Welcome to the tenth and final episode of The Refuge. In this episode, we discuss an issue that we’ve come to view as essential to the integration of children and youth with refugee experience in Canada - the meaningful involvement of those youth in the program and policy decisions that affect them.

Our guests include Ani Gurtsishvili - a first-generation immigrant committed to advancing equity and inclusion in her work as the Program Associate Mariam Assefa Fund with World Education Services (WES); Craig Carter-Edwards - Analyst with Settlement and Integration Policy at Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) and the co-founder of Welcome Home TO; and Theresa Jones - Coordinator for Programs and Policy with the World Education Services (WES) where she supports the development of program and policy interventions to facilitate the labor market integration of immigrant communities.

Welcome to Policy Matters, a special mini-series of The Refuge podcast that focuses on policy issues and connects policy makers with academics, community partners, and people with lived experience.

This episode features Ali Duale – MLA for Halifax Armdale and former refugee from Somalia, Dr. Nicole Ives – Associate Professor of Social Work at McGill University, and Sherman Chan – Director of Family and Settlement Support at MOSAIC B.C., discussing the importance of newcomers’ sense of belonging, factors affecting belonging, and recommendations on how to improve belonging for newcomers to Canada.

Welcome to Policy Matters, a special mini-series of The Refuge podcast that focuses on policy issues and connects policy makers with academics, community partners, and people with lived experience.

Our guests in this episode include Dr. Andrea MacLeod - professor in Communication Sciences and Disorders at the University of Alberta; Kathleen Vyrauen - co-chair of the Newcomer Education Coalition and Project Manager with Immigration Partnership Winnipeg; and Jayesh Maniar - English as an Additional Language and Newcomer Education Consultant for the government of Manitoba. The discussion covers the unique supports needed to support children and refugee youth at school.