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Hi, it’s Dozie!
Welcome to today’s From the Editor.
In today’s newsletter: Manpreet Kaur on why we need to chill before we label an immigrant child as shy, distracted, difficult, or falling behind.
Also in the news: Alberta launches Eligibility Explorer to screen AAIP applicants; IRCC resumes Express Entry draws.
Plus: The first of our four-part series with Immigrant Services of BC (ISSofBC) where we tell the stories of Vancouverites who were forced from their home countries by circumstances beyond their control has gone live.
See past issues here.
Your immigrant kid is adjusting to Canada just like you
A few months ago, a newcomer family came to me for a counselling session. They had been in Canada for about six months. Like many newcomer parents, they had come with hope, courage, and the dream of giving their child a better future. But now they were worried.
Back home, their child had been confident. He was academically strong, had friends, took part in activities, and spoke openly. He was the kind of child who could walk into a room and express himself. But after coming to Canada, something changed.
He became quiet, stopped opening up the way he used to, and his confidence dropped. His academics also started dropping, plus he didn’t have friends at school. Even at home, he was not talking to his parents as much as before. Naturally, his parents were confused and concerned.
Later, when I sat with the child separately and gave him a safe space to speak, the real story came tumbling out. He told me he was struggling to understand the accent in school. Not because he didn’t know English, he knew the language. But understanding English in a new country, in a new classroom, with a new accent, new speed, new expressions, and new social language is a completely different experience for a child.
He also shared that he didn’t understand the school culture yet including how to approach other children. So he found it difficult to make friends because the way children talked and interacted here felt different. And then he said something even deeper. He felt lonely.
His parents were working long hours, trying to build a stable life in a new country. Like many immigrant parents, they were doing everything they could to provide. But in the middle of survival, work, bills, settlement, and responsibilities, the child was spending a lot of time alone with emotions he didn’t know how to explain. At school, he didn’t feel connected. So slowly, the confident child his parents knew began to disappear behind silence.
Many newcomer children get misunderstood at this point. We see the academic struggles and assume the child is falling behind. But for newcomer kids like that boy, what often looks like an academic problem is usually about everything happening around it.
Read the full thing, including tools that help immigrant parents know what to look for, what to ask, and how to respond ⬇️
From our newsroom
Alberta launches Eligibility Explorer to screen AAIP applicants. A new province-built screening tool sorts prospective immigrants into worker or entrepreneur streams and links them to Expression of Interest submissions, but Alberta says it does not guarantee eligibility or an invitation.— Full article here
IRCC resumes Express Entry draws. The June 22 round was the first Express Entry draw since a late May and required a minimum CRS score of 730.— Full article here
Dacious Richardson won’t wish the hard parts away
In this episode, the first in our four-part series with Immigrant Services Society of BC (ISSofBC), I'm speaking with Dacious Richardson, who came to Canada from Liberia as a refugee in 2011 and has since become a youth mentor and community leader in British Columbia.
The stuff that life throws at you and what you decide to do about it are two separate things, and Dacious is proof that the life you build depends on the second one. He didn't have any choice in the war that engulfed his home country, or being displaced, or moving to Canada as a refugee. But he's chosen almost everything ever since.
And while he wishes he'd never experienced all the violence and trauma that comes with war, he says he wouldn't be who he is without it.
Dacious and I chat about:
Why he filled his days with sport after sport
Why his work is focused on young people
The centre he dreams of building, here and back home
Why soccer needs no shared language to build a community
Why he won't let one chapter of his life define him
Listen to the full episode here ⬇️
Good finds
Kristina McPherson’s Mom-Versations episode with Natasha Anderson is a gem of a listen. If you’re a parent to a neurodivergent kid, it’s a great conversation on hope, the realities of the Canadian healthcare system, and more.
Want to work with us? Check out The Newcomers Media Kit.
Want more immigrant interviews? Listen to The Newcomers Podcast.
Looking to find out what Canadian immigration program you’re eligible for? Check out our Who’s Eligible For series.
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