“Beyond Refuge”: Post Acceptance Challenges in New Identity Constructions of African Refugee Claimants in Canada

Abstract

Undergoing the process of refugee claims and refugee determination in Canada is not easy: It involves long periods of waiting and uncertainty when the focus of the claimants is only on getting their claims "accepted". The period after acceptance of refugee claims however, involves a difficult process of rebuilding disrupted and (in some cases), "shattered" lives, in "safety and dignity". While government and mainstream settlement agencies focus on housing, language training and employment as the immediate and important settlement needs of new immigrants and refugees, the refugees themselves undergo very difficult processes of reconstructing new identities as part of their efforts to carve new ways of life for themselves and their families. They are eager to shed the refugee label/tag and take on new identities as they navigate their way through their new society. This article highlights findings from studies done with Africans who arrived as refugees and refugee claimants in Montreal and Toronto from the late 1980sto the mid 1990s, most of whom are now either permanent residents or Canadian citizens.