Canadian Refugee Sponsorship Programs: Experience of Syrian Refugees in Alberta, Canada

Sandeep Kumar Agrawal ()
Additional contact information
Sandeep Kumar Agrawal: University of Alberta

Journal of International Migration and Integration, 2019, vol. 20, issue 4, No 1, 962 pages

Abstract: Abstract The article documents the settlement experiences of Syrian refugees in a major city in Alberta, Canada, in the first year of their resettlement. It then compares them across the three government and private sponsorship programs to understand which program is most effective in helping refugees settle and integrate in Canada. The study uses face-to-face, individual interviews with refugees and private sponsors, and key informant interviews with settlement volunteers and agency representatives. The findings suggest that all three programs were largely successful in bringing in Syrian refugees, from various asylum countries in the Middle East to safe places in Canada. However, the settlement experience of refugees varied after they arrived in Canada. Challenges in learning English and finding employment were paramount among all three refugee streams. Contrary to some acdemic literature, privately sponsored refugees faced resettlement challenges similar to their counterparts in the two other sponsorship streams.

Keywords: Syrian refugee; Canada; Alberta; Sponsorship (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s12134-018-0640-7 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:joimai:v:20:y:2019:i:4:d:10.1007_s12134-018-0640-7

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.springer ... tudies/journal/12134

DOI: 10.1007/s12134-018-0640-7

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of International Migration and Integration is currently edited by Lori Wilkinson

More articles in Journal of International Migration and Integration from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().