welcomehere.ca, a project of the Canadian Association of Family Resource Programs, has released a paper examining the relationship and collaborations between family resource programs and settlement agencies. The paper profiles 4 communities, provides some effective practices and discusses how family resource programs and other community-based agencies can combat racism and discrimination. “Lessons Learned” is available on the welcomehere.ca website, resources section.
Kahani: A South Asian Literacy Magazine for Children was founded by Monika Jain who wanted to find resources that would be relevant to her daughter’s experience. The result: an award-winning children’s magazine, free of ads and full of Asian culture and stories.
The Perinatal Partnership Program of Eastern and Southeastern Ontario (with funding from the Ontario government and support from the Best Start Resource Centre) have released a series of information sheets for women on abuse in pregnancy. Sheets have been translated and culturally adapted and are available in: Arabic, Chinese (traditional and simplified), Cree – N Dialect, English, French, Punjabi, Severn Ojibwe, Somali, and Spanish.
welcomehere.ca, (see blog entry here March 19/08), has published a series of parent resource sheets in ten languages, including: Arabic, Chinese (simplified and traditional), Hindi, Punjabi, Somali, Spanish, Tagalog, Tamil and Vietnamese.
Topics include: Building active habits, Family routines, Parents at play, Promoting positive behaviour, and Supporting children’s play.
welcomehere.ca is a collaboration of the Canadian Association of Family Resource Programs and settlement agencies across Canada.
The Bernard van Leer Foundation has released a resource on the theory and evidence of how identity can be impacted by adversity, discrimination and diversity in early childhood, entitled Developing Positive Identities: Young Children and Diversity.
This release is the latest in the Bernard van Leer Foundation’s Early Childhood in Focus series. Earlier editions were Attachment Relationships: Quality of Care for Young Children and Early Childhood and Primary Education: Transitions in the Lives of Young Children.
Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) funded Toronto-based author Rukhsana Khan to write a book about emigrating to Canada. Coming to Canada was officially launched last week by CIC and will be distributed to Ontario public libraries in June and to elementary schools in the fall and to all newly arrived immigrant children in Canada.
<Update: Coming to Canada was re-packaged as A New Life>.
childtrafficking.org, hosted by the UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre has updated its digital library and added the 2007 report by Save the Children UK, Legacy of Disasters: The Impact of Climate Change on Children. From the report:
“Overall, natural disasters are likely to lead to unprecedented numbers of ‘environmental refugees’ or ‘environmentally displaced people’. Regions that rely most heavily on agriculture will be most affected; environmental migration is already most acute in sub-Saharan Africa, but millions of people in Asia and India are also on the move.
“The UN estimates that by 2010 there will be 50 million such people worldwide. Given the demographics of the countries most likely to be affected and the traditional composition of displaced populations, most environmentally displaced people will be women and children”.
A newly published book on immigrant women’s health issues includes a chapter by Paola Ardiles, CIndy-Lee Dennis and Lori E. Ross on post-partum depression in immigrant women.
The book, Working with Immigrant Women: Issues and Strategies for Mental Health Professionals is edited by Sepali Gruge and Enid Collins and is published by CAMH. See the CAMH page for information.
Minority Groups International (MGI) is an international non-governmental organization that works with over 100 partners in 60 countries to ensure minority voices are heard and rights are won and maintained. MGI has consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).
MGI has released a country-by-country profile of the history and contemporary situations of the world’s minorities and indigenous peoples, entitled the State of the World’s Minorities. Each country profile includes information about the environment, history, governance, and current state of minority and indigeneous peoples.
A brief excerpt about Canada:
“Canada is often described as ‘a country of immigrants’, perhaps implying that it is by definition both a diverse and tolerant country. However, members of certain ethnic groups and most First Nations people face widespread discrimination and endure poorer-than-average living standards in Canada. … As a general rule, the relative position of minorities is determined by factors such as the darkness of skin colour, popular pressures, political expedience and economic conditions. Language is also a dividing line, especially between the English-speaking majority and French Canadian minority. Many English-speakers in the French-majority province of Quebec consider themselves disempowered”.
Lots of interesting information and data here, and searchable on-line. Visit the Minority Rights Group International website.