Women and Forced Migration

Project: Women’s Stories of Forced Migration and Integration into Canadian Systems

This project, funded through SSHRC’s Partnership Engage Grant, aimed to better understand lived and living realities of women impacted by forced migration.

Women living within intersections of migration, gender, race, class, and additional social locations are inequitably affected by limited social support, gender-based violence, and poverty. Despite these understandings of inequity, minimal programming and policies are informed by the experiences of this population.

Outcomes of this project included a collaborative research process led by a research team including Ms. Diana Ospina, senior manager at DIVERSEcity Community Resource Society, and Dr. Shahin Kassam, Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the UBC School of Nursing, Capacity Research Unit along with a team of collaborators consisting of leaders across three settlement organizations: Adrienne Bale from MOSAIC BC, Jenny Lam from Options BC, and Marc Larrivée and Utsav Thakur from Impact North Shore.

The research process centred on women living within the crossroads of gender-based violence, racial discrimination, and forced migration. Stories of connecting to services upon arrival to Canada were specifically gathered, co-analyzed, and shared within the collaborating organizations in the form of “Roadshows.” These knowledge sharing events were held to stimulate sharing and dialogue focused on improving current programming aimed at women impacted by forced migration as well as map future research priorities. While this team continues to disseminate findings meaningfully through the input and co-direction of the community-based settlement organizations involved, they also plan continued work toward understanding women’s experiences of connecting to services in Canada while also living within the intersections of gender-based violence, racism, and forced migrant statuses.

Project: Women and Forced Migration: Inclusively Examining Access to Care at the Axes of Chronic Health and Gender-Based Violence

Funded by Dr. Shahin Kassam’s Michael Smith Health Research BC Trainee Award, this two-year project aims to address the knowledge gap where little is understood about how to deliver timely and appropriate care that effectively engages women impacted by forced migration (WFM). Through this project, evidence-based recommendations will be co-developed to enhance health care for WFM within a British Columbia context. This project will address the following research questions:

• What are the health and health care experiences of WFM?
• What are the contextual factors (e.g.: migrant status, cultural, racial, language, sociopolitical, and economic) that enhance or hinder access to effective health service care?

A multi-pronged approach will be used to collaboratively plan, develop, and implement integrated knowledge translation and end-of-grant knowledge translation activities.

Knowledge Mobilization Activities:

Roadshow Reports and Public Seminars:

Surrey Local Immigration Partnership (LIP) website
UBC CIRCLE publications
Capacity Research Seminar Series Presents: Women Impacted by Forced Migration: A Community-Academic Research Partnership

Publications coming soon

Conference Presentations: