Impact of Remittances on Refugees’ Lives in Canada: Views of Sudanese and Vietnamese Leaders and Settlement Counsellors

Phyllis Johnson; Kathrin Stoll

doi:10.25071/1920-7336.37506

Impact of Remittances on Refugees’ Lives in Canada: Views of Sudanese and Vietnamese Leaders and Settlement Counsellors

Authors

Phyllis Johnson University of British Columbia
Kathrin Stoll University of British Columbia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.25071/1920-7336.37506

Keywords:

Vancouver, Canada, Vietnamese refugees, Sudanese refugees, refugee leaders, setttlement counsellors, family reunification, sponsorship, remittances

Abstract

Focus groups were conducted with Sudanese and Vietnamese refugee leaders and settlement counsellors (twenty-seven participants) to identify their views about the effect of sending remittances on refugees in these two communities, and their suggestions about optimizing the situation. Leaders and counsellors noted that refugees feel pride at helping out and guilt at not being able to send sufficient money. They postponed education and skills upgrades, and worked several jobs to support family here and abroad. Newcomers were advised to focus first on settling in and creating realistic expectations about their resources before sending remittances. Changes in family reunification policy were suggested.

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Author Biographies

Phyllis Johnson, University of British Columbia

Phyllis Johnson (corresponding author; phyllis.johnson@ubc.ca) is in the Department of Sociology at the University of British Columbia. She is the author of the book Consumer Acculturation: Financial Issues of Immigrants and Refugees (Springer, forthcoming, anticipated publication date 2014). She was the 2011 recipient of the Jan Trost award from the National Council on Family Relations’ International Section in recognition of her significant research contributions to cross-cultural family scholarship.

Kathrin Stoll, University of British Columbia

Kathrin Stoll has degrees in psychology and sociology, and recently completed an interdisciplinary PhD (midwifery/nursing/epidemiology) at the University of British Columbia. She has been active in academic and community based research for the past ten years with a focus on immigrant and refugee and maternity care issues. She is a postdoctoral fellow at the University of British Columbia and a part-time lecturer in the European Master’s of Midwifery program.

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Published

2013-10-18

How to Cite

Johnson, P., & Stoll, K. (2013). Impact of Remittances on Refugees’ Lives in Canada: Views of Sudanese and Vietnamese Leaders and Settlement Counsellors. Refuge: Canada’s Journal on Refugees, 29(1), 53–64. https://doi.org/10.25071/1920-7336.37506

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Issue

Vol. 29 No. 1 (2013): General Issue, with Special Focus on Technology

Section

Articles

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Refuge authors retain the copyright over their work, and license it to the general public under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial License International (CC BY-NC 4.0). This license allows for non-commercial use, reproduction and adaption of the material in any medium or format, with proper attribution. For general information on Creative Commons licences, visit the Creative Commons site. For the CC BY-NC 4.0 license, review the human readable summary.