Resources

Latest resources in the settlement sector of Ontario.

Here we post new resources and more.

Canada should recommit to bilingualism

Steve Lafleur Policy Options September 28, 2022

Canada is officially a bilingual country. In practice, though, there are few parts of Canada outside of Quebec where one can live a primarily francophone life. This probably won’t change. But Canada can and should aspire to be a more functionally bilingual country. That doesn’t have to mean large, divisive policy changes. A slight shift in attitude and some carrots, rather than sticks, could help reinvigorate bilingualism in at least some parts of the country outside of Quebec.

Ukraine war: why Russians fleeing conscription should be treated as refugees

The Conversation September 29, 2022 Martin Jones

People fleeing across borders is a hallmark of armed conflict. We first saw millions of Ukrainians flee the country when the Russians invaded Ukraine in February this year. Now there are reports of hundreds of thousands of Russians fleeing their country in order to avoid Russia’s first mobilisation since the second world war.

Here’s Canada’s new plan to help foreign students and workers become permanent residents. Some say it isn’t nearly new enough

Nicholas Keung The Star Wed., Sept. 21, 2022

After much hype over a new strategy to help more migrants become permanent residents, Immigration Minister Sean Fraser has delivered a plan that largely reinstated the policy changes made during the pandemic.

Can Mindfulness Improve the Mental Health of Refugees?

Refugees have consistently been found to experience elevated levels of distress, from symptoms of PTSD, depression, and anxiety, to various culturally specific forms of suffering. Their distress was originally believed to be primarily the result of the violence and loss they had experienced in their embattled homeland, prior to escaping into exile. It’s an understandable assumption: Experiences such as witnessing or directly experiencing violence, the constant fear generated by gunfire, shelling, and bombing, and the pervasive destruction of war can cause significant and sometimes lasting psychological harm.