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Abstract
Syrian refugees resettling in Alberta face complex integration challenges. Social connections are a key foundation to successful integration. The goal of this exploratory study was to better understand the nature of social networks, social support and social capital among Syrian refugees arriving in Alberta in 2015 and in 2016. The study also focused on comparing the resettlement experience of refugees from larger centers and small centers in Alberta, differentiating the experience of government assisted refugees (GARs), privately sponsored refugees (PSRs) and blended visa office referred (BVOR) refugees. The data are drawn from a larger study that sought to understand the resettlement experience and the challenges faced by incoming refugees. A mixed method approach including surveys, community forums and interviews was used to collect data from five cities in Alberta. The study found that social relationships are crucial to settlement and integration. The importance of ethno-cultural communities, sponsors and community organizations in settlement and integration is discussed. Overall, the study found that while newcomers were making friends and building ties, these were still nebulous and largely focused on settlement needs or linking to socio-cultural community. GARs had stronger links to settlement agencies as compared to PSRs who were more closely linked to community networks. Refugees in smaller centers reported a higher level of belonging and reported more engagement with settlement or community organizations, but had lower rates of participation in recreation or religious activities. While most participants experienced a certain sense of belonging to Canada, they simultaneously felt challenged while managing settlement concerns and combatting racism and social exclusion.
Keywords: Refugees, settlement, urban areas, integration.
Résumé
Les réfugiés syriens qui se réinstallent en Alberta font face à des défis d'intégration complexes. Les liens sociaux sont une base clé pour une intégration réussie. Le but de cette étude exploratoire était de mieux comprendre la nature des réseaux sociaux, du soutien social et du capital social chez les réfugiés syriens arrivant en Alberta en 2015 et en 2016. L'étude visait également à comparer l'expérience de réinstallation des réfugiés des grands centres et des petits centres en Alberta, différencier l'expérience des réfugiés parrainés par le gouvernement (RPG), des réfugiés parrainés par le secteur privé (RPP) et des réfugiés parrainés par un bureau de visas mixte (BVOR). Les...