What is this research about?
Settlement service organizations play an essential role in supporting newcomers to Canada; however, the processes that practitioners engage in when working with people navigating the refugee system remain understudied. This study explores the institutional ruling relations that regulate refugees’ settlement process in Toronto from the standpoint view of practitioners.
What did the researchers find?
"The findings indicate that practitioners strategize to meet refugees’ needs and engage in work outside of the system due to funding constraints... and indicate that settlement organizations need to respond to the funders’ demands and expectations, which has created an unstable, constantly fluctuating environment for service provision. Against this backdrop, significant emphasis is placed on practitioners’ capacity to identify and respond to refugees and newcomers’ diverse needs and establish connections internal and external to the settlement sector. Practitioners are working within funding constraints that have led to acts of resistance. Both practitioners and organizations choose between their internal mission and mandate, a personal sense of what it means to offer support, and funders’ agendas.
Major themes included:
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