S ociety R esettlement Exploring Resettlement Agencies Experiences Planning for Syrian Refugee Resettlement Catherine Kenny Disaster and Emergency Management York University June 1 2017 ID: 600631
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Slide1
Planning for Whole-of-Society Resettlement
Exploring Resettlement Agencies’ Experiences Planning for Syrian Refugee Resettlement
Catherine Kenny
Disaster and Emergency Management, York University
June 1, 2017Slide2
OutlineIntroduction
to researchPlanning for whole-of-society resettlementFederal government – resettlement agency relationshipImpacts of neoliberal governance on resettlement agencies
Findings
Successes and challenges
ConclusionSlide3
Introduction to Research
Canada’s Syrian refugee resettlement initiative:First commitment: Over
26,000 Syrian refugees
resettled between Nov. 4, 2015 and Feb. 29, 2016
Resettlement agencies provide the government-funded
Resettlement Assistance Program
to refugees
John McCallum, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, and
Harjit
Sajjan
, Minister of National Defence, announce Canada's plan to resettle 25,000 Syrian refugees, during a press conference at the National Press Theatre in Ottawa on
Tuesday. Slide4
Planning for Resettlement
Main research questions:What was the role of resettlement agencies in planning for Canada’s Syrian refugee resettlement initiative?
How did these planning processes affect resettlement agencies’ experiences resettling Syrian refugees?Slide5
Planning for ResettlementSlide6
IRCC-Resettlement Agency Relationship
Impact of Neoliberal Governance on Resettlement AgenciesShort-
term, program-based,
contracts
(Richmond & Shields, 2004, 2005)
Increasing accountability
mechanisms (e.g. finance reports) (Christensen &
Ebrahim, 2006; Meinhard, Lo & Hyman, 2016)“Limited”
partnerships
(
Meinhard
, Lo & Hyman, 2016)
Sector
instability
(OCASI, 2016)
Employment
precarity
and employee
stressSlide7
Findings
Findings:Collaboration, openness, and flexibility characterized the relationship between the federal government and resettlement agencies.
Many of the challenges that resettlement agencies experienced were the result of long-term systemic
neoliberal restructuring
of the resettlement sector.Slide8
Successes in Relationship with IRCC
IRCC provided:Responsive, on-the-ground supportOpen and transparent flow of information
Funding flexibility (for
direct service
provision
)Slide9
ChallengesUntimely and inadequate funding for hiring
“[B]ut it was difficult not to know the level of financial support that we would get, so that we could plan. It’s very hard to hire people and then not know if you can keep them on and then have to lay them off and have to rehire. There was a bit more of that than we would have liked.”Slide10
ChallengesInadequate training and added employee stress
“On our own staff, it’s very stressful because we had senior staff with a lot of experience trying to support newly hired staff with much less experience. […] So, it definitely put a big strain on the core [Resettlement Assistance Program]
workers because they had to orient and coordinate and support a lot of new people who didn’t have experience.”Slide11
Challenges
Difficulty with volunteer managementVolunteer management relatively defunded One government official noted, “[Resettlement agencies] all did something different [for volunteer management] because at that point, when they needed to start working on it, we still didn’t have the money.”Slide12
ConclusionTake-away
points:High-level policy changes have real impacts on local implementation of resettlement services
Flexibility
, innovation, and reducing bureaucratic regulations are essential in large resettlement
initiativesSlide13
References
Chartrand, F. (2015). John McCallum, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, and
Harjit
Sajjan
, Minister of National Defence, announce Canada's plan to resettle 25,000 Syrian refugees, during a press conference at the National Press Theatre in Ottawa on Tuesday [photograph]
.
Times Colonist. Retrieved from http://www.timescolonist.com
/news/local/victoria-considered-as-government-assisted-refugee-destination-
1.2119064
Christensen, R. &
Ebrahim
, A. (2006). How does accountability affect mission? The case of a
nonprofit
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Nonprofit
Management & Leadership, 17
(2), 195-209.
Denette
, N. (2015). Newly-arrived Syrian refugee
Anjilik
Jaghlassian
, centre, and her family receive winter clothes and other items at Pearson International airport, in Toronto, on Friday, Dec. 11, 2015 [photograph].
CTV News
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/
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1.3382444
Evans
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marketisation
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Policy and Society, 24
(1), 73-97
.
Hiebert
, D. &
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, K. (2009). The integration and inclusion of newcomers in British Columbia.
Working paper series
. Vancouver, BC: Metropolis British Columbia.
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (2017). #
WelcomeRefugees
: Canada resettled Syrian refugees.
Refugees
. Retrieved from http://
www.cic.gc.ca
/
english
/refugees/welcome on 11 February 2017
.Slide14
References
Lippert, R. (1998). Rationalities and refugee resettlement. Economy and Society, 27
(4), 380-406.
Meinhard
, A., Lo, L., & Hyman, I. (2016). Cross-sector partnerships in the provision of services to new immigrants in Canada: Characteristics, relevance and constraints.
Human Services Organizations: Management, Leadership & Governance, 40
(3), 281-296
.Ontario
Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants [OCASI]. (2016).
Telling our stories from the frontline: Adverse institutional impacts of cuts to immigrant settlement funding in Ontario
. Toronto, ON: OCASI. Retrieved from http://
www.ocasi.org
/sites/default/files/telling-our-stories-from-the-frontline_1.pdf on 17 February 2017.
Richmond, T. & Shields, J. (2004). Third sector restructuring and the new contracting regime: The case of immigrant serving agencies in Ontario.
Ryerson University Centre for Voluntary Studies Working Paper Series.
Richmond, T. & Shields, J. (2005). NGO-government relations and immigrant services: Contradictions and challenges.
Journal of International Migration and Integration, 6
(3/4), 513-526.
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees [UNHCR]. (2016).
UNHCR Resettlement Handbook and Country Chapters.
Retrieved from http://
www.unhcr.org
/protection/resettlement/4a2ccf4c6/
unhcr
-resettlement-handbook-country-
chapters.html
on 10 February
2017.
Volunteer Canada. (2016).
Volunteer management handbook: A resource for service-providing organizations assisting newcomers to Canada.
Retrieved from https://
volunteer.ca
/resources/
Volunteer_Mgmt_Handbook
/VMH_Eng_2016.pdfSlide15
Questions?