Settlement Agencies Help Refugees Beat Barriers in Canada

Refugee Assistance

Refugees Struggle to Beat Barriers in Canada

(09/30/99)
It's about a year since Svjetlana Savanovic first arrived in Canada. She steps out into a sunny, spring day and confidently hails a cab on Toronto's Queen Street East. After climbing into the front seat, however, she struggles in halting English to tell the driver her destination.

Other passengers pitch in with instructions and the taxi driver heads off in the right direction.

The language barrier is a constant frustration for the Bosnian Serb refugee. She says - with the help of an interpreter, of course - that it feels like her life is always filtered through someone else.

Communicating in an unfamiliar language is just one of the obstacles Savanovic faces every day as she adapts to life in her new country. "It takes time to learn how to live here, to function in this system,"she says.

The 34-year-old endured four years of war in Bosnia before coming as a government-sponsored refugee to Toronto, where she joined her sister and brother-in-law. She's now studying English full-time and hoping to eventually find work similar to the traffic engineering she performed in her native country.

Marina Maksimovic, who counsels Savanovic and other newcomers from the Balkan region, says newcomers run up against many barriers as they integrate into Canada.

She agrees that the biggest barrier is language. "All of a sudden, no matter what their background is, all of them are thrown to the ground," said Maksimovic, who works for Mennonite New Life Centre, an immigrant settlement agency in Toronto.

She says refugees tell her they feel mute and stupid because they can't communicate. Since children often pick up their new language quickly, they end up translating for their parents, and that can damage their elders' pride. "Parents are losing their natural role in the family and children are taking over," says Maksimovic, who herself immigrated to Canada from Bosnia in 1993.

She says men, especially, feel humiliated when they can't communicate, much less provide for their family. "And that's where many problems arise," she says. "And many marriages fall apart. That's very common.

John Docherty, director of Maison d'Amite, a refugee settlement agency in Montreal which Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) supports, says many refugees are also troubled by survivor guilt. They wonder why they are alive while other family members were killed. Others worry about the well-being of their remaining family members, and don't feel settled until they've arranged for them to also come to Canada, a process which can take years.

Docherty says after the trauma of war or persecution, refugees frequently fight sleep disorders. "Most of the refugees I know here have trouble sleeping," he says. "It's very common in the people I see here."

And then there's the struggle to find meaningful work. Many professional organizations for lawyers, doctors and so on, don't recognize foreign credentials.

Docherty spoke of a Zairean doctor, a very respected researcher in Zaire, who can't practice medicine in Canada. Yet, his entire identity is wrapped up in his status of doctor and medical researcher. "It almost destroyed him," says Docherty. "He had no role to play here."

Ed Wiebe, who directs MCC Manitoba's refugee work, says getting that first job is really difficult. He says it's hard to pin-point whether it's language skills or skin color that hinder the job possibilities. "We don't overtly, but very indirectly, side track people."

Certainly, some newcomers to Canada experience the hurtful barriers of racial discrimination. Wiebe says some Canadians don't welcome "strangers" to their communities. "They will not fit in with the neighborhood. They will change our way of life. They will take our jobs," he says, explaining the fears of many Canadians.

"The one they come up against most is finding a place to live," says Docherty, about the racism faced by newcomers. He hears stories from African refugees who were told a particular apartment was just rented, and then return a few days later to see the "For Rent" sign still up. "That sort of thing apparently happens quite often."

Wiebe says even churches sometimes erect barriers in front of refugees from particular countries by making special requests to only sponsor people who have a Christian background.

For Savanovic, facing discrimination due to her Serbian background wasn't a problem. Still, starting life over in a new country has added trauma to the emotional wounds she already carries from the war. She says she feels like she's still at the starting gate in learning English and the ways of her new country. "Basically, I'm an optimist and I'm hoping for the better," she concludes.

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