The snow is piling up outside the window of 16-year-old Nour Taltello’s classroom. The high school student first landed in Ottawa last winter with her parents and younger sister as Syrian refugees.
“A lot of people don’t like the snow, but for me I like the snow,” she says with a laugh, while sitting behind her desk.
Like Taltello, a majority of Syrian refugees who recently arrived in Ottawa are under 18 years-old, according to a report published by the Ottawa Local Immigration Partnership (OLIP).
Released last month, the umbrella organization’s report estimates that youth under 18 constitute 60 per cent of government-sponsored Syrian refugees in Ottawa from 2015-2016.
The report was funded by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada as part of a research initiative to strengthen the city of Ottawa’s ability to support Syrian refugees. Among its recommendations is to develop a youth-focused settlement and integration strategy.
The integration of young newcomers “is integral to our success as a host community,” says Hindia Mohamoud, the director of OLIP, which works to attract and settle immigrants.
Mohamoud says it’s important to have a plan aimed at youth because their experiences are different from those of adults. Youth spend more time in school, for example, and are affected by the decisions of their parents and pressure from their peers, she says.
Apart from enjoying the snow, Taltello faced her share of challenges as a newcomer to Ottawa.
“My English is not strong,” she says. “In my math class, I always struggle because when the teacher (is) explaining the question, first I have to go through the English and then through the math.”
Taltello attends regular courses throughout the school day, except for one class where she joins other students learning English as a Second Language (ESL). Her teacher, Janet Birmingham, says several students in this class came to Canada as immigrants or refugees. They often face difficulties when adjusting to the expectations of a new school and learning to express themselves in a new language.
“They’ve all been in the same boat, even if they’re coming from different countries,” says Birmingham, who teaches ESL at St. Mother Teresa High School.
Some students in the class experience emotional challenges as well, says Birmingham, especially if they fled violence or have family members in war-torn countries. For Taltello, it helped to have relatives already in Ottawa who comforted her and her family when they first arrived. “They just help us to organize our feelings,” she says. “They told us it’s okay.”
In 2011, OLIP established a local immigration strategy that lays out long-term priorities to help newcomers in various service sectors, including employment, health and education. It further expressed concern that services supporting immigrant youth are “fragmented and unfocused.”
Ottawa needs a plan that elaborates on existing strategies and resources to specifically address the challenges of newcomer youth, says Mohamoud.
“We have a lot of experience as a city because we have been integrating immigrants a lot,” she says. “The gap we see is one that requires bringing together all these experiences and putting priorities that we as a community can grapple with to succeed effectively in the integration of newcomer youth.”
Since first arriving in Ottawa, Taltello says her language skills have improved and so has her knowledge of the community through volunteering. After high school, she hopes to apply for university here and study to become a doctor.
“To build my future, to have a great job, to be successful—that’s my dream,” she says.