Post on 22-Dec-2020
Readiness of Social Worker 1
Submitted to
Canadian Social Work Review
Title:
Are social workers ready to work with newcomers1?
Authors:
Miu Chung Yan, Ph.D.Assistant Professor
School of Social WorkUniversity of British Columbia
2080 West MallVancouver, British Columbia
V6T 1Z2Email: miu.yan@ubc.ca
Sherman Chan, MSc, RSW, CQSWDirector, Settlement Services
MOSAIC1720 Grant St., 2nd floor
Vancouver, B.CV5L 2Y7
Email: schan@mosaicbc.com
1 “Newcomer” is commonly used in government policy and in discussions in the literature as an inclusive term for both immigrants and refugees. Recognizing the diversity among newcomers and the different life prospects of immigrants and refugees, we employ the term only as a convenient shorthand. In cases where the term is in our judgement apt to blur important differences, we use “immigrant” and “refugee” for the sake of precision.
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Title: Are social workers in BC ready to work with newcomers?
Abstract: Newcomers, who constitute a major driving force of Canadian population growth,
face numerous challenges both before and after they reach the country. The unique status of
“being new to Canada” of immigrants and refugees has received insufficient attention in the
social work profession; the racial and cultural backgrounds of those who arrive in the country
have not been adequately explored. This article reports the findings of an exploratory survey
conducted on a group of self-selected members of the British Columbia Association of Social
Workers about their perception of their state of readiness to serve newcomers. The findings
signal that the social work profession may be less than fully prepared to serve newcomers
effectively. Implications for social work education are drawn out and suggestions are made about
the practice of the profession.
Keywords: Immigrant, Refugee, Newcomers, Competence
Introduction
Since the early 90s Canada has absorbed on average 250,000 newcomers a year. By 2017 a
projected 22% of the population will consist of immigrants, most of whom will reside in major
urban centres—particularly Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver (Statistics Canada, 2005b). The
2006 Census (Statistics Canada, 2007b) confirms that the acceleration of Canadian’s growth rate
from 2001 to 2006 was largely a function of international immigration, and that such
immigration will remain the key force driving the country’s future population growth. In 1967
Canada’s history of immigration shifted when a new “points system” resulted in a diversification
of the countries of origin from which immigrants come (Christensen, 2008; Fleras & Elliott,
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2003). The system changed the demographic profile of immigrants to Canada. Under what might
be referred to as the “White Canada” ideology (Christensen, 2003), Canada had long pursued a
racially biased immigration policy favouring applicants from a selected Western European
countries. Today, East and South Asian countries have become dominant. At least since the late
1970s, non-European immigration has not only diversified Canada’s cultural mosaic but has also
significantly increased the number of resident visible minorities. According to Statistics Canada
(Statistics Canada, 2005b), in 2017 visible minority groups will account for about 85% of overall
population growth.
The increase in the numbers of culturally and racially diverse immigrants from non-European
countries has significantly affected public policy in Canada. The evolution of a policy of
Multiculturalism and quite a few other aspects of Canadian legislation governing human rights
and equity issues correlate with the demographic change. Their cultures may be celebrated and
respected in selected social events and venues. For all that, racial discrimination (and the
increasing magnitude of religious discrimination since 9/11) continues to obstruct newcomers’
capacity equitably to access social resource and opportunities.
In the last few decades the social work profession has taken the initiative in improving its
members’ ability to deal with culturally and racially diverse clients. This is reflected in the
Education and Accreditation policies of the Canadian Association of Social Work Education
(formerly known as the Canadian Association of Schools of Social Work) and in the code of
ethics adopted by the Canadian Association of Social Workers. The profession has worked hard
to ensure that all social workers show cultural sensitivity in serving clients from minority groups.
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Recently anti-racism and anti-oppression practice has gained momentum in many social work
curricula across Canada. The cultural and racial differences of newcomers are an undeniable fact
and have significant negative impacts on newcomers. Unfortunately, the existing cultural
sensitive and anti-racist approaches tend to neglect the very fact of the newcomers status of this
culturally and racially different immigrants and refugees, which itself constitutes a basis unique
form of social exclusion.
Newcomers: A Unique Marker to Exclude
Apart from travelling the point system channel, there are many routes for potential migrants to
Canada to follow. Through the years, Canada has developed different immigration categories—
economic, family union, and compassionate—to absorb immigrants.2 However, the Canadian
immigration policy (and system) is driven with problems. People who want to migrate have to
jump through a variety of bureaucratic hoops before they can enter Canada’s borders. A few of
these are: a high application fee ($550 per adult family member and $150 per child, plus a
medical checkup fee); a huge backlog of immigrant applications, particularly those in the family
union category; and a virtually endless series of interrogative hearings for conventional refugee
applicants.
Due to the different purposes and specific parameters of each category, the processing of
newcomers to Canada varies from case to case. Newcomers attempting to enter as Skilled
Workers must, for instance, be able to master at least one of the official languages, and they must
have substantial education or professional qualification and also a certain amount of assets. The
2 This paper is not directly about the immigration policy of Canada. For details of the classification please refer to Canada Immigration and Citizenship website: http://www.cic.gc.ca. Christensen (2008) has also provided a detailed description of the Canadian immigration policy within a social policy context.
Readiness of Social Worker 5
migration process follows fairly set and systematic procedures. Relatively speaking, migrants in
this category are better prepared for the relocation than migrants of other sorts. That being so,
their settlement needs and challenges are also very often different from, for instance, those of
convention refugees, who usually have fled their countries without any preparation, have been
constantly on the move before coming to Canada, and are accepted into the country on
humanistic and compassionate grounds.
Getting to Canada is only half the battle. Studies show that numerous challenges that newcomers
face result in a variety of personal and familial hardships (e.g., Ataca & Barry, 2002; Dunn &
Dyck, 2000; George & Tsang, 2000; Khan & Watson, 2005; Noh & Avison, 1996). Once settled
in a host country, most newcomers adapt to the new way of life, the new set of social values,
and, in many cases, the new language while struggling with dismantled support systems and
heightened feelings of anxiety and stress (van Ecke, 2005). This process is particularly
challenging to refugees who depart their countries of origin as a result of adverse political
conditions, religious oppression, and/or natural disasters.
Other structural barriers also affect newcomers’ psychological acclimatization and cultural
adaptation. Of these, the problem of employment is the most salient. As reported in the
Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Canada (LSIC), “finding an adequate job” is the
immigrants’ number one difficulty (Statistics Canada, 2005a). Studies show that compared to the
general population or to earlier waves of immigrants, today’s immigrant has a higher
unemployment rate and lower income and job security (Statistics Canada, 2007a). Language skill
is generally seen as the major obstacle to securing a decent job. However, the language obstacle
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is not only a matter of proficiency. In the period from 1997 to 2006, on average 49% of
newcomers came to Canada through the Skilled Workers category, which by default requires
applicants to have a high level of competence in the use of at least one of the official languages.3
To this group of newcomer, language barrier is due to discrimination based on their accents
(Creese & Kambere, 2003) which is a challenge not only to the visible minority newcomers but
also newcomers from the former communist Eastern European bloc.
In addition, statistics show clearly that immigrants tend to have a higher level of education than
the general population (Statistics Canada, 2007a). Very often, discrimination against newcomers
is disguised as a credential issue or in the form of the claim that they lack the so-called Canadian
experience (Boyd & Thomas, 2001). As reflected in the LSIC (Statistics Canada, 2005a),
newcomers of different immigration categories have rated their experiences in Canada
differently. Compared to immigrants from other categories, more immigrants in the skilled
worker group felt that their Canadian experience turned out to be worse than they expected.
In sum, it is important to understand that newcomers are a heterogeneous group with diverse
backgrounds and needs, and that they do not all go through the same process. Their settlement
experiences and structural barriers are therefore different both as individuals and also with
respect to the category into which they fall. The internal diversity of newcomers often goes
unrecognized in public discourse (the media), and in street-level conversation. Newcomers are
lumped together despite the significant differences among them. The specifics of their newcomer
status are often overshadowed by the cultural/racial outlook.
3 The average is based on the information of the Facts of Figures 2006 published by the Citizenship and Immigration Canada, http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/pdf/pub/facts2006.pdf.
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Understanding the racial and cultural locations of the newcomers is deemed important by most.
But unless a critical analysis of the unique structural barriers of their social location of “being
newcomers under a particular immigration category” is included, the understanding will be
faulty. Being newcomers is itself a unique structural barrier that deserves attention from the
social work profession. We will even argue that given the fact that not all newcomers are cultural
and visible minorities and given the many excuses used to exclude them from the job market,
e.g., the lack of experience in Canada and/or a Canadian accent, and non-recognition of foreign
credentials, social workers need to be equipped with specific knowledge and skills in order to
service people new to this country.
While Canadian schools of social work are required in their curricula to prepare graduates to deal
with cultural and racial diversity, immigrant and refugee issues are rarely included specifically
among the requirements of study. Surveying the information that is available online, we find that
only a handful of social work programs offer courses devoted to working with immigrants and
refugees. Implicitly the social work profession seems to focus on cultural and racial aspects.
Recognizing the fact that the rapid growth of immigrant population in Canada will have
important implications for the social work profession, the British Columbia Association of Social
Workers (BCASW) felt it important to explore from its members’ perspective whether they are
equipped to serve newcomers and what kinds of preparation they have had in school and in the
workplace. This question is particularly important to social workers in British Columbia—one of
the three major provinces in which newcomers tend to choose to settle, particularly in the
Metropolitan Vancouver area. According to the 2006 Census (Statistics Canada, 2007b), almost
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36.4% of the BC residents are immigrants. From 2001 to 2006, 177,840 newcomers decided to
reside in this province.
Method
This exploratory study was organized by the BCASW. Authors of the paper were volunteer
researchers.4 The intention was only to provide a preliminary understanding among the members
of BCASW. It was not the purpose to reach fully general conclusions. A survey method was
adopted which can, in an economical and efficient way, generate a substantial amount of
information covering a large constituency across the province (Fowler, 2002).
In consultation with members of the Multiculturalism, Antiracism Committee (MARC), a
standing committee of the BCASW with a specific mandate on advising the BCASW on cultural
and racial issues related to the social work profession, the authors conceptualized and organized
the questionnaire into four major sections:
a. whether newcomers and their issues are included as a mandate or as routine concerns in
respondents’ service and employing organization
b. respondents’ perception of readiness and how much they know about the basic
immigration policies and barriers challenging newcomers
c. the kinds of training on working with newcomers respondents have received in school
and at work and their suggestions of social work training needed to prepare social
workers to deal with newcomers
d. respondents demographic data
Members of MARC pilot-tested both, the textual and online, versions of the survey.
4 We would like to thank BCASW for allowing us to publish the study’s results.
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The survey was conducted via Survey Monkey, an online program which the BCASW had used
to conduct a few studies among its members in the past. The survey was administered in April
2006 for a period of four weeks. We invited all BCASW members to participate through two e-
mails and a notice with a link to the survey on the home page of BCASW website. Of its 1,150
members, 218 (19%) took part in the survey, though some chose only to complete a few sections.
Table 1 shows the number of respondents to each survey section.
[Insert Table 1 here]
Findings
Since, as an exploratory study, the intention was to provide just a preliminary picture of how
members of BCASW perceived their readiness to deal with newcomers, only descriptive level of
statistical analysis was conducted and is reported in this paper. Out of the 218 respondents who
visited the survey, 186 completed the survey and supplied demographic information. Table 2 is
the detailed demographic breakdown of these 186.
[Insert Table 2 here]
In terms of gender, age group and nature of work, the profile resembles the general profile of the
BCASW membership. Among them, only 5 reported that they are working in immigrant
settlement related services. In other words, at least reflected from this group of respondents,
social workers are not at the frontline of immigrant settlement process.
Mandate of Serving Newcomers
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A total of 217 responded to the questions regarding the mandate of serving newcomers in the
program and/or employing organizations with which they are working. Most said that serving
newcomers is not a specific mandate of the organization that employs them (66.4%, n=144) or
the program in which they work (74.2%, n=161). In their current job, only 43% (n=93) are
notified of their clients’ newcomer status; 37% (n=79) are required to know their clients’
newcomer status. Most respondents report that issues of newcomers are seldom (34.6%, n=75) or
never (28.1%, n=61) discussed in organizational meetings. These findings indicate that
newcomer issues have not been a major concern of most respondents at least in the organization
and program that they serve.
Knowledge and Readiness
In terms of how ready they feel to serve newcomers (See Table 3), out of the 195 respondents
who answered this question a large proportion agreed or strongly agreed with the following
statements:
1. I always pay close attention to news about newcomers (60%, n=117).
2. I am quite familiar with the difficulties that newcomers to Canada face (75%, n=146).
Meanwhile, a majority disagreed or strongly disagreed with the following statements:
1. I am quite familiar with policies that affect newcomers (71%, n=138).
2. I am well prepared to work with immigrants (57%, n=111).
3. I am well prepared to work with refugees (71%, n=139).
[Insert Table 3 here]
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Respondents’ knowledge of newcomers’ difficulties is also reflected in their answers to
questions about the challenges newcomers face within the labour market. 83% (n=161) and 63%
(n=122) of them thought that the lack of recognition of foreign credentials/qualifications and
language proficiency are major challenges to newcomers.
When it comes to policy issues, respondents’ familiarity with immigration policies was
challenged. In terms of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, the major piece of
legislation governing Canada immigration policy, 22% (n=43) of respondents never heard of it
and 52% (n=101) heard of it but knew nothing of its details. The situation is even worse with
respect to the Canada-US Safe Third Country Agreement which was formulated after 9/11 and
highly criticized by refugee advocates for blocking legitimate refugees coming from the US
border. 55% (n=107) of respondents never heard of this Agreement. These results reflect that
although the respondents have taken the initiative to understand the issues facing newcomers,
they lack understanding of the policies and their possible impacts. Also, a high proportion feel
that they are not prepared to work with newcomers, especially the refugees among them. In what
respects, then, did they feel prepared or unprepared?
Respondents were asked to name three issues of newcomers that they a) frequently come across,
b) feel to require urgent social work intervention and c) feel less prepared to intervene in. Table 4
summarizes the results. It indicates that taking into consideration what they frequently come
across and what they feel requires urgent social work intervention, most respondents feel that
they are relatively well prepared to help newcomers in terms of economic security and emotional
and mental health issues. By contrast, they feel that they are least prepared in helping newcomers
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in language (33%, n=65), cultural adaptation (37%, n=73), and immigration matters (44%,
n=86).
[Insert Table 4 here]
Training Received and Suggested
When it comes to training, out of the 187 respondents who answered questions in this section
only 19% (n=36) have taken courses specific to working with newcomers while a relatively
larger percentage have taken courses on working with cultural sensitivity (65.8%, n=124) and
antiracist practice (39.8%, n=75). Similarly, many respondents’ employing organizations have
offered training in working with culturally different clients (64.7%, n=121) and visible minority
clients (43.3%, n=81). However, only 21% (n=40) and 12% (n=23) of respondents’ employing
organizations provide in-service training on working with immigrants and refugees. During their
academic studies, just 27% (n=50) of respondents took a course related to newcomer issues, 10%
(n=19) said none of their courses covered any such material, and 47% (n=88) and 24% (n=45)
respectively reported the topic of immigrants was rarely covered in any courses or only in a
small number of courses.
We also wanted to ascertain whether respondents feel that cross-cultural and anti-oppressive
training is sufficient preparation for them to work with newcomers. A surprisingly high
percentage of respondents thought that a general cross-cultural (76.5%, n=144) and/or anti-
oppressive (73.8%, n=139) class is a necessary but not a sufficient preparation, and
overwhelmingly cited in their remarks that these courses lack specificity in terms of explaining
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the policies, programs, difficulties, needs and issues unique to newcomers. These are topics that
they wanted included in both formal social work and in-service training courses.
When asked if courses on working with newcomers are needed, a large majority of respondents
expressed the view that a required or selective course is needed at the BSW level (95%, n=178)
and MSW level (90%, n=169). While 55% (n=103) agreed that such a course should be required
at the BSW level, only 44% (n=83) think the same when it comes to MSW studies. Respondents
also hold the view that the professional association, in this case the BCASW, has a role to play in
providing workshops (81%, n=152), a continuing education certificate (57%, n=107), or an
online course (51%, n=96) on how to work with newcomers.
In sum, we found that many respondents do deal with newcomer clients at work, although
newcomer issues are not usually discussed in their routine meeting or even included in their
service mandate. A majority of respondents agree that newcomers face unique structural and
personal challenges imposed by Canadian immigration policies, by a discriminatory social
system, and by the difficulties inhering in the process of migration itself. For all that, most
respondents do not feel that they have been prepared, academically or professionally, to work
with newcomers. They feel that social workers need specialized training better to serve
newcomers.
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Discussions and Implications
As an exploratory study without a probability sampling process, results from this survey do not
provide generalizable information to the Canadian social work profession. Still, these findings
may shed light on the basic question that the study poses: are social workers ready to serve
newcomers? Apparently the answer from a portion of BCASW members is “we are not quite
ready yet!”
The survey’s findings lead to at least four observations. First, though the social work profession
seems to have paid proper attention to the cultural and racial conditions of newcomers, the very
fact of their being newcomers has not been adequately considered. The findings indicated that
both programmatically and organizationally, newcomer issues have not been included in routine
social work practice and settings. As Herberg (1993) states, the migration process is a continuous
process cutting through multiple temporal as well as geographical horizons. In each specific
horizon migrants have to deal with different challenges caused by uprooting, settling and re-
rooting. Accumulated through this process is a psycho-social history that is critical to social
work intervention (van Ecke, 2005). The programmatic and organizational lapses in dealing with
newcomer issues put professional competence in doubt. Judging from the respondents’ field of
practice, most social workers are not working directly in immigrant settlement related services.
We wonder if the programmatic and organizational oversight is a reflection of the bureaucratic
division of labour in social services and/or a result of (over)professionalization which tends to
favour a certain form of social work practice in a selected set of highly-paid fields of practice.
Either of these may lead to a tunnel vision of professional concern that fragments the mandate of
social workers and our clients’ needs and runs counter to the holistic social work perspective.
Readiness of Social Worker 15
Second, we are cognizant that since participation in the survey was voluntary, those who
responded might represent those among BCASW members who feel that this topic is important
and who have already given it their attention. If so, the findings may simply raise more sharply
the question of professional competence of social workers. According to the respondents, their
own knowledge of the newcomers, particularly in terms of immigration policies and process, is
limited. Very often, what they know is based on the digested and slanted information presented
in the public media, information that tends to run together the nature and challenges facing a
multi-million dollar entrepreneur, a highly skilled engineer, a housewife, a live-in care-giver and
a traumatized refugee. We are keenly aware that social workers need to have knowledge not only
of the relevant policies and laws which tell us what to do and not to do, but also of the rights of
their clients and the challenges that they must confront. Canadian policies and laws on
immigration certainly have an impact on the newcomers who will become a major component of
the Canadian population. Should this not then be part of the knowledge of a competent social
worker?
Third, it is certainly unfair to say that the social work profession has not taken steps to address
the increasing numbers of culturally and racially diverse clients. Still, the question that we would
pose is this: Are the measures taken through cultural sensitive and anti-oppressive training
effective? Like all Canadians, newcomers have multiple identities: culture, race, gender, sexual
orientation, (dis)ability, age, religion, etc. As Berry (2007) suggests, to understand one’s social
location it is necessary to crisscross the grand narratives of one’s multiple identity with the
shifting contexts. In other words, the different dimensions of the multiplicity of one’s identity
Readiness of Social Worker 16
will have different impacts on an individual’s life in different contexts at different times. If so, an
intersectional analysis must take into consideration such different identities in different contexts
(Dei, 1999). We argue that in the early phase of settling in Canada, newcomer status is itself the
most salient identity with which most newcomers have to struggle.
As statistics indicate (Statistics Canada, 2007a), compared to non-newcomer cultural and racial
minorities, at least in terms of employment and economic security, the number of year in Canada
is an important indicator of the degree of difference between newcomers and other Canadians.
The findings of this survey certainly reflect the fact that respondents also felt a pressing need to
understand each of the following: the unique situation of newcomers in terms of Canadian
immigration policy; the migration process of individuals; the personal and structural challenges
and conditions of migrants; existing settlement programs and services and their limitations.
Without directly addressing the specific social location and predicaments of being a newcomer to
Canada, those who undergo culturally sensitive or even anti-oppressive training may suffer from
what Sheren Razack (1998) articulates as a “culturalization of differences” which positions (or
even essentializes) newcomers as cultural (or racialized) subjects.
Taking these three observations into consideration, we would draw attention to the existing focus
of Canadian social work education. To judge from the survey input, the respondents have not
been prepared well in their formal social work training. Newcomer issues are inadequately
covered in existing social work curricula. Although a handful of courses on working with
immigrants and/or refugees are offered in social work programs across Canada, almost all of
them are elective rather than required. The CASWE accreditation standard has not directly
Readiness of Social Worker 17
pinpointed the necessity of covering relevant information and materials related to newcomers. It
is not our intention to dispute that given the structure of existing social work education programs
no more than a limited number of issues can be treated in BSW and MSW curricula.
Nonetheless, the question stands: given the demographic change in Canada, the numbers of
newcomers, and the unique challenges that they face, should newcomer issues not be a major
component of the courses of study?
As a profession with a mandate to upholding social justice and to engage in advocacy, we may
need to review and better strategize our roles and sharpen our voices in order to ensure just and
equitable immigration and settlement policies. Our practitioners need to be equipped with the
knowledge and skills to work with newcomers at different levels. As our respondents suggest, we
need to review our social work curricula. The CASWE should initiate discussion to revisit social
work education programs and to modify and revise them in order to ensure that they are adapted
to the changing Canadian demography. Frontline social work practitioners and the organizations
that employ them should review their policies and procedures to make sure that they are
knowledgeable in newcomer clients’ situations and needs, and knowledgeable about how being a
newcomer affects clients at least within their particular service setting and mandate.
Conclusion
The survey findings reported in this paper indicate that the social work profession may not be
ready to service the increasing volume of newcomers in the Canadian society. Our attempt was
to explore a preliminary understanding of how ready social workers are in serving newcomers.
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More research is needed to ascertain whether this is a phenomenon exclusive to BC. We also
need to know what has been done among Canadian social work education programs to prepare
future social workers to deal with newcomers. Are the programs adequate and effective? In terms
of practice, we need to ask ourselves how a newcomer’s identity intersects with his or her
cultural and/or racialized identities in the early phase of settlement particularly, and how these
intersections influence the work in different social work intervention contexts. We also need to
know not only the common but also the different challenges and needs of newcomers who fall
into different immigration categories.
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Table 1: Respondents of each survey section
Survey section No. of respondents
1. Organization and service 218
2. Knowledge of newcomers 195
3. Training 187
4. Demographic profile 186
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Table 2: Demographic Profile of the Respondents
Gender Female: 154
Male: 32
Age Average age: 47 years
Median: 45-49 years
Mode: 50-54 years
Nationality
Ethnicity
Canadian: 140
Self-identified cultural minority: 51
Self-identified racial minority: 22
Education Bachelor of social work: 61
Master of social work: 95
Other: 30*
Area of work Health- or mental health: 84
Family and child protection: 42
Immigrant settlement: 5
*Thirty respondents hold a Master’s degree in a field other than social work, or are
in the process of completing a social-work related degree.
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Table 3 Respondents’ Self Perception of Readiness (Total 195 Answered)
Answer options StronglyAgree Agree Disagree Strongly
Disagree
I always pay close attention to news about newcomers. 21 96 74 4
I am quite familiar with policies that affect newcomers. 11 46 121 17
I am quite familiar with the difficulties that newcomers in Canada face.
36 110 41 8
I am well prepared to work with immigrants. 25 59 94 17
I am well prepared to work with refugees 19 37 107 32
Table 4: Perceived Issues of Newcomers (n=195)
Answer options Frequent%
Imminent%
Prepared%
Economic security 34.9% 34.4% 19.0%
Emotional and mental health issues 35.4% 39.0% 18.0%
Cultural adaptation 28.2% 44.6% 36.9%
Immigration matters such as immigrant status and sponsorship 25.1% 20.5% 44.0%
Language 38.5% 16.4% 32.8%
* Respondents could choose up to three issues in each column.
Readiness of Social Worker 22
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