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Colleen French [ Profil ] |
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feature on refugee youth in Maytree Foundation newsletter: Making Their Mark: Unlocking Educational Opportunity for Young Refugees
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Oct 9th, 2009 - 17:01:53 |
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Thought that some of you might be interested in this:
Making Their Mark: Unlocking Educational Opportunity for Young Refugees
The Maytree Foundation
http://citiesofmigration.ca/making-their-mark/lang/en/
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Creating educational opportunity takes more than funding
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All that was needed to unlock educational opportunity for aspiring young
refugees in Canada were " three small words."
These three words were the addition of "...and protected persons..." to
the Canada Student Financial Assistance Act. This is the Act which
governs who has access in Canada to student loans for purposes of post
secondary education
The addition of these words enabled refugees and landed immigrants to
apply for student loans to finance their own post secondary education
and ultimately, the opportunity to break the cycle of wasted potential,
frustrated ambitions and a lifetime of survival jobs
*Making Their Mark*
The story of this good idea began in 1999 (before the /Canada Student
Financial Assistance Act /had been amended). With protected persons
unable to access financial assistance for education, the Maytree
Scholarship Program was created to fill this gap. Today the program
continues to assist students through a well-conceived programme of
support and activities.
Each year Maytree accepts a new group of students between the ages of
17-26 that are entering their first or second year of a university or
college in Toronto and who are alone (or without family) in Canada.
The Maytree Scholarship program is both intensive and participatory. In
addition to funding that covers tuition, books, transportation, rent and
a living allowance, the program provides mentoring, skills development
and counseling. For the past three years its students have also
participated together in a community service project for the duration of
the school year. Most important, it creates a peer network that
encourages the students to create bonds both with each other and their
new communities.
However, to fully understand the impact of the Maytree Scholarship
Program requires meeting the Scholarship Program participants
and sharing their journeys from newly arrived young refugees to Toronto
to their current roles as Canadian physicians, lawyers, nurses,
journalists and philosophers.
Stories like that of Axelle Karera, who at 14 was forced to hide for
three months to escape the Rwandan genocide. Seven years later, she
arrived in Toronto, hopeful for a chance to rebuild her life but well
aware of the obstacles.
"I started to see all the hurdles that stood in my path. I had come as a
protected person, which made me ineligible for student assistance, and I
thought by the time I started working and earning a living, it would be
hard to change course," she remembers.
After Axelle enrolled in some English classes, several teachers
recognized her potential and encouraged her to try and find a way to
attend university. Axelle began with two philosophy courses and when
ended was keen learn more but lacked the funding. A scholarship from
Maytree allowed her to to continue with her education. Last August,
Axelle left Toronto to begin studying for her PhD in philosophy at
Pennsylvania State University. Out of the two hundred applicants that
applied, Axelle was one of seven that they accepted.
*Lasting Change*
Without access to student loans, the high costs of post-secondary
education was an impediment that increased the vulnerability of these
young landed immigrants and refugees, and prevented them realizing
dreams and ambitions conceived before their arrival in Canada. While
Maytree was able to help a selection of these students annually, they
recognized that this cycle could only be permanently altered with
overarching legislative change.
What needed to be done was to add the three words "and protected
persons" to the governing legislation. A simple change that a community
of partners, a series of campaigns and an ongoing commitment to improve
the refugee system took 5 years to achieve.
The success of the alumni of the Maytree Scholarship program -and the
often harrowing adversities that they had overcome- became part of the
case. Former scholarship students were actively involved in the process,
travelling to Ottawa to meet and present their stories and subsequent
successes to parliamentarians.
Uitsile Ndlovu, Maytree Scholarship Student, sums up what the experience
meant for her: "As people who come to Canada as refugees, there's this
tendency to crave security, which is natural, but it's also important to
recognize that anyone in any position is capable of making a difference
in another person's life. You don't necessarily have to be at the top of
the ladder to lift someone up."
In 2003, the legislative change to allow protected persons to apply for
student loans was included in the 2003 federal Budget - and passed to a
standing ovation in the Canadian House of Commons.
*The Work Continues*
Maytree may have achieved its main goal of changing the systemic
barriers to the refugees accessing higher education, but the Maytree
Scholarship Program continues its work and to date has provided 150
scholarships to refugees from around the world.
"In these times of diminishing compassion and hardening attitudes
towards refugees worldwide and in Canada, we believe that our
scholarship program makes an excellent case for Canada's continued and
improved openness to refugees," says Judy Broadbent, Vice Chair, Maytree.
In October 2009, the Scholarship program celebrated its ten year
anniversary by publishing Making Their Mark,
a compilation of the stories behind former and current scholarship
students, and an essay on the Canadian refugee system by renowned
academic Peter Showler.
The Maytree Scholarship Program began as a local, practical and
compassionate response to a flaw in the refugee system and resulted in
legislation that now benefits hundreds of young refugees across Canada,
an outstanding example of how a simple good idea can result in powerful
social change.
To access the 10-year anniversary report, *Making Their Mark*, click
here
.
--
Register NOW for the...
Canadian Council for Refugees Fall Consultation
Building Welcoming Communities
3-5 December 2009, Windsor
For more information, check out: http://www.ccrweb.ca/eng/about/meetings.htm
Inscrivez-vous dès maintenant :
Consultation d'automne du Conseil canadien pour les réfugiés
Bâtir des communautés accueillantes
Du 3 au 5 décembre 2009, Windsor
Pour plus de renseignements, consultez : http://www.ccrweb.ca/fra/apropos/reunions.htm
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Colleen French
Communication and Networking Coordinator /
Coordinatrice de la communication et du réseautage
Canadian Council for Refugees / Conseil canadien pour les réfugiés
6839A Drolet #302, Montréal QC, H2S 2T1
Tel : (514) 277-7223, extension / poste 1
Fax / Téléc. : (514) 277-1447
Email / Courriel : cfrench (at) ccrweb.ca
Website / Site web : www.ccrweb.ca
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