Transcript Unaccompanied and Separated Children in Canada: Issues of

Unaccompanied and Separated Children in
Canada: Issues of Resettlement,
Classifications of Risk
Myriam Denov, PhD
McGill University
Catherine Bryan, MSW
Dalhousie University
Michéal Montgomery
International Institute for Child Rights and Development
Simon Atem
Unaccompanied Minor
& Youth Researcher
Today’s Presentation:
 Introduction to the issue of Unaccompanied and Separated Children
in Canada
 Overview of Research Project
 Highlight the resettlement goals and expectations of unaccompanied
and separated children
 Explore the lived-experiences of unaccompanied and separated
children as described by the youth themselves and those who work
most closely with them
 Classifications of Risk
 Discuss ramifications of these experiences
 Offer policy-focused suggestions
Introduction to the issue of Unaccompanied and
Separated Children
Who are Unaccompanied/Separated Children?
Definitions
Children and Youth
The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child defines a child as
“every human being below the age of 18”.
The UN defines a youth as a person between the ages 15 and 24.
Children and Youth
Limitations of Definitions
• Highly variable
• Dependent on socio-cultural
environment
• Many young people who arrive
to Canada may not know
precise age
• Engagement in “adult” roles caregiving, providing for
younger siblings
Definitions
Unaccompanied and Separated Children
The UNHCR defines a separated children as “a person under the age
of 18, unless under the law applicable to the child majority is attained
earlier, and who is separated from both parents and is not being
cared for by an adult who by law or custom is responsible to do so”.
Citizenship and Immigration Canada defines an unaccompanied child
as an individual, under the age of 18 who is without both parents or
adult who is legally responsible for them.
Unaccompanied or Separated?
Practical Concerns and Implications
In Canada, these terms are often used differently and interchangeably
by various institutions
Affecting…
• Available data
• The identification of children at borders and by agencies
• Provision of services
Why do Children seek asylum?
Children become mobile for many
of the same reasons as adults
• Persecution on the basis of
ethnicity, religion, nationality,
membership in a particular
social group, political affiliation
Reasons unique to their status as
children and youth
• Separation from family
• Persecution on the basis of
age
• Child abuse
• Gender-based persecution
• Forced conscription
• Trafficking and smuggling
Canadian Demographics
Between 2000 and 2004 (based on CIC data)
Of the approximately 18 million refugees worldwide, 2-5% are
unaccompanied and separated children
Unaccompanied Children
Separated Children
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1, 087
Mean age of 15.2 years
39.1% female
Majority from Sri Lanka, China
and Burundi
1, 683
Mean age 15.3
50.7 female
Majority from Sri Lanka, Somalia
and Colombia
For both groups of children: 52% were either 16 or 17, 30%
were between 11 and 15, and 18% were between 0 and 10
Understanding the Canadian Demographics
Between 1993 and 2003, the number of unaccompanied and separated
children entering Canada quadrupled (Bhabha, 2003)
Why the increase in Unaccompanied and Separated Children?
1)
The changing nature of warfare
2)
Perceived by families to be less likely to be detected by immigration
controls.
3)
Improved accessibility of travel and children’s rights discourse has meant
that a small but emergent number of children may be choosing to seek out
new opportunities elsewhere.
4)
“Anchor” or “bullet” children, sent ahead to secure immigration routes for
families.
Applicable Policy
 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989)
 Article 22(1), 22(2): Asylum and Family Reunification
 Article 37: Relating to Detention
 UN Convention relating to the Status of Refugees (1989)
 Relating to the principle of Unity of the Family
 UNHCR Guidelines on Dealing with Unaccompanied Children
Seeking Asylum (1997)
 Child Refugee Claimants: Procedural and Evidentiary Issues
(IRB 1996)
 Best Interest of the Child
Overview of Research Project
Impetus for the Research:
• The lived realities of unaccompanied children in Canada
Pilot project:
• Funded by IDRC and McGill
Objectives:
• To examine the short and long-term resettlement experiences of
unaccompanied/separated children in Canada, as well as the
psychosocial challenges they face following their arrival.
• To contribute to the development/improvement of policy and
programs oriented towards the protection and integration of
unaccompanied/separated children in Canada
Study Sample
24 Participants (to date)
7 Unaccompanied and
Separated Children
(5 male and 2 female)
Youth were from Sudan, Ethiopia,
Afghanistan, Kenya and Congo.
How did these youth get to Canada?
• Unaccompanied
• World University Services Canada
• Government Assisted
17 Stakeholders
6 British Columbia
7 Quebec
1 Manitoba
1 Ontario
2 US
Method
 Qualitative interviews with small sample of stakeholders
and youth: intended to elicit “thick description” and depth
 Interview protocol developed by research team, which
included a separated refugee youth
What does resettlement mean for unaccompanied and
separated refugee youth?
 All the youth interviewed stated that education was their principle goal. This,
according to stakeholder participants, reflected the sentiments of the majority
of the youth they had worked with.
The best thing about living in Canada is, you know, education (Male Youth, BC)
 Security – the ability to feel safe, to feel protected, to feel free to pursue a
variety of interests, pass times, and options.
What I really admire here is that people have quiet time for themselves, people read,
not all the people but if they want it, they do it. Yeah, the freedom – that is, money
cannot buy it – it is the only thing I have been able to gain without gaining conventional
status. Just being here, by itself, automatically you get that freedom (Male Youth, AB)
 A profound need to be loved, understood and accepted
Most of the cases are tragic because they all need to have a parent, whether they
know it or not (Male Stakeholder, BC)
Overarching Context
Like other migrants, unaccompanied and separated
children do not arrive to an ideologically neutral
context.
 Child Welfare
 Immigration Control and Security (Shamir, 2005)
Most [people] are product[s] of Hollywood, product of the UN, a
product of media [and] this is how they perceive us. I am here
but they perceive me through TV, they perceive me through my
passport and they perceive me through my accent (male youth
participant, AB).
Unpacking the Experiences of Unaccompanied and
Separated Children in Canada
Although unaccompanied and separated children invoke some
sympathy by virtue of their status as children, participants reported
that many interactions and relationships were marked by:
1. Anti-refugee discourse
2. Anti-youth discourse
3. Racism
4. Immigration discourse
Each of these is influenced by the child’s age and his or her gender.
1. Anti-refugee Discourse
Bullet Children and Collusion
Perceptions of refugees have tended to be constructed around
issues of identity, trustworthiness, and concerns about the
circumvention of legal methods of immigration.
I think that “refugee” is just a bad word…There’s a societal image of the refugee
who is just a cheater, who is just trying to jump the queue, [who is] just trying to
take advantage of this wonderful country (female stakeholder).
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Their association with marginalized global populations.
The potential influx of other refugees they represent.
Their perceived ability to consent to flight.
Their status as non-citizens and irregular migrants who have chosen to
evade illicit means of immigration.
Anti-refugee Discourse
Conceived of as “bullet children”
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This perception presupposes a hidden agenda, labels the child as
untrustworthy and de-legitimizes their claim for asylum.
Serves to displace generalized anxiety concerning uncontrolled migration
onto them
Unaccompanied and separated children constructed as “rational agents”,
and seen as having consented to flight.
In some cases, [the children] do receive status. In some cases they don’t because they
[immigration officials] feel that the child is able to consent to being smuggled and so
therefore, the child is not in need protection from Canada. They are not automatically
accepted because they are children (female stakeholder).
2. Anti-youth Discourse
The Fear of Youth Crime
The classification of youth as “risk” occurs within a socio-political
context that increasingly conflates young age and delinquency.
Refugee youth do not need to transgress the law to constructed as
“criminal”.
While all youth are vulnerable to this classification, refugee youth are
particularly vulnerable.
There have been a few instances in the city where refugee kids have done something
and they deport them...Or they just say that the refugees are causing problems in the
city. There was a shooting a while ago, “oh it’s a refugee kid”, “oh they shouldn’t be in
our country”. That’s how people respond, it’s easy to blame. So it’s not just a student,
it’s a refugee student or it’s an aboriginal student. People class it and then society
responds by saying “oh all these people are bad, look at all the aboriginal gangs, look
at all the African gangs” (female stakeholder, MB).
Anti-youth Discourse
The notion that all refugee youth are potentially criminal is often fostered by
the media, which by covering the crimes of ethnically and socioeconomically marginalized youth, effectively established the archetypal
“youth criminal”.
The moment the police see you, if you look young, they’re like maybe you’re a drug
dealer or you’re a bad person. That’s what they do here. That’s why [it] is not good
[here], the police make it bad. You know, “all the young people they are bad” but they
don’t know who’s bad, they don’t know who’s good and they’re supposed to know
(male youth participant, MB).
This archetype provokes and justifies cynical and fearful reactions to refugee
youth who may, or may not, be in conflict with the law.
Anti-youth Discourse
This has powerful ramifications for them as they attempt to
integrate into their new communities.
After I shared my life story with my teacher and then with my
other classmates, that’s when they started to know me. They
came to me after [and said], “oh, we thought that you were a
bad person.” They felt that maybe I was going to rob them, like
I’m going to do something bad to them (male youth participant,
MB)
Risk and Gender
In many ways, female gender
serves to mediate the “risk identity”
classification.
This reflects normative, Canadian
gender ideology regarding male
and female children.
“My hunch is that girls are
understood at far greater risk of
exploitation and getting themselves
in difficult situations, which are not
their ‘fault’ [and] that boys are
understood as being risky to
Canadian society as much as ‘at
risk’. Whereas I don’t think that girls
are understood as being risky to
Canadian society, they are more ‘at
risk’.” (female advocate
stakeholder).
These dynamics play out in terms of placement and detention.
3. Racism
Stereotypes & Discrimination
In addition to anti-refugee and
youth discourse, is the positioning
of unaccompanied and separated
children in opposition to
“normative” Canadian citizenry.
Racism and Difference
For unaccompanied and separated children, markers of difference typically
include age, ethnicity and language.
There are people who say that I am too African. I don’t know why they say that. How
can I be too African? This is who I am, I cannot be someone else (female youth
participant, QC).
Youth are positioned as inherently unable to meet Canadian standards of
hygiene, morality and intellect.
There are others who keep me in a stereotype. One white guy greets another white
guys “hey! How are you, how are you doing”, he turned to me “Hey, wuz up?”
(laughing). I get that at a lot, people think I smoke weed and I would say 85% of
people my age do smoke [marijuana] but I don’t. It’s not being holy or something, it’s
just not me but they automatically - it’s not “do you smoke”, it’s “when are we going
to smoke?” (male youth participant, AB).
Racism and Difference
Their “inherent difference” is further emphasized by the
message unaccompanied and separated children often
receive that conformity to mainstream standards of
appearance and language will facilitate their
integration.
I had a judge, my hair is in dreadlocks…and he literally commented
on that. And a lot of people even before I appear[ed] in court
commented, “you know what, you have to cut your hair because
when you appear in court, people see appearance”, things like
that…[but] he (the judge) was laughing at me, actually. He thought I
was respectless (male youth participant).
Immigration Control
Examples of securitization in regards to unaccompanied and
separated children:
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Use of handcuffs
Use of detention
That was another shocking moment. I could say I expected, to be around be
around police, I didn’t expect any [kindness] in custody. I knew that when I
came here, I was going to pass through this type of process. I knew that I
was not legal… They arrested me and chained me, took me to detention
and they kept me there for 40 days, until I proved my ID, that I was really a
juvenile (male youth participant).
The use of handcuffs and detention are a clear breach of the
UNCRC and other policies/treaties.
Synthesis
The four types of experiences discussed by the participants do not occur in
isolation from one another.
Rather they work in tandem, reinforcing each other.
Prejudicial attitudes are legitimized
Discrimination and Exclusion are Justified
The binary:
child welfare/immigration control binary cedes to immigration control.
The narratives of participants ultimately highlight the discrepancy between
political rhetoric concerning children’s rights and everyday practice.
Ramifications
Ongoing Challenges:
• Inability to access necessary supportive systems
• inconsistently applied across provinces
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Barriers to employment and housing
Limited opportunities to be self-sufficient/or to be “children”
Conflict in school with peers and teachers
Conflict with police (both warranted and unwarranted)
Integration and culture
Isolation
Low-self-esteem
Ongoing Challenges
As observed by both groups of participants,
unaccompanied and separated children may resort to
behaviours and activities that serve to confirm the
identities conferred on them.
HOWEVER, these youth also demonstrate a remarkable
ability to overcome these challenges, meet their goals,
and make positive connections. Their strength,
motivation, and determination must be fostered
throughout the process of resettlement and afterward.
Overcoming These Challenges
Policy-focused Suggestions
The conceptualization of unaccompanied and separated children as risky
rationalizes the decision of host countries to respond to them
suspiciously and deny them protection.
The lack of coherent federal policies concerning the protection of
unaccompanied and separated children represents a considerable
challenge for immigration officials and front-line workers.
Canadian policy must be developed that recognizes unaccompanied and
separated children’s inherent right to protection.
Policy-focused Suggestions
Deconstruct previously held notions, not simply of unaccompanied and
separated children, but of the markers and risk categories that
facilitate the classification of these children and youth as risky
Challenge gender ideologies and stereotypes which construct male
refugee youth as innately self-reliant and female refugee youth as
innately dependent.
Recognize the impact of biological age, ethnicity, citizenship status,
separation from family, gender and culture, while not assigning
reductionist meaning to them.
Policy-focused Suggestions
• Developing/improving programs and services that enable these
youth to achieve their goals and maximize their potential
• Education
• Safety
• Support
Given the relatively small numbers of unaccompanied and
separated children that enter Canada, Canada is in a unique
position to develop and implement a holistic system which
recognizes the uniqueness of each youth, supports them in their
endeavors, and facilitates the kind of life they, the youth
themselves, expect to have here.