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This study examined how Muslims living in the West were represented in English language textbooks in Ontario, Canada. The review showed that Muslims were consistently placed in inferior and dependent positions in relation to "white folks" by focusing on their origins in violent and backward societies, their cultural deficits, social ineptitudes, conflicted identities, and low-status jobs. It is suggested that textbooks should encourage critical literacy by including a wider, more accurate range of depictions of Muslims in western societies to combat stereotyping.

Using a theoretical framework that integrates socio-cultural theory, postcolonial perspectives, and the ethic of care, we (a) characterize the relationship between immigrant parents and their children's teachers, (b) offer reasons for the relationship, and (c) suggest some strategies for improving them. Several focus group discussions were held with both groups, in elementary as well as secondary schools. The analysis shows that immigrant parents and their children's teachers view each other through lens shaped by their colonial legacies, and have different role and communicative expectations from each other based on prior assumptions and experiences. Both groups need to acknowledge and confront these differences, keeping in mind that mutually respectful relationships between them are crucial for children's success in schools.

Under headings such as finances, child care, cultural challenges, location, racism, teachers, and accents, 30 immigrant women speaking either Mandarin, Cantonese, Punjabi, or Urdu told their stories of arriving in Canada without English, and the obstacles they faced in trying to acquire English. While differing in their goals for learning English, they had a unanimous desire to become fluent in English. The women, who were interviewed in their first language, discussed the impact of a lack of English on their lives, including their health, family responsibilities, education, and ability to integrate into their new country. They were very specific in identifying what could help them overcome the obstacles they faced, and in their recommendations for policy-makers and service providers. (Contains 4 notes.)

The early settlement experiences of immigrant parents of young children arriving in Canada make it difficult for them to meet their young children's physiological, social and emotional needs, or to help them navigate the structures of their new environment. They lose their sense of self-efficacy in their parenting role in the face of rapid reduction in their social, emotional, cultural and financial resources. This loss of parenting self-efficacy is a consequence of systemic constraints on their ability to exercise agency in raising their children and, unless disrupted, it will perpetuate inequitable and unjust relations among racialized and white populations in Canada.

This study identified structures and strategies that assisted social integration of privately sponsored and government assisted Syrian refugees in Canada. Data were collected through interviews and focus group discussions. Sustained, personalized commitment of private sponsors to a single refugee family created respectful relationships, opportunities to cross social boundaries, and potential access to greater social capital. Short-term, large group settlement services given to government sponsored refugees did not offer any of these. Both groups subsequently forged social relations with people like themselves but only some refugees could cross linguistic, cultural, and religious boundaries based on commitments made by well-established Canadians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Second-generation youth in Toronto, growing up in low-income neighbourhoods, interact primarily with other racialized and ethnicized people. Within this environment they do not experience racial prejudice or discrimination, appreciate [...]

Abstract Second generation youth are currently the focus of much research and policy attention with respect to their integration, which is not yet well understood. Based on graphic and narrative [...]