The Edmonton campus of the Faculty of Social Work (FSW) didn’t just feel like a school on the last Monday of February; it felt like a homecoming. With the rhythmic pulse of reggae and Afrobeats vibrating through the hallways, a collective heartbeat beckoned students and faculty to sway and tap their feet. Each corner… read more

Financial dependence, language barriers, and social locations are common challenges for newcomer women during the settlement process. These factors can also increase vulnerability to gender-based violence (GBV).i While data on GBV among newcomer women remains limited, promising models are emerging to prevent violence and strengthen support systems.  At the January Lunch & Learn session, Ivana Calina presented a research-informed promising practice model developed by the Canadian Immigrant Women’s Association (CIWA). Grounded in research, evidence-based approaches, and informed by lived experiences, the model focuses on preventing and… read more

In August 2021, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) announced an urgent commitment to resettle 40,000 Afghan nationals. This ambitious national response required unprecedented coordination across the Resettlement Assistance Program (RAP) sector, which at the time consisted of 34 service provider organizations across Canada.   This Lunch & Learn session explored how the sector mobilized rapidly, the governance structures that supported implementation, and the long-term lessons for national coordination and capacity building.  By January 2022, Canada had resettled 47,000 Afghan refugees. The response was… read more

“The border is a place of plans constantly broken and repaired and broken.”   At K-Hub’s October 2025 Lunch & Learn session, Kristine Marshall Staff Lawyer with the Canada-US Border Rights Clinic, provided an in-depth overview of the challenges faced by refugee claimants at the border. Drawing on real scenarios and current policy developments, Marshall explained how decisions made at ports of entry can alter the trajectory of… read more

ABSTRACT Social isolation poses significant challenges for older immigrants, particularly those who face cultural and linguistic barriers in their country of settlement. Despite these challenges, little is known about how older immigrants facilitate social connections. This study draws from the Inclusive Communities for Older Adults project to explore how Mandarin and Punjabi-speaking older immigrants… read more

As Canada becomes increasingly multicultural, understanding how newcomers integrate and participate in their new communities is more important than ever. To explore this topic, the Newcomer Knowledge Hub (K-Hub) hosted a Lunch & Learn session featuring experts from the Metropolis Institute: Paul Holley, Director of Research and Evaluation; Ravinder Shrestha, Senior Data Analyst; and Michelle Vital, Research Associate. During the session, they shared the latest updates on the Canadian Index for Measuring Integration and Inclusion (CIMII), a framework for tracking newcomer… read more

Cooking is one of humanity’s oldest and most universal practices still preserved by humankind. It serves as a vessel for knowledge, culture, and identity. At the same time, cooking has often been tied to rigid gender norms that shape family roles and influence social roles expectations.   In the June 2025 K-Hub’s Lunch & Learn… read more

By Wissam Shalaby  When Amina (name changed for privacy) arrived in Calgary with her husband and their two-year-old daughter, she was four months pregnant and filled with hope. Having fled instability in East Africa, her family was eager to build a safer and healthier life in Canada. But within weeks, that hope was quickly… read more

In 2023, Canada was home to over 4.8 million individuals aged 15 to 24, representing more than 12% of the national population1. Despite their growing demographic presence, a troubling trend has emerged: many young adults report feeling disconnected from their communities. National data shows that individuals in this age group report significantly lower levels… read more

By Jessica Park and Lindsay Bodrug The 27th Metropolis Canada Conference convened approximately 1,000 attendees on March 13 at the Westin Harbour Castle in Toronto, overlooking Lake Ontario. The three-day event, under the theme “Resettling Canada’s Immigration Plan and Program for a New Era,” gathered a diverse group of academics, policy makers, and settlement… read more