This section reviews research and policy linkages raised in the literature under consideration. Some of the research/policy linkages are explicitly addressed, particularly in studies focusing specifically on one or more aspects of refugee policy, while others are implicit and hence they need to be culled from those studies that do not attend directly to policy relevance.
Research and policy linkages can be conceptualized in different ways. For example, in discussing Canada's refugee protection policy, Crepeau and Barutciski (1994) propose three foundational aspects to this policy, namely: (a) the right to work; (b) the right to social assistance; and (c) the right to health protection. Other accounts of research and policy formation in immigrant and refugee studies propose different conceptual schemes ranging from pre-migration orientation and language training (Richmond, 1998), to control of entry, to resettlement policies and programs. The present account of research and policy linkages organizes the discussion in two broad areas. The first area concerns policies that manage refugee access/entry to the country, including Canada’s humanitarian commitments, while the second area draws attention to refugee resettlement policies.
Policy research that is exclusively centred on refugee management focuses on whether existing policies adequately deal with the international movement of refugees. Recent Citizenship and Immigration Canada documents (including the report Not Just Numbers, 1997; and Building on a Strong Foundation for the 21st Century, 1998) recognize that Canada’s current refugee and immigrant policy requires revision in order to address the current situation of refugees and immigrants. A new and separate Refugee Protection Act has been proposed in conjunction with the new Immigration Act. The Refugee Protection Act would address the unique circumstances of refugees, in comparison to immigrants, by making a more concerted effort to facilitate the reunion of families, by ensuring the immediate entry into Canada of urgent protection cases, and by relaxing the requirement that refugees be able to settle within a year (Citizenship and Immigration Canada, 1998: 39). It is too early to tell if any or all of these proposed directions will eventually become an integral part of the new legislation. What is certain is that the current policy does not effectively address the context of refugees in Canada today.
A number of studies have described the current policy as inherently racist (Hyder, 1991; Howard, 1980). Howard (1980) suggests that although existing policy is not racially motivated, there is a bias against the entry of refugees from communist and socialist regimes. Basok (1996) contends that the increase in xenophobia in Canada, coupled with fiscal constraints, has not only reduced refugee levels but also the quantity and quality of services available to refugees once they arrive. Mangat’s (1995) and Dumas’ (1995) theses examine the Refugee Backlog Clearance Program and its failure to fulfill its mandate. Fitzpatrick (1996) also criticizes the current legislation and suggests that its focus is more on specific groups of refugees and not on the situations of individuals. Citing women as an example, Fitzpatrick shows how it is more difficult for women to enter the country using pleas of gender-based persecution than it is for refugee claimants from the former Yugoslavia who enter because of the political disruption therein. Fitzpatrick argues that new refugee legislation should have better provisions for considering the situation of individuals rather than groups.
This argument is supported by recent work sponsored by Status of Women Canada (1998) which applauds the idea of making refugee policy more responsive to individual circumstances, especially in regard to women. Hinkson (1996) agrees and shows how women fearing gender-related persecution have largely failed to gain entry to Canada using the UN Convention’s "membership in a particular social group" provision. She states that it is a weak attempt to recognize gender-specific persecution without providing substantial protection for women. It should be noted that while women and children make up over 70% of the world’s refugees, they constitute only 44% of all refugees that enter Canada each year (Citizenship and Immigration Canada, 1998).
Other research on the entry of refugees is international in nature, as it compares the policies of Canada to those of other countries (Adelman et al., 1994; Abell, 1997; Hawkins, 1994). Adelman and Cox (1994: 281), Cox and Glen (1994) and Harris and Weinfeld (1994) suggest that refugee-receiving countries such as Australia and Canada need to work more closely with international aid agencies and refugee-sending countries to develop a "better control system to limit who can arrive at the border and claim refugee status." Furthermore, it appears that the refugee policies of Canada and Australia are somewhat ineffective. On one hand, each country is equally concerned about its humanitarian commitments, while on the other hand, each must deal with paranoia associated with the spontaneous arrival of masses of refugee claimants. The authors suggest that each country should invest more money in refugee-sending countries to resolve conflicts before they become intolerable for their respective citizens. The balance of research in this comparative area looks at mandates set by the United Nations to see if Canada’s refugee policy is maintaining standards (Nash and Humphrey, 1988; Purves, 1994). For the most part, this research suggests that although Canada does a good job in comparison to other countries, it could nevertheless do better.
Turning now to the issue of refugee resettlement, it is often the case that research and policy linkages in this area tend to be implicit and on occasion tenuous. Indeed, relatively few refugee resettlement studies had policy implications as a central research focus. Despite this limitation, a few assessments can be made.
The bulk of the literature summarized in the preceding five sections focuses on the adaptation of refugees and on factors that facilitate or impede their integration. The research/policy linkages in numerous studies are readily apparent. In the service areas such as education, healthcare, counseling and legal aid (see, for example, the Ontario Legal Aid Review, 1997), research findings emphasize the need to directly address problems faced by refugees, develop culturally sensitive and supportive institutions, deploy service providers who are also culturally sensitive, and refer clients to other service providers where appropriate.
To illustrate, Churchill and Kaprielian (1989) examined the educational policies of the Ontario School Board in terms of their efficacy for refugee and other minority students. They considered a wide range of areas (e.g., multicultural policies, heritage language acts, anti-racist policies, ESL and human rights education) and concluded that while there is recognition that refugee students require specific services, especially language training, the schools need to become more culturally sensitive and to integrate ESL students into the mainstream classrooms. Strom et al. (1992) looked at education from the point of view of parents from Vietnam and various Central and South American countries. The parents had a wide variety of concerns about the education of their children including: difficulty in communicating with their English-only speaking children, preservation of cultural heritage and pressure to accept Canadian norms and values. The authors suggest that educational policies should reflect these concerns and accommodate the acquisition of heritage languages.
In the health area, a dissertation by Renee Porter (1996) examined the similarities and differences in the experiences of hospitalized Anglo-Canadian and immigrant and refugee patients. Her results revealed that immigrants and refugees had widely different health beliefs, values, practices and illness management than Anglo-Canadian patients and healthcare providers in general. She suggests that healthcare policies should reflect these differences and that nurses and other healthcare professionals should be taught culturally-sensitive practices. In the mental health field, an edited collection by Beiser (1991) outlines initiatives by researchers, service providers and policy makers designed to develop more culturally sensitive practices. Available evidence calls for increased funding for the healthcare of refugees, especially those with emotional problems caused by war and flight.
Refugee housing is one of the less researched areas, but mention should be made of a few investigations on the experiences of refugees in the housing market conducted by the Toronto Housing Department (1992). They found no coordination in programs for refugees, especially when it came to finding suitable accommodation. They also found evidence of discrimination in relation to rental housing in Toronto. The authors make numerous recommendations for overcoming these barriers as well as suggestions aimed at increasing affordable housing for refugees.