Project Investigator: Jennifer Hyndman; Co-applicant: Bronwyn Bragg

Funding: SSHRC Insight Grant

Term: 2024-2029

“It’s for good reason that most new immigrants to Canada find themselves in a major metropolis—a Toronto or a Montreal or a Vancouver or (if you must) an Edmonton. The idea is, when you have more people that look like you, it’s easier to recognize how a place can become home” (Elamin Abdelmahmoud, 2022, p. 6). Across Canada, smaller centres are increasingly home to resettled refugees, as the number of destination cities hosting dedicated, federally funded resettlement assistance programs (RAPs) for government-assisted refugees (GARs) has grown from 23 to 42 cities across Canada over the past eight years; nine of these sites are new since 2021 (IRCC, 2022). The research focuses on smaller centres (under 100K) in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia and centre the perspectives of newcomer youth (ages 18-24) and parents of children who arrive in Canada as resettled refugees (now permanent residents).  The research team is a collaboration that includes Prof. Bronwyn Bragg at the University of Lethbridge as a co-applicant and Dr. Kathy Sherrell, a geographer and Chief of Settlement at the Immigrant Services Society of British Columbia in Vancouver and others.