Refugee Claimant Service Providers: Negotiating Shifting Policies, Practices and Perceptions in Atla

The purpose of this study is to explore the research participants’ perceptions of the policies and practices that impact refugee claimants in the Atlantic Canadian region and to identify possible contradictions and gaps in policies, practices and services. [...] In the 1970s, with the end of the Cold War, the visa system that helped control immigration and visitors to Canada was largely dismantled, despite the protest of the security establishment. [...] Although there are many controversial elements of the law, the use of detention to deter refugees, as suggested by Frelick and Herlt (2012), is in violation of the 1951 Geneva Convention, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. [...] The study also focused on the pathologization of refugees and the lack of exploration of the resiliency of refugee children and youth (DeAnstiss et al., 2009). [...] The interactions and gaps between the federal health and the provincial health coverage have also been observed in the lack of health coverage for babies born in three of the Atlantic Provinces to refugee claimant women.