Volunteer Research Entries

By Claire Lassaline

A struggle faced by refugees new to a society and Canada is language barriers which create issues in everyday life. In a country with the only official languages being English and French, many refugees who speak other languages are often left to fend for themselves in their communication. This makes everyday actions, accessing service, speaking with neighbours or finding education and employment much harder for refugees who are already in a vulnerable state. The initial difficulty to access services, leading into finding long term solutions for communication is one that does not have an easy fix thus far. As such, refugees must determine how they feel is best for them to manage or mitigate this issue.Access to services is made even harder with the presence of a language barrier. As services in Canada are often only in English and French, accessibility becomes difficult or near impossible for those who do not have competencies in either language. This becomes a problem for refugees coming from every corner of the globe. Translation services are few and may be expensive especially for those who speak languages from remote, isolated or small cultures. Additionally, translation services are only a short-term solution. The choice to learn either English or French is one that many refugees decide is for the best so that they can get around better in everyday life. However, gaining language skills can take years and be expensive, especially for some refugees with a low income. As a result, many refugees must find medium length solutions to mitigate communication issues while they are learning a language they find to be more efficient to use in their everyday life but while they are also learning to act independently of translation services. While these solutions are difficult to address, many still face this issue in their everyday life. These issues of being unable to access resources may also contribute to further issues of feelings of isolation, being unable to obtain employment or education, creating a sense of not belonging in the community and diminishing feelings of belonging and purpose. As a result, translation services, language learning opportunities and potential actions to mitigate the language barrier must be taken.