Blog

The Edmonton campus of the Faculty of Social Work (FSW) didn’t just feel like a school on the last Monday of February; it felt like a homecoming. With the rhythmic pulse of reggae and Afrobeats vibrating through the hallways, a collective heartbeat beckoned students and faculty to sway and tap their feet. Each corner was…

Financial dependence, language barriers, and social locations are common challenges for newcomer women during the settlement process. These factors can also increase vulnerability to gender-based violence (GBV).i While data on GBV among newcomer women remains limited, promising models are emerging to prevent violence and strengthen support systems.  At the January Lunch & Learn session, Ivana Calina presented a research-informed promising practice model developed by the Canadian Immigrant Women’s Association (CIWA). Grounded in research, evidence-based approaches, and informed by lived experiences, the model focuses on preventing and addressing GBV among…

In August 2021, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) announced an urgent commitment to resettle 40,000 Afghan nationals. This ambitious national response required unprecedented coordination across the Resettlement Assistance Program (RAP) sector, which at the time consisted of 34 service provider organizations across Canada.   This Lunch & Learn session explored how the sector mobilized rapidly, the governance structures that supported implementation, and the long-term lessons for national coordination and capacity building.  By January 2022, Canada had resettled 47,000 Afghan refugees. The response was coordinated nationally…

“The border is a place of plans constantly broken and repaired and broken.”   At K-Hub’s October 2025 Lunch & Learn session, Kristine Marshall Staff Lawyer with the Canada-US Border Rights Clinic, provided an in-depth overview of the challenges faced by refugee claimants at the border. Drawing on real scenarios and current policy developments, Marshall explained how decisions made at ports of entry can alter the trajectory of a…

ABSTRACT Social isolation poses significant challenges for older immigrants, particularly those who face cultural and linguistic barriers in their country of settlement. Despite these challenges, little is known about how older immigrants facilitate social connections. This study draws from the Inclusive Communities for Older Adults project to explore how Mandarin and Punjabi-speaking older immigrants utilize…

As Canada becomes increasingly multicultural, understanding how newcomers integrate and participate in their new communities is more important than ever. To explore this topic, the Newcomer Knowledge Hub (K-Hub) hosted a Lunch & Learn session featuring experts from the Metropolis Institute: Paul Holley, Director of Research and Evaluation; Ravinder Shrestha, Senior Data Analyst; and Michelle Vital, Research Associate. During the session, they shared the latest updates on the Canadian Index for Measuring Integration and Inclusion (CIMII), a framework for tracking newcomer outcomes…