(Global Campus of Human Rights, 2020)
Weizman, Aviva
All newcomers, regardless of age, face a compounded variety of
barriers, risks and challenges that are exacerbated by their immigrant status.
However, newcomer youths face some of these same issues with heightened
vulnerability, often with a lower level of visibility or opportunity to reap the
benefits bestowed by immigration policies or federally-funded programming.
The Centre for Newcomers, an immigrant-serving organisation that has
for more than 30 years been providing services to Calgarian newcomers,
has identified several substantial gaps within these parameters. This article
explores some of the most pressing gaps in Canadian immigration policy
in relation to the following inter-connected and fundamental issues facing
newcomer youth in Canada: protracted and ongoing status issues; educational
barriers; and poverty. The article then contextualises these policy gaps with
reference to CFN’s Real Me programme, which has recently been recognised as
a best practice by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, to provide
evidence- and practice-based policy recommendations.
