10th Metropolis: Sessions on immigrant children & families

The 10th annual Metropolis conference will be held in Halifax, Nova Scotia from April 3-6, 2008. The theme is ‘Expanding the debate: Multiple perspectives on immigration to Canada‘. Several events focus on children and families (descriptions from the conference website), including:

Workshops at the Conference

School-family relations arising from immigration: A Critical perspective. This workshop brings to light, in a comparative manner, recent efforts regarding migrants and the school environment, identifying strategies to avoid difficult interaction and highlight available tools to improve intercultural interaction. Annick Lenoir, Université de Sherbrooke, QC.
Defining the issue of missing child migrants. This workshop will examine the issue of unaccompanied migrant children who go missing after being released into the care of relatives, what can or should be done to assay how large an issue it really is. It will also explore the academic and policy dimensions that need to be addressed. Steven L. Morris, Metropolis Project Secretariat at Citizenship and Immigration Canada and Dr. Madine VanderPlaat, Saint Mary’s University, Halifax, NS.
Health and wellbeing among newcomer families, children and youth. Data from the national longitudinal New Canadian Children and Youth Study is discussed in relation to identity, health, discrimination, and education of newcomer youth. Findings are presented by project researchers and a response panel comprised of policy makers and community representatives. Lori A. Wilkinson, University of Manitoba, MB.

Roundtables at the Conference

Various stakeholders: Creating potential alliances to serve immigrant families. Goal: Talk about the issues of knowledge exchange among various stakeholders which tends to be shared within, not among, each stakeholder group. Susan Chuang, University of Guelph, ON.

Poster Presentations at the Conference

Art therapy: Meeting the mental health needs of immigrant and refugee families. Immigrant and refugee families underutilize mental health services due to multiple barriers that inhibit accessibility to conventional services. Integrating art therapy in a naturalized setting, such as the child’s school or home, may reduce the constraints of providing services to this population. Presenters: Lucy Lu and Karin Derouaux, Concordia University, Montréal, QC.
Poverty, social support and the health of children born to minority migrants. We examined differences in health status between 17-month-old children of minority migrant mothers and children of Canadian and majority migrant mothers. When facing poverty and lack of social support, the health advantage of children born to minority migrant mothers is lost. Presenter: Andrea Van Hulst, Université de Montréal, QC.
Don’t forget me: Immigrant Chinese fathers of today. Since the 1970’s, there is substantial evidence that fathers are important which has beneficial effects on their children’s development. However, our understanding of Asian fathering remains limited. The poster will present a multi-informant, multi-methodological study addressing these concerns. Presenter: Susan Chuang, University of Guelph, ON.
For more information, see the Metropolis conference website: http://www.metropolis2008.net/english.html