecution and the challenges of adapting
to a new country, living conditions fail to improve and family separations
drag on. Parents separated from children often suffer from depression (Wasik
2006; Simich et al. 2004). Fatuma said, “People will listen but they don’t like
problems all the time, so when I think about my kids, I just have to take it
by myself. I sit here and listen to my music and cry . . . I say, ‘I wish I was
there with my mom,’ or I cook, or I go outside, you know . . . It’s really hard.” Further, a common outcome of economic exclusion is that well-educated job
seekers settle for jobs at the low end of the labour market, which contributes
to psychological stress.
Accepting work far below their capabilities is also
an example of a coping strategy that functions to increase marginalisation.
These conditions have future repercussions by inhibiting the development of
84 MBC: “You cannot settle like this”
positive role models for youth, so that the cycle of marginalisation continues.
Under these conditions, it is practically impossible for African refugees to improve their housing situation; in fact the stress and isolation which, according
to most of the people in this study, has been constant since they arrived, increase instability and vulnerability to homelessness.
7.1.2 Difficulties Advocating for Themselves
As a result of their traumatic experiences, many African refugees are afraid
to “complain” because they literally do not know what might result—possibly
denial of sponsorship or even deportation. In one case, Betty expressed alarm
that refugees in a housing complex where many African GARs live “are afraid
of moving out because they said that when they were put there, they were
told, ‘You have to stay here six months and you are not allowed to move.’ Then
I tell them, ‘It’s okay you can move,’ but . . . they are told by the management, ‘No, you have another six months.’. . . And coming from a camp, they
say we don’t want a bad record.” Mansa explained why refugees in particular
need advocates:
Many are not highly educated, the war has thrown them out on the streets
then they end up here . . . So the nature in which [an immigrant] finds a
house is very different from how a refugee finds a house . . . Because refugees can’t advocate for themselves, I find they have a lot of problems with
housing. Landlords take advantage of them, they give them a house that’s
falling apart, appliances that don’t work . . . Refugees don’t know how to
inspect a house, or they are so desperate they just say it’s okay. Or by the
time they realize the toilet or washing machine doesn’t work, the landlord
says it’s them who broke it, then they lose their deposit and these things
were not functioning in the first place . . . So, many people by the time they
rent a house have been thrown out of three places and lost their deposit on
all of them.
MBC: “You cannot settle like this” 85
To add insult to injury, Betty related that “some landlords say, ‘Didn’t you
come from a refugee camp? Shouldn’t it have been worse than this? I don’t
understand why you are complaining?’ . . . A lot of the housing conditions
are really terrible, but people are afraid to cause trouble.” However, the fact
that accommodation in Vancouver is superior to a tent in a refugee camp can
hardly be seen as a point of pride.
50 x 20cm hole in ceiling to space above. Space in floor that dirty water leaks through.
African refugees are also often without the necessary resources to deal
with workplace discrimination. Ahmed was forced to leave his job when a coworker “refused to use a computer touched by a ‘nigger,’” and his employer
found it simpler to get rid of Ahmed than confront racist attitudes among his
staff. Billalou quit his job because his employer used discriminatory language,
then discovered he did not qualify for Employment Insurance. A key result of
economic exclusion is that African refugees cannot afford adequate housing,
and if current issues around discrimination are not addressed, then the grim
picture painted by Patrice may become a reality: “With this colour, whatever
we do, we cannot succeed, especially in this situation we are living in, but
how to get out, how? Never, I will stay like this forever, even my kids, oh my
goodness.”
86 MBC: “You cannot settle like this”
Lack of familiarity with Canadian culture and weak support systems also
combine with sensitivity to discrimination to prevent people from living normal
lives. Simon, for example, offered the following observation:
What I’ve heard from African Claimants is that they feel like they stick out
because of the colour of their skin; it’s not Toronto or Montreal where there
are large populations of African Canadians, so there’s a huge lack of security.
There was one gentleman who I thought was the epitome of integration, but
one day I was walking down Commercial Drive [a well-known multicultural
area] with him . . . and I asked, “Have you ever been in this store?” And he
said, “No, I don’t go into any of these stores.” I said, “Why not? Just go in
and explore,” but he said, “I’m afraid I’ll do something that will draw attention to myself or that I won’t know what I’m doing.” And that was shocking
to me, that he would feel that way—such a high level of discomfort with how things work and what are the systems . . . I had perceived this guy as really
having integrated incredibly well, and yet.
Immigration status is crucial; for immigrants, a combination of university
qualifications, a reliable social network, and financial resources gives them
advantages over refugees. Some RCs also arrive with education or social connections, but the “9” that marks them as temporary, the stress of family separation, discrimination, and the prolonged periods of uncertainty take their toll.
African GARs on the other hand, tend to come with lower education (or no
documents), less English, and no money, often from protracted refugee situations, all of which serve to undermine confidence. Moreover, all refugees have
experienced the trauma of forced migration. Not all Africans are marginalized
in the same way, but those who are particularly vulnerable, such as refugees,
need extra assistance to integrate successfully.
MBC: “You cannot settle like this” 87
7.1.3 Instability, Substandard Housing and Vulnerability to
Homelessness
A major consequence of the overlapping challenges described in this paper
is that many African refugees live in unstable, overcrowded, poorly maintained housing, with complaints to landlords ignored and security deposits not
returned. Kasinda’s family actually lived in a condemned building for a month
before inspectors insisted they leave. Some African refugees simply find it
impossible to settle down (see Appendix A). A total of thirteen had come to
BC from another province, and since the interviews took place, at least six
have left BC again. At the time of interview, 73 percent of RCs and 26 percent
of GARs had moved at least once per year since arriving to Metro Vancouver.
Altogether, at least 36 percent have changed their place of residence at least
once since the interview.13 Pierre discussed how lack of information at the
start can affect housing stability in the long term: “By making mistakes you
end up moving seven times, and once you analyse it, you realize it’s because
you don’t know the system, but on top of that, you have to pay BC Hydro forty
dollars each time . . . You miss things, but it’s all because you are trying to
adjust.” In terms of vulnerability to homelessness, the risk for African refugees
is extremely high, although levels and characteristics vary for GARs and RCs.
Seventy-three percent of Refugee Claimants in this study had experienced at
least one episode of homelessness since arriving, compared to 14 percent for
GARs. RCs also tend to move more frequently than GARs. If RCs are fortunate, they find a place in one of the refugee transition houses in Vancouver,
which brings advantages such as a stable address and references. According
to Simon, “If language and resources—networks—are an issue, then [without]
13 ie. in the last 7 months (personal communications).
88 MBC: “You cannot settle like this”
a stable address, the correspondence with lawyers doesn’t happen, and work
permits, the whole transition piece gets shut down . . . but there are still
few of those places for the number of people coming in, and it’s just difficult.” RCs’ worrying instability stems primarily from the long wait for the
work permit, family separation, temporary status, discrimination in the private rental market, and lack of information and other settlement supports.
In contrast, GARs’ and PSRs’ housing situations are characterised by
overcrowding and deep poverty. Because of all the difficulties they face to find
housing, many GARs do not attempt to move even when they are housed in
very poor accommodation. Fiedler, Schuurman and Hyndman (2006) found
extremely high levels of hidden homelessness in areas where many African
GARs live, including most of those in this study. GAR families have no opportunity to build assets because finding employment is difficult without affordable daycare, while learning a language takes years, especially if one is also
struggling with literacy. As a result, GARs are extremely vulnerable to homelessness because any unexpected cost or change in financial or residential
arrangements can tip them into crisis. Potential shocks include eviction, rise
in rent, redevelopment, illness, fire, condemnation of building, conflict with
neighbours or landlord, accident, and so forth. While a Canadian family might
recover from those shocks without slipping into homelessness, for African
GARs, unfamiliarity with the system, lack of family and other supports, restrictions on the availability of subsidised housing, as well as a low vacancy rate
and large family size, mean that once they become homeless, it is difficult to
get back into housing. For example, a single parent family of eight recently
remained homeless for two months following a fire while a family of seven
driven from their home after a violent attack by neighbours was homeless for
over two months (personal communications).
MBC: “You cannot settle like this” 89
7.2 Consequences for Canadian Society
“Immigration is the future—that’s GARs—if we miss the beginning there
will be big trouble in the society: social problems, poverty, crime . . . We
should have a system that will help them in the beginning to find houses in
different neighbourhoods, where they will mix in schools . . . Now it’s like
there’s hidden immigration, but people will suddenly wake up and see
crime or issues and they will say, “Where did these people come from? Did they just get here?” No, they got here ten years ago but you didn’t see
them, they were just there and waiting to explode . . .” –Isaac
African refugees are an integral part of Canada, so if they suffer from poverty, inadequate housing, economic exclusion, social isolation, and instability,
then those conditions are present in Canadian society. They may disproportionately affect refugees now, but if the concerns discussed here are ignored,
they will by all accounts continue to grow to negatively affect the rest of the
population. One worker argued that
if the government doesn’t help young people who are coming to improve
their lives, then there will be a lot of social problems in the near future,
there will be a lot of homeless African people . . . It’s pretty small now, but
as people age, then age becomes a factor; some really old people are doing
security because that’s the only job they can get, but the day will come
when they can no longer work and they’ll have to move out, then where will
they go—to the street. If nobody looks at the situation and takes action, it
will be much more costly containing a huge social problem than preventing it
now.
Another insisted, “There are things the state should not play with in terms of
market, that’s food, water, housing, health care, and education, just those
basic things that people need to survive . . . because if people don’t have
them, in the long run the state will have to pay; one way or the other it will
90 MBC: “You cannot settle like this”
translate into health issues, social problems, family problems . . .” Another
danger is that if poor socio-economic outcomes become associated with particular neighbourhoods or groups, as has occurred in France and elsewhere in
Europe, it may create the false perception that immigrants and refugees strain
social programs, possibly leading to anti-immigrant sentiment and violence.
8.0 Success Stories: What Worked
“If you look at life straight and you don’t take your eye off the ball or
your dreams and goals, hopefully one day you will find it, because it’s here,
and that’s all we pray for.” –Kwame
In general, African RCs are better off than GARs in terms of personal resources because, as Mansa explained:
To be a Refugee Claimant is such a rigorous process that at the very least
you have some education and have worked in some kind of city setting . . .
[RCs] come in at the bottom, but they know good opportunities when they
see them. They have some barriers, but they also usually have basic English
. . . When you are coming as a GAR, you don’t have the language, you don’t
know about buses, or carpet, or keys—why are people always carrying keys?
Everything is new for them . . . In this study, male RCs appear to have an advantage, especially if they
came alone. Another crucial factor was access to subsidised housing and other
supports. For example, Isaac was fortunate to find a place at a refugee transition house and got connected into networks immediately. His university degree and the fact that he volunteered in several places eventually helped him
find a well-paid job. Similarly, Gabriel also came alone and stayed for several
months at a refugee transition house, and then for six years paid three hundred dollars per month to live in a church while working three jobs at a time.
MBC: “You cannot settle like this” 91
He now owns his own business and has a mortgage for an apartment. Joseph
also came alone and was lucky to get into a subsidised co-op. Because of his
disability, he was accompanied everywhere when he first arrived. Moreover,
he is quick to find out about his rights and not afraid to advocate for them. Betty elaborated on the importance of personality:
There is a lot to be done when it comes to housing . . . people [do not]
have enough information . . . The really proactive people who knock down
doors and say, “What can I do? What can I find out?”—they are amazing .
. . But if you are not that way, which most people don’t tend to be after all
their experiences and trauma, then you really miss out on information, and
depending on somebody’s experiences in the refugee camps, not trusting
people might be a huge barrier, too.
The settlement workers who immigrated from Africa must also be considered; however, only two came as refugees. Overall, the key factors that helped
people “make it” include: access to subsidised housing, accompaniment, not
coming as a refugee (for the settlement workers), coming alone, not having
their family overseas, personality, and English skills.
9.0 Recommendations
“I know we have a system we should follow, but sometimes we have to
be human.” –Tunde
There is not one single, simple solution to the overlaid challenges described
in this report. Rather, a number of interconnected policy changes are required
to ensure that African refugees’ needs are met. The proposed changes require
additional funding but will save money in the long run and also contribute to a
more cohesive and welcoming society in the future. Although most of the recommendations are repeated from previous research, the urgency with which
92 MBC: “You cannot settle like this”
they are called for increases each day that needs remain unmet. It is time for
action.
1) Provide
intensive orientations on arrival for at least two weeks, including
accompaniment.
African refugees, GARs in particular, need orientation to Canadian life, everything from how to use a vacuum, to how to use the skytrain, to their rights
and responsibilities as tenants. Accompaniment is also desperately needed.
Similarly, RCs also require orientation and accompaniment services if they are
to integrate effectively. Providing these services will not only increase refugees’ access to other services but also enhance their confidence and independence, thus decreasing future reliance on government assistance.
2) Expand ISAs’
mandate and funding so they can effectively assist refugees
with housing.
With the large numbers of people requiring assistance on the one hand,
and the shortage of funding and human resources on the other, there are
not sufficient resources currently in place to effectively assist refugees with
their housing search. As one settlement worker explained: “I don’t have all
day to look for a house for someone, so that’s a huge gap. There’s employment counseling—that should exist for housing too.” Without increased access
to housing-related information and services, the housing situation of African
refugees is unlikely to improve. Refugees will also be less vulnerable to exploitation in the housing market if they are provided with greater information
and tools from the outset.
MBC: “You cannot settle like this” 93
3) Speed
up processing times, especially family reunification, refugee determi-
nation, and the provision of work/study permits for
Refugee Claimants.
Wait times of up to one year for a work permit and possibly several more
for PR inhibit RCs from settling down or building assets, which in turn increases vulnerability to homelessness. Family separation also inhibits integration. According to the Canadian Council for Refugees (CCR), one solution is
to speed up processing times for PR applications by granting PR status at the
time of a positive refugee decision. They also advocate bringing the spouses
and children of people recognized as refugees to Canada as soon as that
refugee status is positively determined, thereby allowing families to be sooner
reunited by allowing their processing to take place here. This will save expensive administrative time and reduce families’ exposure to deprivation, thereby
lowering costs to Canadian society as they will need fewer services on arrival.
Further, refugee families will be able to support each other in their integration
and thus contribute more quickly to their communities (CCR 2004). Speeding
up processing times will also improve RC’s housing outcomes by promoting
stability.
4) Waive
the repayment for
CIC
travel loans for
GARs.
It is clear that GARs cannot pay rent and make loan payments at the
same time as they are trying to support their family. A possible alternative to
waiving repayment would be to defer payment until the person is working full
time at a permanent job (during which time the loan should be interest free)
and extending the amortization period to up to ten years for those who need
it, taking into account trauma, income, family composition, and other mitigating factors. Otherwise, GARs will remain stuck in a cycle of poverty, debt
94 MBC: “You cannot settle like this”
and deprivation. It is worthwhile investing in refugees because this will in turn
enable them to become contributing members of Canadian society.
5) Expand
making
affordable housing availability by building more social housing and
Rental Assistance Programs
and subsidised
BC Housing
available to
refugees on arrival.
Most Canadians would likely agree that GARs should leave Welcome House
to move into affordable, suitable and adequate accommodation, whatever their
family size. As one settlement worker said, “[The government] has to be organized before they bring people here. If there are seven or eight people there
has to be an affordable place . . . That is the humanitarian obligation, so let’s
meet it.” Workers also stressed that refugees should be housed not merely to
the minimum standard possible but comfortably. Garang suggested,
Start them off with a nice place, so they feel comfortable and confident and
safe in an affordable place in a good environment . . . If they get that from
the start, I think you will find a huge difference in the way people engage.
We want people to be positive and interdependent and contributing members of Canadian society, and they want that too! But when you put them in
a place where they can’t get up, you just perpetuate the problems.
Governments at all levels need to take steps to increase the supply of
affordable housing as an aid to refugee settlement and integration, for both
GARs and RCs. Over and over, participants reiterated the same thing: there
must be more subsidised housing, more affordable housing, more co-ops, and
more five-bedroom apartments to accommodate families. In addition, many
participants also stressed the specific need for government-supported African
Co-operative Housing where settlement assistance could be provided in a
culturally and linguistically appropriate fashion. The provincial government
MBC: “You cannot settle like this” 95
has recognized the importance of a preventative approach to lowering health
care costs and the same logic applies to reducing the costs of homelessness.
According to a recent study, the combined service and shelter costs for homeless individuals ranges from thirty to forty thousand dollars per person per
year, while the combined annual costs of services and supportive housing
for housed individuals is only twenty-two to twenty-eight thousand dollars
(SPARC 2007).
6) Raise RAP
rates.
There is an urgent need to increase RAP rates, especially the shelter
component. The Canadian government also needs to recognize the reality
of uneven living costs in different parts of Canada, with RAP rates adjusted
accordingly.
Moreover, RAP should continue in the full amount whether or
not the person is working; African refugees come with nothing and should be
allowed to gain experience and build some assets before being left to fend
entirely for themselves. In practice, the jobs they get pay very little anyway,
and RAP as it stands now is simply insufficient on its own. Poverty affects the
whole family and can begin a cycle of marginalisation. One worker explained
that “poverty is a factor in kids dropping out of school . . . They see that their
parents cannot do it on their own, so they contribute to the family either by
dropping out of school and working, or by moving out of the house so there
are fewer people to feed.” Refugees are vulnerable people who need support;
it is counterproductive to start them off in their new lives in poverty.
7) Provide
transitional housing where refugees can live for up to five years
with extra supports.
96 MBC: “You cannot settle like this”
During their stay in transitional housing, refugees would be better able to
attain some stability and thus transition successfully into independent living. In
limited form, this service already exists for RCs through organisations such
as New Hope Community Services, Journey Home Community, and Kinbrace
(Salsbury Community Society), and it is highly successful; RCs who initially
stay in a refugee transition house need less help after moving out. According
to Simon, “Once they know where the people are who can help them, it
doesn’t take long—they are motivated to make it. Every one of the RCs from
Africa that has gone through our house with our help found the networks they
needed to make that happen.” However, the provision of Transitional Housing
desperately needs to be expanded and also made available to GARs.
10.0 Conclusion
“Africans face specific challenges because our people really come with
nothing, zero . . . To advance becomes a big issue: how do you get higher
in the social ladder? How do you build something with nothing?. . . We have
specific issues, yet the system is slow in helping . . . I don’t know where the
trend is going to end, people just get stuck.” –Garang
“Refugees and refugee claimants are survivors and have an immense capacity to contribute and settle in if we can just let them.” –Simon
When African refugees arrive in Canada, they are overwhelmingly grateful
for the opportunities they have been given and they appreciate more than
other immigrants the peace and safety of Canadian neighbourhoods. However,
while physical safety is critical to well-being, it is not fulfilling on its own.
People also need to live in comfortable accommodation, contribute to their
communities as productive citizens, enjoy good emotional and physical health,
support and be supported by their family, and put their traumatic pasts behind
MBC: “You cannot settle like this” 97
them. Despite their desire to integrate fully into their communities and build
successful lives in their new home, African refugees do not feel welcome in
Canada. Puplampu and Tettey (2005) describe this as a process of “differential
citizenship” whereby people of African origin in Canada are seen as eternal
immigrants and outsiders. David observed, “People do everything to tell you
that you are not from this country: they say, ‘Yes, you can live here but we
don’t like you.’. . .When you really want to settle down, they always remind you
that you are not in your place . . . that you are a foreigner.” Participants used
strong words like “beggars,” “dogs,” and “slaves” to describe the depth of the
alienation they felt. By almost any measure of integration—residential outcomes, labour market participation, civic and political participation, or official
language ability, African refugees need more support. Individual and community based coping strategies exist but do not always reduce vulnerability; they
sometimes have the opposite effect by replicating existing marginalisation.
Yet as Bernadette insisted, “Even though [we came] from a country which is,
let us say, not so developed as this, we are people, and we need to feel that
now this is our country . . . We need to be treated like we are human.” If, as most authors agree, housing is both a central component and an
accurate measure of integration, then there is a desperate need to connect
housing policy with settlement policy. It is also clear that the placement of
vulnerable low-income people into the most expensive housing markets in
the world must be accompanied by additional supports. While homelessness
among refugees may currently be more often “hidden” or “relative” than “absolute,” it makes sense to address concerns now rather than waiting until
there are hundreds of refugees sleeping rough on Canadian streets because
they have no other alternatives. As Drummond, Burleton and Manning argue,
“The public policy case for addressing the problem of affordable housing could
98 MBC: “You cannot settle like this”
not be more transparent” (2004, 15). The challenges are great, but by no
means insurmountable, given sufficient political will and resources.
In many ways, the findings of this study are unsurprising since most of the
barriers African refugees face in Metro Vancouver have already been identified
in other contexts. However, because challenges are layered in specific ways
for different groups, the study’s contribution is to shed light on the particular
ways in which African refugees are affected and the consequences for their
housing trajectories. These processes were demonstrated using the metaphor
of an onion, in which each layer represents another aspect of social, economic,
or political disadvantage. The outer layers represent larger structural forces
that do not only affect African refugees: low incomes, lack of information, and
lack of affordable housing. These concerns may not only affect African refugees, but when viewed in combination with other forms of structural marginalisation, a picture of densely intersecting disadvantage emerges. Refugees
are among those with the lowest incomes in Canada, in part because most are
forced to rely on insufficient levels of government assistance, whether RAP or
welfare. In the context of Vancouver’s expensive rental housing market, the
result is that African refugee families spend most of their income on rent with
little or none left over for food and other necessities.
Further, while some people are prevented from working by the lack of affordable daycare, language difficulties, ill health, or trauma, other connected
factors including discrimination based on skin colour, accent, or gender means
that African refugees who are working are concentrated in precarious employment, and therefore may still have incomes below the poverty line. In this
context, many authors have argued that, in a departure from earlier patterns
of immigrant economic performance when immigrants came primarily from
Europe, the lag in economic attainment has become a permanent income gap
MBC: “You cannot settle like this” 99
between racialised communities and the rest of the population. In addition,
already low incomes are further compromised by institutional factors such as
the need to repay the travel loan to CIC and long processing times for RCs,
which are costly and prevent families from settling down and building assets.
Thus, on top of poverty, racism, sexism and trauma, some African refugees
also have to contend with family separation and long-term temporary status.
The result is the intensification of social and economic exclusion for African
communities in Canada, particularly refugees. At the same time, there is a
lack of affordable rental housing, with very few non-market options, especially
for larger families. When overlaid with widespread discrimination and exploitation in the housing market, these conditions force African refugee families
to accept substandard, overcrowded, unaffordable, inadequate, unsafe, and
unsuitable housing. Moreover, although it is counter-intuitive, it appears that
the poorer refugees are, the higher their costs. For example, Australians can
call home very cheaply, but African refugees must pay much higher rates; the
less renters earn, the more (both absolutely and proportionately) they pay for
rent; those who cannot pay the CIC loan have interest added on top; in each
case, the poorest pay the most. However, absence of motive is not adequate
defense for differential outcomes; as the Supreme Court of Canada stated, “It
is impact, not motive or intent, that is the proper test of unequal treatment” (Diène 2004). There is also a lack of information among African refugees about how to
find a place to live, which is exacerbated by the legacy of past discrimination
and relatively low current numbers of both refugees and also people of African
origin in Metro Vancouver. These factors in turn mean that African refugees
who come to Vancouver do not enter a well-developed social network of professionals, landlords, businesspeople or politicians. Thus, although community
100 MBC: “You cannot settle like this”
networks are crucial, they also tend to be marginalized. At the same time,
mainstream service providers are ill-equipped to assist refugees, especially
those coming from protracted refugee situations. In a positive new development, a Red Cross program called First Contact is beginning to fill some of
those service gaps for RCs.
Although not every African refugee is affected by the above-mentioned
conditions in the same ways, it is possible to discern clear patterns. In some
cases, these point to the danger that without further support, some people
will get stuck in an intergenerational cycle of marginalisation that is difficult
or impossible to break out of. Already there is evidence that African refugees
experience disturbing levels of both relative and absolute homelessness. It
is vital to address issues around housing because where people live in turn
affects their access to education, health care and employment, and impacts
their social and emotional well-being. At the same time, it is important to
bear in mind that these are policy issues related to the provision of settlement services and emphatically not a failing on the part of African refugees.
As Wayland (2007) also argues, the challenge is for policy makers to institute
policies that will meet the needs of all residents of Canada, rather than further
restricting the criteria for immigrant admission, and that this will ultimately
lead to improvements in living standards for all Canadians. Although refugees
must also go through a process of adaptation to their new home, it should be
essential to Canada’s humanitarian obligation that they are provided with sufficient resources to integrate successfully. It is ultimately counter-productive
to start refugees off in their new life in poverty and debt. Moreover, refugees
themselves can hardly be expected to tackle institutional racism and sexism in
their first few months in Canada; rather it is up to those with social, political
and economic power to push for social justice and equality.
MBC: “You cannot settle like this” 101
Based on the findings from this study, several recommendations can be
made. The overall point, however, is that the Canadian government must
consider the provision of affordable and suitable housing to be a central part
of our humanitarian commitment. To this end, refugees should receive supports that mitigate disadvantages in the housing market, including having access to non-market housing options. This also means addressing interrelated
aspects of integration and settlement such as discrimination and economic
marginalisation. Starting from the outer layers of our onion, RAP rates must
be raised to reflect the reality of living costs in major Canadian cities and steps
should be taken to address the ways in which refugees are forced onto income
assistance. Intensive orientations must be made available to refugees on arrival, including accompaniment, in order to ease their transition into Canadian
society and better support them in their early days here. Perhaps most obviously, the availability of social housing and affordable rental housing must be
increased to meet the demand. Governments should also consider providing
transitional housing where refugees can live for up to five years with extra
supports. In addition, the federal government should waive the repayment of
CIC transport loans for GARs and speed up processing times for RCs. Finally,
the mandate and funding of ISAs needs to be increased to enable them to effectively assist incoming refugees with housing searches, deal with landlords,
and other similar matters. If these changes are implemented, it is certain that
there will be major improvements in both the short- and long-term settlement
outcomes for not only African but all refugees coming to Canada.
Although more research would be needed to determine whether the people
who took part in this study are representative of African refugees in Vancouver,
the findings when corroborated with evidence from other studies suggest that
their experiences and perspectives are far from unusual. Moreover, the study
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clearly does reveal a group of people who are at high risk of homelessness and
need more settlement supports. Even more worrying is the knowledge that
these are not the worst off. Further research into the experiences of members
of African communities in Canada disaggregated by ethnicity, national origin,
immigration status, religion, language, sexual orientation, age, gender, and so
forth, is needed to better understand the range of experiences. In addition, it
would be instructive to explore the pathways through which refugees become
homeless in absolute terms (i.e., on the street). Future research could also
examine the convergences and divergences of experiences among people who
identify as Black. Because Africans have been marginalized in practically every
facet of Canadian life, from the academy to the economy, from the housing
market to political life, for over four hundred years, there is much potential
research to be done. However, the goal of such study, in addition to contributing to the sum of knowledge and filling gaps in current research, should be
to empower and improve the condition of those disadvantaged under the current system, through what Smith (1999) calls “decolonizing methodologies.” Like the African immigrants interviewed by Danso (2001) and Teixeira
(2006), the people who took part in this research came with high expectations
of what life would be like in Canada. In all three studies African newcomers
said they experienced a deep sense of disappointment, disillusionment, and
shattered dreams. Whatever their varying expectations, it is surely not unreasonable to expect to have affordable housing; after all, housing is a basic
human need and right (Porter 2004) that provides the foundation upon which
other aspects of settlement and integration are built. Unlike immigrants, who
are chosen for their supposed ability to establish themselves, refugees are
admitted to Canada on humanitarian grounds. African refugees have a lot to
offer, but they need extra supports in order to get to a place of relative sta-
MBC: “You cannot settle like this” 103
bility where they are able to enjoy full citizenship as contributing members of
Canadian society—starting with housing first.
104 MBC: “You cannot settle like this”
Appendix A
Case Study: Daniel (RC)
If they are among the vast majority of RCs who do not stay at one of
the refugee houses, RCs may find themselves in a cycle of unstable accommodation that is hard to break out of. Daniel arrived at the airport late at night
with thirty dollars in his pocket. He took a taxi downtown, found the Salvation
Army, and stayed there for one night. Following that, he stayed at UBC to attend a conference and then went to stay with a couple from his country. While
he was staying with that couple, he started an application through a church
to immigrate as a clergy. When the couple moved, Daniel went to stay in an
unfinished church-house basement “like a rat.” Then, when this finally became
untenable, he stayed in the pastor’s van for two weeks. The pastor then sent
him to live with a friend whose five large dogs slept in one of the apartment’s
two bedrooms. Daniel slept with the dogs. Next, Daniel met a man who offered to let him stay with him on his sofa, but this man’s habit of bringing
different women home every night made Daniel’s life on the sofa miserable.
A man he met on the street asked him if he would like to work as a Tenant
Support Worker in youth homes, an offer he accepted. In the meantime, while
waiting for documents to be sent from Africa and having gained more confidence in the refugee application and determination process, Daniel decided
to apply for refugee status. However, when a fight broke out one night at the
youth home, Daniel called the police, who then arrested him for overstaying
his visa, even though his papers were in order. Released from prison the next
day, Daniel is now living with Esther. Although neither feels comfortable living
with a stranger of the opposite sex and the house is in need of repairs, they
feel they have no other choice.
MBC: “You cannot settle like this” 105
Daniel is not a free man in other ways as well. Upon his release from
prison, he initially had to report to CIC twice a week; this was eventually
changed to every second week and finally, once a month. Daniel works for
the same employer who first hired him under the table when he arrived in
Vancouver two years ago, but still only receives ten dollars per hour. Worse
still, he does not get paid for all the hours he works. Although Daniel is clearly
being exploited, a debt of gratitude and the uncertainty of where to go next
with the 9 in his SIN (a condition one RC referred to as “a cancer”) keep
Daniel under his employer’s thumb. Daniel said his friends ask “‘why are you
letting this man exploit you?’ But they don’t know how much I’m struggling
both ways, to get a job and to get a house.” One settlement worker contrasted
people in Daniel’s situation with earlier migrants: “They came with nothing
and they worked hard, but these people are also working hard or they can’t
because they don’t have a work permit, so they get into these sub-streams of
under-the-table stuff and all the exploitation that’s under there and it’s hard to
move away from that, you get kind of trapped.” Daniel also owes thousands of
dollars in legal fees to his lawyer and is currently awaiting word on his application to be a Protected Person.
Meanwhile, the house he shares is located on
a lot slated for redevelopment, and Esther, who is also a claimant, is expecting
her children to come “any day.”
106 MBC: “You cannot settle like this”
Appendix B
Case Study: Bernadette (GAR)
Bernadette is a single mother of six who came to Canada nearly five years
ago and speaks some French and some English. She has worked as a cleaner
and at a plethora of other low-wage jobs but suffers from ill health (partly the
result of having been tortured) and receives a Disability Pension, although
she also continues to search for work. Bernadette’s original debt to CIC was
thirteen thousand dollars, but she still owes more than three thousand dollars, despite having made payments for over four years. As a result of her
experiences, Bernadette is exhausted and depressed. Her family has moved
nine times and they just keep getting moved on: the rent goes up, neighbours
complain, the landlord’s relative is coming, or the site is sold for redevelopment. One recurring issue is that Bernadette never gets her damage deposit
back from landlords, and because she has borrowed these sums from MEIA,
she now owes for all the deposits that were not returned. At one place, she
cleaned the filthy house for three days, after which the landlord decided to
raise the rent and give it to somebody else. Not only did Bernadette lose her
deposit yet again, but the landlord threatened to call the police to force her to
leave. Betty confirmed that this is a common occurrence:
I’ve seen so many cases myself! Someone goes to rent a place and it’s totally run-down and so dirty, old appliances piled all over . . . [landlords] entice people, saying “oh I’ll
clean everything, just pay the deposit first,” so
they pay the deposit, they clean everything, perhaps even paint the place.
After that, the landlord says “oh sorry, I’ve found someone else” . . . or they
come up with an excuse: “you didn’t tell me you had two children.”
MBC: “You cannot settle like this” 107
Bills and deposits demanded by utilities companies are yet another matter.
At one place, Bernadette said “when the bills came for Hydro and gas, the
woman never brought the original bill, she always made her own and added
some more money to it.” At another place, she received a bill from Terasen
Gas for $1300 (including a $625 deposit) and another from BC Hydro for $700
(including a $250 deposit). These deposits were also borrowed from the social
assistance bureaucracy. Despite these problems, Bernadette says CIC doesn’t
care: “They call me all the time, ‘madam you have not paid,’ I say I don’t have
money now. ‘How do you live, do you eat?’ Yes. ‘Then you have to pay.’”
At the time of interview, Bernadette was paying rent of nineteen hundred dollars, but desperately looking for another place. Disturbingly, the landlord had sent unknown men to stay in one of the bedrooms to help pay the
rent without her consent. She explained, “Welfare people think I simply like to
stay in expensive places, but the truth is that I get refused everywhere else,
it is only because nobody else will take me.” One month, a frustrated worker
cut her monthly amount down to just $350 to “punish” her for taking what the
worker saw as too expensive an apartment. Bernadette explains:
The money I get is fifteen hundred dollars a month but I pay rent of nineteen hundred dollars, and I have to pay the transport loan, phone, it’s not
possible . . . I tried to work at nine dollars per hour, ten dollars per hour, but
I find myself exhausted all the time. I have a medical prescription that isn’t
covered, and my young son is also on prescription medicine, which I have
to pay for if I work for nine dollars per hour, and also daycare for my son...
I find myself desperate, I don’t have a place to stay, the landlords keep creating new rules and throwing me out all the time... if the landlord reads in
the newspaper that somebody is renting a three-bedroom for more than I
am paying, they raise the rent, and if you can’t pay, you have to move out.
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As if all of that were not enough, there was a three-month period where
due to an administrative error, the Canada Revenue Agency thought Bernadette
had died, and for that time, she did not receive any Child Tax Benefits. Finally,
when everything was sorted out and she was sent a cheque for the missed
months (around two thousand dollars), MEIA told her she had to refund
them one month’s cheque. Thus, five years after being invited to Canada as
a Government Assisted Refugee, a single mother of six with limited English
owes the provincial government around twenty-five hundred dollars, and the
federal government approximately three thousand dollars.
MBC: “You cannot settle like this” 109
Appendix C
Case study: Patrice and Eveline (GARs)
After fleeing a brutal past and spending several years in a refugee camp,
Patrice and Eveline came to Vancouver in 2005 with their three children and
Patrice’s twelve-year-old sister. They share a small two-bedroom apartment
in a run-down market housing complex for which they pay eight hundred
and fifty dollars per month, in addition to making monthly payments to CIC
for the seven thousand five hundred dollars they still owe. Patrice was a
teacher in Congo, but after their year of RAP finished, he worked part time in
security for eight dollars per hour. However, now he studies EAL during the
day while Eveline watches their children; Eveline studies EAL at night (both
through MEIA). Eveline was pregnant when they arrived and became seriously
ill during the pregnancy, in part due to overcrowding in the apartment, as well
as to a mold allergy and also repeated spraying of pesticides, despite their appeals to management. When doctors realized the conditions the family was
living in, six of them signed a letter to BC Housing saying the family needed
alternative housing. Two settlement workers also wrote letters on their behalf.
In fact Patrice and Eveline had applied to BC Housing as soon as they arrived,
but despite repeated visits and the several letters written about their situation, they were unable to access subsidised housing.
Meanwhile, they were receiving no money at all for Patrice’s sister, so
they appealed to welfare, who told them they needed a letter from the parents saying that Patrice could receive the money on their behalf. When he
explained that their parents were dead, he was asked for a letter from CIC
proving that she was here with Patrice, but when he finally got the letter and
showed it to them, MEIA said they still could not give her anything because
110 MBC: “You cannot settle like this”
she was too young! Next they appealed to the Ministry of Children and Family
Development, who told them that she should eat at a soup kitchen. Quite reasonably shocked at the thought of sending a twelve-year-old girl from Congo
to eat alone at a soup kitchen, they again appealed to welfare, who finally
agreed to record her as Patrice’s daughter and they now receive thirty-five
dollars per month for her upkeep.
After the baby was born, Eveline’s ill health continued and the baby was
also ill. According to their doctors, the room the baby slept in was too hot, but
the parents said they already kept the windows open all the time and that the
problem was too many people in a tiny room. While dealing with all of these
issues, the building manager served them an eviction notice based on the illegality of having seven people in two bedrooms (although they are far from
the only family in that situation in that complex). Following the manager’s
instructions, they took the notice to BC Housing, hoping to be able to move
into subsidised accommodation since they had nowhere else to go and did
not speak English or have any idea about how to look for another apartment.
However, at BC Housing, they were told to go to TRAC to take the manager
to court. They explained that her reasoning was just, but in the end they had
no choice but to go to TRAC, who also did not understand what the manager
should be accused of. However, the notice was canceled.
Following the cancellation of the notice, the manager informed Patrice and
Eveline about the agreement between BC Housing, who own the complex, and
the management company, whereby nobody is ever evicted (at least for overcrowding). This partly explains why GARs are directed from Welcome House
to this complex despite the fact that the largest apartment has only three
bedrooms. Patrice and Eveline, however, did not let the matter rest there but
MBC: “You cannot settle like this” 111
appealed to their MLA who wrote to the Minister of Housing about their situation. The reply they received expressed sympathy with their situation but said
all they could do was wait for BC Housing. Finally, after nearly three years and
a protracted struggle fought on their behalf by several devoted settlement
workers, Patrice and Eveline were allowed to move into a four-bedroom subsidised unit.14
14 This move occurred several months after the interview took place (personal communication).
112 MBC: “You cannot settle like this”
Appendix D
Interview Questions: African refugees
1. Before we begin, do you have any questions about me or about the research?
2. Where do you come from? How long have you been in Vancouver? Are you a
sponsored refugee (GAR or PSR), or refugee claimant?
3. Describe your employment situation.
4. Could you describe where you are living now? Is it adequate for your needs?
Why or why not? How do you deal with these challenges? If currently homeless:
Could you describe your living conditions and how long you have been homeless?
What do you do to address these challenges? Could you give some examples? 5. If in rental accommodation: How would you describe your relationship with your
landlord (e.g., good, okay, difficult, etc.)? Could you give some examples? 6. What are the greatest challenges you have faced finding appropriate and
affordable accommodation in Vancouver? Do Africans face any special challenges
that perhaps other immigrants don’t? Could you give some examples? 7. How have you addressed those challenges? Could you give some examples?
8. What kinds of assistance have you received in finding accommodation? Have you
got help from friends/family, agencies, church groups or other institutions? Could
you give some examples? What did you find most/least helpful? Have you had
any difficulties interacting with or accessing services such as ISS, La Boussole,
MOSAIC, etc.? Is it clear how these services function?
9. What gaps do you see in the provision of shelter assistance to newcomers? How
could institutions change to better assist newcomers in finding suitable affordable
accommodation? What suggestions would you give to the organizations you
already know to improve the services to you and your family?
10. What changes in government policy would you recommend to help other
newcomers in similar positions?
11. Do you feel you have enough information about how to find housing in Vancouver,
including how the social housing system works and the legal rights of tenants? If
so, how did you acquire that information? If not, what would be the best way for
that type of information to be provided? Could you give any examples?
12. How would you like to see this research used? For example, government report,
media, funding proposals, other ways?
13. Is there something you’d like to talk about that I haven’t asked you?
MBC: “You cannot settle like this” 113
Appendix E
Interview Questions: Settlement Workers
1. Before we begin, do you have any questions about me or about the research?
2. Which organisation do you work for? What is your position at —— and how long
have you worked here? How does this organization work within the larger context
of service providers?
3. What services do you typically offer to newcomers, especially refugees? How do
newcomers get to know about your services?
4. What other services are available to assist newcomers find accommodation in
Vancouver? Does your organization provide services for African refugees? Do
you work with these? In what capacity? Are you aware of any organisations that
serve Africans specifically?
5. What is the demographic profile of the African immigrants/refugees you have
assisted?
6. What socio-economic resources do you find African refugees have when they
come here and what resources do they lack?
7. What are the most significant barriers to accessing adequate housing experienced
by the African immigrants/refugees you have assisted? Are there specific
challenges for people coming from African countries? How do you help African
immigrants/refugees address the challenges you have identified? How do these
needs change over time? Can you speak to the issue of housing needs for refugee
women in particular?
8. For those who are homeless or in housing stress, how do they cope, and what
assistance do you offer? What other assistance is available? How do newcomers
learn about these services? Does the refugee community use these services?
How do you know?
9. Describe any gaps in service provision that you have identified through your work.
Could you speak about some of the barriers preventing access to services?
10. How do you assess whether your programs are effective? Do you know if they are
well
11. received in the immigrant/refugee community? 12. How could your organisation improve its provision of settlement services to
African refugees in Metro Vancouver?
13. What policy changes from governments would you recommend to improve the
housing situation of African refugees?
14. Do you have any future projects or programs you would like me to know about?
15. How would you like to see this research used?
16. Is there something you’d like to talk about that I haven’t asked you?
114 MBC: “You cannot settle like this”
Appendix F
Focus Group Questions
1. Before we begin, do you have any questions about me or about the
research?
2. Could you tell us about yourself? Where are you from? How long have you
lived in Metro Vancouver? Did you come as a sponsored refugee (GAR or
PSR), or Refugee Claimant?
3. What is your current housing situation? Could you give some examples of
the main challenges you have faced in accessing suitable, affordable and
adequate housing in Metro Vancouver, and how you have addressed those
challenges?
4. What kinds of assistance have you received in finding accommodation
(friends/family, agencies, church groups, ISAs, other)? Could you give
some examples? What did you find most/least helpful? Have you had any
difficulties interacting with or accessing services? 5. What suggestions would you give to the organizations you already know to
improve the services to you and your family? What changes in government
policy would you recommend to help other newcomers in similar positions?
How would you like to see this research used?
6. Is there something you’d like to talk about that you haven’t mentioned?
MBC: “You cannot settle like this” 115
Appendix G
The University of British Columbia
Office of Research Services
Behavioural Research Ethics Board
Suite 102, 6190 Agronomy Road,
Vancouver, B.C. V6T 1Z3
CERTIFICATE OF APPROVAL - FULL BOARD
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR:
INSTITUTION / DEPARTMENT:
UBC BREB NUMBER:
Daniel J. Hiebert UBC/Arts/Geography H07-02850
INSTITUTION(S) WHERE RESEARCH WILL BE CARRIED OUT:
Institution
UBC
Site
Vancouver (excludes UBC Hospital)
Other locations where the research will be conducted:
part 1) interviews will be conducted at locations convenient for the subjects—at their place of work or service, at their homes or in community
centers, or at settlement service offices Part 2) same as part 1).
CO-INVESTIGATOR(S): Priya Kissoon ; Jenny Francis SPONSORING AGENCIES: Human Resources and Social Development Canada PROJECT TITLE: Housing and Homelessness Among Selected Newcomer Groups to BC
part 1) African Immigrants/Refugees’ Experiences of Housing and Homelessness in Greater Vancouver
part 2) Housing Survival and Risk of Homelessness amongst Migrants Without Status in Toronto and Vancouver.
REB MEETING DATE: January 24, 2008 CERTIFICATE EXPIRY DATE: January 24, 2009
Document Name
Version
Date
Protocol:
part 2 research summary non-status migrants and homelessness N/A
November 25, 2006
part 1 research summary African immigrants and refugees N/A
November 25, 2007
Consent Forms:
part 1 consent African migrants
N/A
January 31, 2008
part 2 non-status migrant consent form
2
January 30, 2008
part 2 key informant consent form
2
January 30, 2008
part 1 consent form settlement workers
N/A
January 31, 2008
Advertisements:
part 2 non-status migrant flyer for participation
N/A
November 25, 2007
part 1 advertisement to recruit participants (migrants)
N/A
January 31, 2008
Questionnaire, Questionnaire Cover Letter, Tests:
part 2 non-status migrant interview schedule
N/A
November 25, 2007
part 2 key informant interview schedule
N/A
November 25, 2005
part 1 interview questions migrants and settlement workers
N/A
January 31, 2008
Letter of Initial Contact:
part 2 key informant introductory letter
N/A
November 25, 2006
part 1 introductory letter for migrants
N/A
January 31, 2008
part 1 introductory letter settlement workers
N/A
January 31, 2008
part 2 non-status migrant introductory letter N/A
November 25, 2007
Other Documents:
part 1 interpreter confidentiality assurance form
N/A
January 31, 2008
The application for ethical review and the document(s) listed above have been reviewed and the procedures were found to be
acceptable on ethical grounds for research involving human subjects.
Approval is issued on behalf of the Behavioural Research Ethics Board
and signed electronically by one of the following:
Dr. M. Judith Lynam, Chair
Dr. Ken Craig, Chair
Dr. Jim Rupert, Associate Chair
Dr. Laurie Ford, Associate Chair
Dr. Daniel Salhani, Associate Chair
Dr. Anita Ho, Associate Chair
116 MBC: “You cannot settle like this”
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