Calgary professor receives $1M in funding to research with immigrant, refugee youth

The federal government is giving $1 million in funding to a professor at the University of Calgary so she can study the experiences youth immigrants face when they come to Canada and what supportsthey need.
Dr. Pallavi Banerjee and her research team will work with BIPOC youth from four Calgary-based organizations – the Calgary Catholic Immigration Society, Centre for Newcomers, The Calgary Bridge Foundation for Youthand Calgary Immigrant Women's Association– to learn how to better support youths in their integration journey.
"Research has found that most programming for immigrant and refugee youths is built for them rather than with them," Banerjee explained in a Thursday news release.
The research team will use interviews and observations to look at existing youth programs across the four organizations.
They will then analyze whether current practices include an anti-racist lens and what unaddressed needs persist for youth.
Next, Banerjee’s team will help six focus groups composed of refugee and immigrant youths from a variety of backgrounds to gain a better understanding of their racialized experiences.
They will then conduct several co-designed workshops to establish an anti-racist and anti-oppressive framework.
Once the framework is established, the team will bring its programs to the broader Calgary community.
"By taking a community-based approach with anti-racist and social-justice oriented framework, we hope to correct the idea that immigration integration is one-sided," Banerjee said.
"As it stands, our society does very little to understand the thoughts and practices that immigrants and refugees bring with them. Proper integration takes understanding from both sides and what better place to start than with our youth. They are, after all, Canada’s future."
The funding was provided by the government's department of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories

NEW 'My door is always open': heritage minister insists feds working hard 'to bring Meta back to the table' on C-18
Canada's heritage minister insists the federal government is still working to get Facebook and Instagram parent company Meta back to the bargaining table to negotiate a deal to compensate Canadian news organizations as part of the regulatory process for the controversial Online News Act.
Search for runaway kangaroo in Ontario continues
The search continues for the kangaroo that is hopping around somewhere in Ontario after it escaped zoo handlers from a transport truck Thursday night.
What was a hospital like in medieval times? Researchers analyzed 400 skeletons to find out
In medieval times, hospitals took care of the 'poor and infirm,' but how were inhabitants selected and what were their lives like? Researchers analyzed 400 skeletons to find out.
U.S. assassination attempt charges 'confirm' Trudeau's claims about India had 'real substance,' former national security advisers say
The indictment of an Indian national for the attempted assassination of a Sikh separatist and dual U.S.-Canadian national 'validates' Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's allegations that the Indian government may have been involved in the killing of a Canadian citizen as having 'real substance,' according to two of Canada's former national security advisers.
Bonnie Crombie wins Ontario Liberal leadership after 3 rounds of voting
Ontario Liberals have selected Bonnie Crombie, a three-term big city mayor and former MP who boasts that she gets under the skin of Premier Doug Ford, as their next leader to go head to head with the premier in the next provincial election.
James Webb Telescope confirms existence of massive dusty galaxy from early universe
New observations from the James Webb Space Telescope have confirmed the existence of a massive, dusty, star-forming galaxy which was first spotted years ago by a ground telescope, but was completely invisible to the Hubble Space Telescope.
Rocky planets may be able to form under more high-stress scenarios than previously known: study
A study of one of the most extreme, radiation-heavy environments in the universe has found that it might be possible for rocky planets comprised of water, carbon and other familiar molecules to form under far more intense circumstances than previously believed.
Trump calls Biden the 'destroyer' of democracy despite his own efforts to overturn 2020 election
Former U.S. president Donald Trump on Saturday attempted to turn the tables on his likely rival in November, President Joe Biden, arguing that the man whose election victory Trump tried to overturn is "the destroyer of American democracy."
Teen girls are being victimized by deepfake nudes. One family is pushing for more protections
A mother and her 14-year-old daughter are advocating for better protections for victims after AI-generated nude images of the teen and other female classmates were circulated at a high school in New Jersey.