Introduction

Globally, countries including Canada provide permanent residency to several immigrants and refugees every year. In 2017, over 44,000 refugees were resettled as permanent residents in Canada (Government of Canada, 2018). Owing to the rising conflict in various regions of the world including Ukraine, a significant rise in the number of asylum seekers and refugees to Canada is anticipated. Although Canada and the other host countries are considered as safe havens for immigrants and refugees, they are often faced with challenges integrating into their new communities (Gangamma, 2018).

The numerous challenges faced by newcomers have negative implications on their wellbeing (Gangamma, 2018). These challenges include language acquisition, unemployment, and underemployment, maintaining jobs and integrating into the social life of the communities (Ghahari et al., 2020). For young people, these challenges are often intensified as they work to overcome major school adjustments, social challenges, and acculturative stress (Woodgate & Busolo, 2018). These obstacles undesirably affect their physical and mental health (de Graaff et al., 2020). Due to the refugee and migration experience and the process of resettlement, it is understandable that newcomers face a lot of physical and mental health challenges (Drennan & Joseph, 2005).

In Canada, most mental health agencies heavily focus their services for Refugee and immigrant youth on enhancing resilience in response to trauma (Aubé et al., 2019). Despite the agencies’ focus on resilience, there have not been efforts to upstream measures and policy that enhance Refugee and immigrant youth’s resilience (MacDonnell et al., 2012). Given that Refugee and immigrant youth often face intersectional vulnerabilities when confronting the task of resettling in Canada coupled with the transition from childhood to adulthood, the concept of resilience is vital to their success (Ungar, 2004). This research investigates the concept of resilience in relation to the resettlement processes of RIY and their experiences in Montreal. A central argument in this research is the need for contextual understanding and conceptualization of resilience based on the lived experiences and struggles of RIYs that takes into consideration the existing protective factors and vulnerabilities of RIYs within their socio-political and cultural environment. By investigating the experiences of RIY in Montreal in relation to their conceptualization of resilience, this research makes an important contribution to the research gap in this area. This paper is guided by the following objectives: (1) To explore how resilience is conceptualized by RIY. (2) To identify and assess barriers to the resilience of RIY in their integration process in Montreal.

Literature Review

Although not all young immigrants may fit this description, young refugees are considered an extremely vulnerable population because of the psychological problems, traumatic experiences and all the challenges they had to face before the departure from their own country until they reach their destination (Sleijpen et al., 2017). Refugees and immigrants have to encounter everyday challenges that the youth in the host country face such as managing family conflicts and economic problems. However, they also have to deal with problems at a different level; problems which originate from being an outsider in the new country They may be discriminated because of their race, gender, ethnicity, religion, and culture or even a combination of these factors (Ungar and Nichol, 2002, as cited in Sleijpen et al., 2017).

Resilience can help young refugees and immigrants with managing the stress associated with being a foreigner and the related challenges; it can also enable them to function well even in the face of feeling adversity (Smith et al., 2021). When addressing more challenging issues, they can resort to their inner strength and resilience strategies to effectively face challenges, manage feelings of hostility, and gradually integrate into the new context (Akinsulure-Smith, 2016).Youth resilience can be strengthened by the support they receive from family or their community, by adapting and assimilating with the new culture and into the youth life in the host country, and by developing more resilience strategies which can facilitate integration (Sleijpen et al., 2017). Resilience can help youth who have fled or immigrated to learn to adjust to new circumstances, negotiate new cultures and languages, and rebuild their social networks all while undergoing significant developmental stages, when a variety of biological, cognitive, and psychological changes can occur in conjunction with the stress of resettling (Smith et al., 2021).

As research suggests, refugees and immigrant youth in Canada, compared with their Canadian-born peers, deal with higher rates of psychological distress and rates of post-traumatic stress, disorders, anxiety, and depression have been reported to be high among RIY (Smith et al., 2021). Literature have suggested the positive sides of resilience strategies when dealing with these issues. Individual characteristics of RIY such as their socio-cognitive skills and the ability to regulate their emotions plus coping strategies such as sense of agency, hope, growth, and problem-solving skills have all been reported as protective factors which can contribute to and build resilience in youth (Este & Van Ngo, 2011; Smith et al., 2021). Along with resilience strategies, various levels of social ecology which can include- but not limited to- relationships with caregivers, mental health, elimination or reduction of linguistic barriers, and social support which can create a sense of belonging all positively contribute to youth resilience and their mental and socio-individual well-being (Smith et al., 2021; Este & Van Ngo, 2011; Sleijpen et al., 2017).

The contemporary debates around resilience have centered on socio-ecological approach to resilience, and social approach to resilience (Preston et al., 2021). The socio-ecological approach primarily considers resilience as the capacity to absorb challenges while transforming to maintain one’s function, identity, structure, and feedback (Wilkinson, 2011; Folke et al., 2010). The social approach, on the other hand, defines resilience as the ability of individuals or groups to function as a unit to promote their wellbeing irrespective of the challenges the group faces (Hall & Lamont, 2013). Within these two theoretical lenses, the social-ecological lens is derived from the ecological systems which focus on the response towards external threats and usually is devoid of deeper intricate power relations among institutions and structural inequalities (Preston et al., 2021) and has been adapted to suit the neoliberal governance discourse (Joseph, 2013). While the social approach centers on transformative abilities of social units and institutions in coping with challenges, it has a more macro approach and is conscious of the power relations and the framework of institutions (Preston et al., 2021). With the influence of the social approach to resilience, the issues of governance have slowly focused on resilience at the community and society level (Harris et al., 2018). The conceptualisation of resilience has been dominated by either the social-ecological model which derives its source from environmental studies but has been stretched to include the social and economic factors that communities face or by social resilience which builds on the factors critically examining neoliberal governance models whereby the onus largely depends on the individuals and communities to survive in the face of challenges that emerged from structural changes. Refugees and Immigrant Youth’s studies have mostly understood resilience in the context of “social resilience” and have been critical of the institutional factors which have further drawn interrelationship of Refugees and Immigrant Youth with critical issues like racism, incarceration, and unemployment. Curry et al. (2017) in focusing on individuals with refugee backgrounds in New South Wales, Australia highlighted the role of “resilience” through work ethic and the need to be entrepreneurial. Socio-cultural strategies in enduring or coping with challenges such as communal support and religious strategies have been adopted as culturally sensitive strategies to develop resilience in the face psychological distress by immigrants (Akinsulure-Smith, 2016; Rydzik & Anitha, 2020) add that immigrant women in Europe build resilience through community building strategies to negotiate hyper exploitative employment relations. Cardoso and Thompson (2018) found that familial support, socio-cultural factors, and the sense of belonging to a community serve as the drivers of resilience for Latino immigrants. Various research studies have focused on the biological and psychosocial difficulties that immigrants face related to acculturation (Orjiako & Soaa, 2013; Oppedal et al., 2010; Escamilla & Saasa, 2020). While reviewing literature related to Migration and resilience, Akbar and Preston (2019) argue that both personality traits and collective/communal forces generally contribute to enhance the capacity of immigrants to overcome challenges.

The literature around the conceptualisation of resilience while focusing on studying vulnerable population groups has done so by utilizing already existing theoretical frameworks like the social-ecological model (Chen et al., 2012), community resilience (Tippens, 2019) (Novara et al., 2021) or social resilience model (Sikder & Higgins, 2016). Many empirical studies found “resilience” as a coping strategy used by Refugee and immigrant youth (Akinsulure-Smith, 2016; Gamez et al., 2017) but few research studies have tried to understand the conceptualization of “resilience” through the lens of Refugee and immigrant youth. This research paper fills that gap and further provides a core conceptualization of resilience by Refugee and immigrant youth themselves, a group with lived realities of marginalisation at multiple junctions in their life. Moreover, to the best of our knowledge, there are not enough empirical work understanding barriers faced by Refugee and immigrant youth through the conceptualisation of resilience in Montreal per se. Although issues related to Refugee and immigrant youth in Canada have been studied before (see Beiser & Hou, 2016; Wilkinson, 2002; Rossiter et al., 2015), the conceptualisation of resilience as a strategy not as an outcome within the geographical sphere of Montreal has not been done before. Thus, the current paper fills these gaps and adds a nuanced understanding both theoretically of the concept of “resilience” and the empirical lived realities of Refugee and immigrant youth.

In the conventional literature, several factors have been documented as barriers to resilience of Refugee and immigrant youth from the global context. For example, Shakespeare-Finch and Wickham (2010) notes language barrier as a key obstacle to Refugee and immigrant youth resilience. The authors observe further that language barriers could be a significant impediment to building resilience among Refugee and immigrant youth. Essentially, because immigrants encounter difficulties in expressing themselves and integrating into the social structures of the host societies, there is that sense of powerlessness (Shakespeare-Finch & Wickham, 2010). Also, the language barriers faced by people could put them in a disadvantage with enormous detrimental implications on the possibility of securing a decent paying job and access to housing as well as social inclusion (Kretsedemas, 2005; Schweitzer et al., 2007; Reedy, 2007) concludes that the language barriers, most often than not, places huge responsibilities on the newcomers in terms of learning the language of the host community, thus, making young people the spokesperson of their respective families. Similarly, some researchers (e.g., Hutchinson & Dorsett, 2012; Onsando & Billett, 2017; Rahapsari & Hill, 2019) have found that racism and discrimination are hindrances to Refugee and immigrant youth’s ability to build resilience. For example, Brough et al. (2003) reports that in the school setting, most Refugee and immigrant youth’s experience racism and this potentially could affect their abilities to establish cordial relationships with members of the host communities. Correa-Velez et al. (2010) emphasize that one out of every five Refugee and immigrant youth had either been discriminated against or bullied by their colleagues because of their identities. Empirical research also abounds on the denial of access to facilities and services and physical and verbal abuse perpetrated against Refugee and immigrant youth (Morash et al., 2007; Anitha, 2011). Racism and discrimination against RIY could impede the resettlement and integration process and might potentially affect their functionality and development. This could lead to a lack of sense of belongingness, social isolation, and serious emotional distress (Rousseau & Drapeau, 2004; Garcini et al., 2016). Taken together, racism and discrimination could potentially affect the health and psychosocial wellbeing of RIY and thus affecting their abilities to build resilience. Several authors have found the lack of family support networks as a key barrier to RIY’s resilience (Uekusa, 2020; Pittaway et al., 2016; Terrion, 2006) suggests that these social and family support networks are crucial in the acquisition of cultural resources and advancement of social ties. As opined by McCubbin et al. (2008), resilience is broadened by ethnic identity and one’s ability to build a sense of trust. However, because RIY lack a family to provide the bonding social capital, it undermines their resilience during the most challenging stages of the migration and coping stages (Ko & Perreira, 2010). This lack of family and social support for RIY could result in a loss of sense of attachment and could significantly affect physical and mental development (Graham & Jordan, 2011). Social networks could also be helpful beyond physical and mental development as they could be useful when seeking employment. The lack of social capital could adversely affect RIY in terms of establishing contacts that are critical for making economic progress (Putnam, 2000; Kazemipur, 2004) concludes that the lack of social capital on the part of RIY limits their employability and reduces their effective physical functioning.

In the Canadian context, some authors have delved into the barriers to resilience of RIY. For instance, research works (see for e.g., Short & Boyson, 2012; Phan, 2003) have suggested that education risk factors such poorly developed literacy skills and leaving school earlier could act as potential barriers to resilience of RIY. Pipher (2002) and Yu et al. (2007) add that RIY’s pre-migration traumatic experiences do impact their level of resilience. Social risk factors such as social disconnectedness, inability to access community support services and a lack of social network among RIYs are impediments to resilience (McColl et al., 2008; Van Ngo & Schleifer, 2005).

Theoretical Framework

This study is guided by Ungar’s ecological perspective of resilience. This theory considers both personal traits, environmental factors, and the dynamics between the two. Ungar (2012) posits that personal interactions with external facets of society provide a better lens through which to cogitate the paradigm and navigate the nature of resilience. The resilience theory is appropriate for this project because it lays a strong foundation to RIY’s conceptualization, understanding, and analysis of resilience within Montreal. For RIY to thrive in Montreal, there must be concerted efforts toward building their capacity and fostering their resilience (Esteve et al., 2017). Ungar’s ecological perspective of resilience stresses the importance of both idiosyncratic and social forces in defining RIY’s resilience. RIY’s challenges are multidimensional and require the ability of the RIY to tap into both internal and contextual resources to overcome those challenges (Ungar, 2014). Although, personal traits are integral to understanding the outcomes of resilience, within the context of this study, we adopted a holistic definition by considering the integration of the person-environment interaction and the impact of socio-environmental factors on RIY resilience. Ungar’s ecological perspective of resilience in this paper allowed the researchers to give RIY an authoritative voice about their experiences and allow a more thorough and comprehensive examination of their perspectives about their conceptualization of resilience in Montreal.

Method

This research investigates the subjective experiences and views of RIY in Montreal on barriers to their successful integration in the community. In the context of the present paper, we focused our attention on RIY that have lived in Montreal for 10 years or less. The selection and focus on this category of people is justified by the fact that their relatively long stay in Montreal, Canada puts them in a better position to provide deeper insights with respect to their experiences and how they have been thriving in Montreal (Kumar Agrawal, 2019). Additionally, their experiences are relatively fresh, thus, enabling them to accurately recall them (Clarke et al., 1993). The paper adopts Statistics Canada (2017) definition of youth, which conceptualises the youth as people within the ages of 16–28. We have adopted this definition because Statistics Canada is commissioned by the Government of Canada to produce data that relates to demographics of the country. Prioritizing the perspectives of refugee and immigrant youths, informed the research design for the study. In line with this, this research adopted a qualitative research design where knowledge and theory generation are based on the views, understanding, and descriptions of the research participants.

Fifteen (15) RIY in Montreal between the ages of 16 to 25 were recruited to take part in this research (see Table 1 for the profile of interview participants). The selection of the research participants was achieved through purposive sampling. Purposive sampling involves the process of selecting a sample that has the best knowledge or experience in the matters relating to the research enquiry (Merriam, 1998). Purposive sampling “is based on the assumption that the investigator wants to discover, understand and gain insight and therefore must select a sample from which the most must be learned” (Merriam, 1998, p. 61). Since the objective of this study was to understand RIY’s experiences in relation to what resilience means to them and the barriers they face in their integration process, RIYs themselves are knowledgeable and experienced experts on this subject matter.

The RIYs participated in conversational in-depth interviews. The interviews were adopted to identify and provide an in-depth understanding of RIY’s conceptualisation of resilience and barriers to their integration into the Montréal community. For example, we asked interview respondents the following questions: What do you consider as thriving within your resettlement process in Montreal? What does successful transition to Montreal look like to you? How have you been coping with your resettlement challenges in Montreal? In your opinion, what can be done to make you more resilient or thrive in the face of your transitioning or resettlement process? The interviews were conducted virtually using online/remote platforms, such as MS Teams, Zoom, and WebEx. The duration of the in-depth interviews was between 60 and 120 min. Prior to the interviews, the research participants obtained detailed information on the research study including the purpose of the study and the consent procedures.

The transcription of the audio recordings of the interviews were done verbatim. This research employed a manual inductive thematic data analysis approach (Fereday & Muir-Cochrane, 2006; Alhojailan, 2012). First, with the use of open coding, patterns in the data in relation to the research objectives were identified and used to create broad descriptive categories in the data and assigned initial codes. This was useful in finding specific information on themes across all the datasets instead of examining individual interviews. The next stage involved a more focused thematic analysis where descriptive categories were used to form analytical themes from the data. These themes then formed analytical topics and presented under the results section.

Socio-demographic Profile of Respondents

Table 1 displays the socio-demographic profile of the participants in this study. Out of 15 participants, 11 identified as women comprising 73.4% of the participants. Having a larger proportion of female than male participants, would benefit the research in many ways. First, the finding will be more relatable to women who face more socio-economic challenge compared to men. This can also help to make more calculated generalizations as well as avoiding sex discrimination which has been a major drawback in many quantitative and qualitative studies (Holdcroft, 2007). It can also allow to further analyze the data based on sex-specific differences and make progress regarding understanding women’s responses to the questions posed (Liu & Dipietro Mager, 2016). Thus, we can include their perspectives from a female viewpoint which, in turn, will add to the richness of the findings.

Table 1 Socio-demographic Profile of Interview Participants

Regarding the age of the participants, over half of the participants, 53.3% were between 16 and 20 and 5 were between 21 and 25 accounting for 33.3% of the participants’ population. As the study deals with refugee and immigration youth resilience, having over 86% of the participants who age 16–25 will provide fresh insights into the nature of the youth resilience in Canadian context. The data would be inclusive to provide for both teenagers and very young adults who are at the initial stages of their immigration and integration journey.

Regarding the number of the years the participants had stayed in Montreal, 73.3% of participants had lived in Montreal between 6 and 10 years and the rest, 26.7% had 1–5 years of experience of residing in Montreal. In fact, 3 of the male respondents had lived in Montreal between 1 and 5 years, with only one living there between 6 and 10 years. Four (4) of the female participants had resided in Montreal between 1 and 5 years and the remaining 7 had lived there between 6 and 10 years. So, the participants, in this regard, could provide useful information about the new arrivals who are mainly refugees or students. They would offer up-to-date and deeper insights compared with the ones who had lived in Montreal between 6 and 10 and are more well-settled. The ones with 6–10 years of living in Montreal, however, could reflect on their early years and compare their experiences from a more mature viewpoint.

The last issue in participant selection was ethnicity. Efforts were made to include diverse ethnic groups from different parts of the world with 53.4% from Asia and the Middle East, 26.6% from Africa, 13.4% from Europe and a minor 6.6% from North America. Including diverse ethnicities could generate information that will be more effective to address the issues of various racial and ethnic minorities and underrepresented groups (Holdcroft, 2007; Liu & Dipietro Mager, 2016).

Results

Barriers to the Successful Integration of RIY

Drawing on the RIY’s responses to the interview questions, four factors emerged as barriers to the integration of RIY. These barriers include lack of community and social isolation, cultural differences between the host and home communities, racism, hostility and aggression, and language.

Lack of Community and Social Isolation

One challenge that was reiterated by almost all the RIY in this research was the issue of feeling isolated and lacking community when they arrived in Montreal. This challenge is even more pertinent within the context of their education in Montreal and was exacerbated by the covid-19 pandemic which restricted physical learning and group activities. Navigating the host community with little to no community or social support posed a serious challenge to their integration process. Below are statements from the participants that support this:

I think like first there was just like the education just because it was a new university setting, and I didn’t know anything about classes here and what to take. I didn’t really have any mentors, I didn’t know anyone in Montreal like no family, nobody I know went to McGill, so I didn’t even know like what courses to take as a first year and things like that. (Participant D; 20 years female, residing in Montreal for 7 years)

Uh, I, I think the other big challenge that I face is more like an academic one in the sense that, like uh, in Ghana there’s like our educational system, is structured differently from here. So, I, it was like very hard to like to learn … to learn certain stuff and then, here comes another problem because like even in Ghana like you have friends to actually help you with. But again, because I cannot fully interact with people, there’s kind of like that gap you know, finding help and everything ... yes, yes, social isolation, that’s the word. (Participant H; 22 years male, residing in Montreal for 4 years)

Having close friendship circles and having an active social life is one way that individuals cope with personal challenges and can build resilience However, responses from the participants of this research revealed that for RIY, gaining access and being accepted into social circles is not a straightforward process. For most of them, this challenge stems from being Anglophone in a Francophone community and thus feeling out of place in social gatherings and groups as well as differences in their heritage culture and the culture in Montreal which negatively affects communication and assimilation into the popular culture within youth group circles. Because of this barrier, most RIYs find themselves remaining on the ‘outside’ of the social groups or scenes and do not have that essential support from their peers needed to navigate their struggles and challenges in Montreal. A respondent lamented that:

I don’t have any friend in Montreal, none. The only people who I know in Montreal are my family, I don’t know anybody else…… I have a lot of friends back in Ottawa, but nobody here in Montreal. So, the only one I have as close to me is my sister (tone of voice drops). Everything I have to share with my sister. Nothing like friendship, nothing like that here, in Montreal. (Participant E; 28 years female, residing in Montreal for 6 years)

Another participant reiterated this by indicating that

I came to Montreal late……so, it’s like I don’t have anybody to introduce me to uh, anybody. And even in class you know, like (pause) I think everybody kind of goes along with who they know, so it’s kind of hard to kind of just infiltrate that like somebody social bubble like hey…. invite me to this party or invite and introduce me to somebody, you know. So yeah, that was kind of like that. It was more here of like how do I introduce myself? It, I was backing down myself and (pause) there’s also kind of like that gap in (pause) where like nobody was coming to me and I was also scared of like how do I, go and meet like you know this person? (Participant H; 22 years male, residing in Montreal for 4 years)

It is worthy to note that a lack of community and social isolation could have some detrimental impacts on the mental health status of newcomers, including emotional distress and depression.

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Cultural Differences Between the Host and Heritage Communities

For most of the RIYs in our study, the challenge of building the resilience needed to aid their resettlement in Montreal was compounded by the perceived differences in the values, way of life, and culture in their places of origin and Montreal. These somewhat contrasting cultural values were evident in various spheres of their lives and greatly affected their resilience within the Montreal community. This became evident when a participant indicated that:

Basically, not that there were a lot of challenges, just, uh, you know cultural differences. It took me some time to readapt to the new culture, the new people around. You know, the… everything around was quite different ... Basically, that’s just, just a new feeling of a new community, you know. It’s totally different from where I was. (Participant F; 25 years female, residing in Montreal for 9 years)

Another participant confirmed this by stating that:

Yeah, so uh, something that I realized, is that in North America people live in this kind of individualistic society, so that everyone, to each their own basically….if I needed help with someone they would think about themselves first (pause), and then they’re close ones before they end up helping the others, and I feel like it’s so different because in Jordan, (pause) like we had it, I had a large Chechen community, right? But even like the non-Chechen community? the Arab community like they would help you even if they knew you on a personal level or not, like they would come to your aid if they knew like (pause) you needed help in this. I just think that the community, overall, they like to help one another. (Participant E; 28 years female, residing in Montreal for 6 years)

The cultural differences could make RIYs feel alienated and might potentially impact the integration process as it could adversely affect their self-identity and belongingness as well as feeling emotionally dissociated.

Microaggression, Racism, and Aggression

It was apparent that most of the respondents experienced microaggression and racism as major barriers to their integration process. Most of the RIY have had an experience of some kind of racism and microaggression from local French-speaking ‘Montrealers’. This had negative impacts on their integration experience and made them feel like they are not welcome in Montreal. This came to light when a respondent indicated that:

uh, no. It’s, uh, one of the experiences that I had that still, like hurt me is like, I found a job in a restaurant, and I remember I was promoting the restaurant, outside, in the summer and we had like some brochure to give, uh, people….but I remember a really young guy that….He literally argued with me, and he was super aggressive that why do you speak English in Montreal. And I was super shocked because I didn’t do anything wrong to get that, you know, aggressive behavior towards myself and I remember shaking after that and I told my boss that I’m not going to do it again. (Participant D; 20 years female, residing in Montreal for 7 years)

This was re-echoed by another respondent who stated that:

Uh, yes…because my sister was working part time in a restaurant and….then a person starts shouting at her (pause) that this is Montreal, and this is Quebec. You have to speak French. If you don’t want that, go back to your community, go back to your country…Yeah, and we face these kinds of manners, a lot that people would get mad at us just because we don’t know French and that was the hardest thing that we’ve ever had here. (Participant E; 28 years female, residing in Montreal for 6 years)

And then the final point would be, uh as I said, I grew up in a very multicultural environment … near Quebec City, is very much uh homogeneous…..It’s very white, Quebecois, Francophone, rather conservative…..some people were … a bit racist, mostly fed by ignorance, so a lot of people would say stuff about Arabs, about Muslims, about black people, about uh Asian people, which you know, I have friends of all these cultures…so, I had to sort of like, explain and it’s sort of like as an immigrant, I was the one that was in charge of educating people around me even though it was a second hand experience because I’m not a person of color, but because I, you know, so that was hard as well. (Participant G; 26 years female, residing in Montreal for 6 years)

From the above responses of the RIYs, an underlining factor that fuelled their experience of racism and microaggression was their inability to communicate in French. It was obvious that the local people perceived this as a threat to their French cultural heritage and thus targeted English- speaking immigrants going as far as expressing their desire for RIYs to go back to their countries. The microaggression experienced by the RIY negatively affects their successful integration into the Montreal community because a key aspect of successful integration into any community is the ability to find and do work that is economically and emotionally rewarding. When RIYs are unable to work without the fear of facing harassment or intimidation based on their multiple vulnerabilities such as their age as young individuals, their status as immigrants, and their inability to effectively communicate in the main lingua franca, it affects their decision to remain in Montreal.

In addition to the above, although it was a common theme in this research that most RIYs have experienced some form of microaggression from French-speaking indigenes of Montreal, their experiences cannot be unified into one narrative. The experiences of RIYs in building resilience in their integration process are diverse and implicated by their identities and race. Through the lens of intersectionality, we are able to unpack these multiple experiences of RIYs. For instance, the research participant originally from France noted that although he is an immigrant, he did not actively experience hostility and harassment because of his racial identity as a white man. He thus assumed the role of an ally speaking against racism and educating other people. His experience of resettlement in Montreal was therefore far different from that of his immigrant student colleagues from Iran and Ghana who were directly targeted because of their race and ethnicities.

Language Barrier

Another significant barrier that was highlighted by the respondents was their inability to speak French in a province where the French language is the dominant language of communication. This affected their lives and the integration process. Building friendships and social networks are such a critical aspect of adolescence/youth and their inability to understand and speak French makes it difficult for them to make friends and maintain those friendships. This missing critical aspect of their lives as youth compounds their struggles of building resilience and resettling in Montreal. The language barrier created an enormous economic disadvantage for the respondents. Most of the respondents attributed their inability to find good jobs to their inability to speak French. From the interviews, it was evident that respondents shared similar experiences including rejection for job opportunities solely based on lack of fluency in French rather than limited competence/qualifications required for such job positions. The respondents noted that promotions, recommendation, and overall progress in the occupational space were firmly reserved for individuals who are fluent in the French language. They are thus relegated to menial and minimum wage jobs that do not have strict French language requirements reducing their job satisfaction. In line with this, a participant indicated that:

The language issue is definitely a big one. As I tried to like find some jobs, some work opportunities…and there are so few jobs… it was very difficult to get a job as an Anglophone student…And so for me, I also work at Canada post so it fortunate that at least previously that Canada post is like a federal employer so at least it is bilingual, but hmm since my French is like not fluent enough so I am not able to be promoted to any like, I don’t have any many promotional opportunities. I have to like work like the minimum wage, that’s all I can do. However, the job prospects are that once you do speak French, you can get promoted very easily, you will have very many different opportunities open for you and so it is really like hmm, the single biggest challenge for me is the French and it’s not just at Canada post but also for job opportunities outside and elsewhere. (Participant B; 24 years female, residing in Montreal for 3 years)

This language barrier intersects with other modalities to create multiple discrimination and economic disadvantages, particularly for young youths with refugee and immigrant status. For instance, by virtue of their age, studies have shown that in Canada as elsewhere, employers prefer to employ older adults with years of experience over youths for the same job position. As found in the study, RIYs also face discrimination and lack of access to job opportunities because of their immigration status in Canada.

The Conceptualization of Resilience by Refugee and Immigrant Youths in Montreal

Based on the analysis of the interviews, three key elements emerged regarding the conceptualization of resilience from the perspectives of the youth. These key elements are resilience as a form of adaptability to any situation; the ability to integrate into a new society while remaining deeply rooted in one’s culture and past experiences, and relation to overcoming marginalization.

It was evident from the interviews that for refugee and immigrant youths to be resilient in their host communities, they need to be adaptable. That is, one component of resilience among the youth is adaptability. The RIY’s ability to adapt or be open to the social realities of the host community is fundamental to becoming resilient. This is supported by one of the respondents who highlighted the notion of adaptability, that is, an individual’s ability to adapt to any situation despite uncertainties and difficulties they are faced with:

I think resilience is just being like adaptable to anything, like knowing that like nothing is for sure but whatever happens, like you can adapt to it. It might be hard and there might be adjusting periods, but you just have to adapt to it. Like in my entire life, I have never been in a school for more than two years. This is probably the longest I have been at McGill. I was just moving around so much and like because of that I guess I didn’t make a lot of close friends, but I think the one thing that really helped me was that it made me really adaptable. I was like able to like change to whatever I needed to be even if it was like hard for me maybe a couple months, I just figured out what you have to do. So, I think that’s what resilience is to me. Just whatever life throws at you, you can adapt to it. (Participant A; 27 years female, residing in Montreal for 2 years)

The second component of resilience as indicated by the respondents is the ability to fit into the new society while continuing to genuinely be entrenched in one’s culture and past experiences. This speaks to the idea of amalgamation. That is, resilience must involve both understanding the culture of the host community and maintaining one’s own identity and culture. In line with this, a respondent indicated:

I think based on my experience, resilience as an immigrant is uhm first, trying really hard to, to be integrated into the society and, and, in a way not to forget your past identity, but just to feel comfortable where you are and accept the fact that you know this is where you are now (emphasis on ‘now’)…..try to work your way into the culture and get to know it, to understand it, to know the people, to interact with these people and to make it your own but at the same time keep links with your own, your own culture, your, your culture of origin. (Participant C; 19 years male, residing in Montreal for 4 years)

The final component of resilience in the conceptualization of resilience by the RIY in this study stresses the concept of marginalization, particularly in relation to their identities as newcomers and how they can overcome such marginalization. Some of the respondents indicated that they often face discrimination and marginalisation in Montreal due to their intersecting identities. Hence, to be resilient involves developing the needed skills or thick skin in the face of discrimination and marginalization. This element of resilience is supported by the following excerpt from one of the respondents:

I will say resilience is just like the same way you talk about different like, you have a situation where the marginal life, you are a minority, maybe you have a disability, maybe you are linguistically disadvantaged because you are not a francophone or anglophone like I do believe that anglophone you are still advantaged as I said earlier like many anglophone Canadians from Toronto are very entitled……but for someone who is not like a Canadian citizen or anglophone Canadian, you may not have that entitlement. So, resilience is to overcome that marginalization, that lack of entitlement and ultimately, everyone should feel as entitled as everyone else. (Participant B; 24 years female, residing in Montreal for 3 years)

This shows how the positionality, identity, and status of immigrant youths and refugees vis-à-vis citizens of the host community places them in a more disadvantaged position, thus, affecting their ability to gain access to various services and programmes that would have been beneficial to their successful integration into the new community. Resilience is thus an important factor that keeps them going and enables them to rise above the marginalization they are faced with which is hinged on their identity. This conceptualization of resilience by the RIYs is presented in the figure in Appendix A.

Discussion

This research investigated the resettlement experiences of RIYs into Montreal in relation to barriers they face in integrating in Montreal and their conceptualization of resilience. This study found that understanding and conceptualization of resilience are varied and specific to the personal experiences and struggles that RIYs face in their resettlement process. Embracing the complexity and subjective meanings of the concept of resilience have already been highlighted in the literature (Ungar, 2011). The conceptualizations of resilience by RIYs in this study support the findings from previous research (Berry, 2001; Moreno & Chuang, 2011; Ungar, 2018; Smith et al., 2021). The RIYs viewed resilience as the ability to adapt and overcome the challenges of resettlement while maintaining their identity.

Resilience conceptualized as adaptation in this sense, placed a strong responsibility on RIYs to “do all it takes” or “become whatever is required” to thrive in the new community. This demonstrates the strengths, flexibility, and strong mindset that most RIYs possess, which is critical to successful adjustment in Montreal. While there is an urgent need for enabling policies and external protective factors to foster the resilience of RIYs as they face unique challenges which can affect their mental well-being as highlighted in various sections of this research, our findings show that it is also important for researchers in this field of study to be conscious about the ‘framing’ of RIYs as ‘fragile’ or ‘at risk’ population without highlighting their strengths and ability to successfully navigate the difficulties of resettlement. Smith et al. (2021) call for more ‘strength-based’ research that focuses on how immigrant youths cope with the multiple challenges they face rather than an overwhelming focus on their Mental Health needs.

This notion of adaptability in defining resilience is critical to the successful resettlement and integration of RIYs in Montreal. First, it highlights the diverse and often contrasting realities in Montreal when compared to places of origin of most of the RIY. Thus, consciously developing a mindset and capacity of being able to adjust to new conditions in the new environment is essential in coping with initial and continuous integration challenges. In line with this, adaptability involves a process of carefully evaluating and understanding the new context, language, culture, and way of life and being flexible enough to “change to whatever an individual need[s] to be”, in order to build the resiliency needed to thrive in the new environment. The conceptualization of resilience as the ability to thrive within the new community through adaptation strategies has been highlighted in the literature. For instance, Ungar (2018) and Norris et al. (2008) use the same conceptual language ‘adapt’ to describe resilience. Further, this participant’s framing of resilience as adaptability also considers the critical role that past experiences play in shaping/developing an individual’s ability to adapt and thus exhibit resilience in new conditions. This points to the fact that building resilience is not automatic but rather a process that is activated in times of hardships and difficulties.

The second conceptualization of resilience by the RIYs in this study draws attention to the importance of maintaining their cultural identity and values while simultaneously learning and adjusting to the new way of life in Montreal. This finding supports previous theoretical and empirical findings. For instance, similar to Berry’s ‘integration’ acculturation strategy (Berry, 2001), RIYs in this study demonstrated how essential it was for them to remain grounded in cultural heritage, identity and ties as they navigated their new lives in Montreal. Particularly for immigrant youths in Canada, this process of integration and the navigation of two cultures is not a simplistic or straightforward process (Smith et al., 2021). Most RIYs face enormous pressure to fit in in school and other contexts and this is often synonymous with RIYs being forced to reject their cultural heritage, values and even accents in a bid to be accepted within peer and group circles (Christmas & Barker, 2014), in some cases, failure to fit in may lead to bullying, harassments, and racism (Edge et al., 2014). Thus, to the RIYs in our study, the courage to deal with these pressures to change and remain proud of their cultural heritage is what they understand resilience to be. Here, resilience is defined in relation to an individual’s ability to integrate into a new society without losing their cultural identity, history, and experiences from their place/culture of origin. This multidimensional approach to the understanding of resilience lays emphasis on not only an individual’s ability to adapt or integrate into a new environment against all odds but also, the capacity to remain grounded in one’s culture of origin. It is thus the delicate and nuanced process of continuously navigating the old and the new. In other words, resilience is not only measured by one’s ability to transform into a different individual in order to fit into the new context but rather, resilience is the complex process of connecting with and being grounded in one’s place and culture of origin while simultaneously making efforts to adapt to the new way of being in the new environment. This conceptualization succinctly captures the lived realities and struggles of many refugees and new immigrant youths as they integrate into new territories. Many RIYs arrive in their host communities with their cultural history and identity and are faced with the challenge of losing their identity in the integration process. Resilience to them is therefore the necessary process of maintaining ties and connections to their culture and heritage. This can be facilitated through constant communication with family and relatives back home, finding associations, friendship groups from their own culture in the new community as well as listening to (and watching) their cultural music and films and travelling back home. This provides a strong coping mechanism in their integration process.

The final conceptualization of resilience draws attention to the recognition and internalization of the discriminations, marginalization, and limitations that RIYs deals with and how they navigate these challenges in Montreal. Here, drawing on their own experience, RIYs highlighted the lack of entitlement and access to services and opportunities that are readily accessible to Canadian citizens, permanent residents, and Anglophone Montrealers. This places them in a constant struggle to thrive from a position of disadvantage hinged on their immigration status. This understanding of resilience is critical to the resettlement journey of RIYs, but it is yet to be fully investigated in the literature.

The effect of social isolation on RIY’s resilience is clear in the study as this led to mental health, wellbeing, academic, and psychological challenges. This finding is in line with existing literature on the direct relationship between the resettlement of newcomers and mental health issues because of social isolation (Kirmayer et al., 2011). This highlights the communal/collective versus the individualistic way of life between most of RIY’s home country and Montreal. Individualistic cultures are characterized by a high level of independence with individuals focused on only their own affairs and issues that concern immediate family (Fatehi & Taasoobshirazi, 2020). There is an expectation on individuals in individualistic societies to navigate and cope with their own struggles and experiences with little assistance from others (Fatehi & Taasoobshirazi, 2020). This cultural perspective and way of life are in sharp contrast with the communal home societies of most of the RIYs which are characterized by the collective experience of sharing and burden bearing. The RIYs have to navigate this cultural shock and are left with the feeling of fending for themselves in such a crucial period of settling into a new society without support from people in their immediate environment.

It was also found that perceived cultural differences between heritage societies and Montreal posed a hindrance to RIY’s resilience as most of the time the kind of support and services they receive from mental health professionals are not sensitive to their own cultural values. This has implications on their access to mental health services which are geared towards improving their level of resilience. This finding is in line with Fernando’s (2014) finding that monocultural understandings of mental health are very problematic when practitioners apply these understandings to people from non-Western cultures. Aroche and Colle (2004) add that the complexities associated with working across differences and cultures are not considered in mental health agencies that work from a Euro-centric perspective hence their inability to provide culturally sensitive services that enhance the resilience of immigrants.

Another key barrier to the resilience of RIY as found in the study is microaggression and racism. The issue of racism and equality of rights and opportunities generated as a result of various hard-fought civil rights battles, particularly in the United States managed to generate awareness about the notion of equality and dignity and this consciousness has also helped the cause of refugee and immigrant rights. Although, there has been substantial progress since the days of the civil rights movement and apartheid, racism continues to be a tricky area to navigate especially for the policymakers. The difficulty arises in the subtle forms of racism that various ethnicities, refugees, and immigrant youth have to experience on a daily basis. One of these subtle forms is Microaggression (Lillienfield, 2019; Mewaki & Todd, 2021; Williams, 2019). From this study, it was evident that continuing to face microaggressions, which at times are subtle, does convey hostility. The communications perpetrated by individuals or organizations in most of RIY’s host communities often convey disrespect and are hurtful to them. According to Ross-Sheriff (2012), these behaviours negatively affect the person on the receiving end. Ross-Sheriff (2012) adds that microaggression negatively impacts the “confidence”, “self-esteem” and “effectiveness” of the person experiencing it. Various studies have described how microaggression is experienced by RIYs who often are from marginalised ethnicities and the ramifications faced because of that. These forms of microaggressions force RIYs to develop resilience as a strategy to survive and navigate through the daily everyday experiences. Microaggressions also constitute a barrier to the fostering of resilience. Thus, microaggression works in a two-fold manner. It pushes RIYs to develop resilience and on the other hand depending on the case, microaggression can be an obstacle to developing resilience as individuals tend to feel exhausted fighting these subtle forms of racism on day to day basis which ultimately affects their mental health and economic outcomes also.

Finally, it was found that language can facilitate or inhibit the integration of RIYs in the host countries. The integration done based on the acquisition of the language of the host countries provides a pathway for socio-cultural belongingness and better labour market outcomes (Galiev & Masoodi, 2012; Adserà & Ferrer, 2021; Isphording, 2015). However, competent language skills are also a prerequisite to justify the refugee status in a country. McFadyen (2018) and Aycan and Berry (1996) found that for immigrants to integrate well, they need to have substantial language skills. The acquisition of language skills has multifaceted advantages for RIYs but the biggest and arguably the most important is the participation in the labour market (Dustmann & Fabbri, 2003). At the macro level, language barriers encountered in the context of support and vital social services could disrupt the cultural and social connectedness of RIYs, which are essential factors for successful integration of newcomers. Additionally, provincial policies such as the six months ultimatum given to new immigrants in Montreal to learn French language in order to access social and economic services could serve as potentially barriers to their successful integration. In the case of RIYs residing in Montreal, language becomes even more important. Although, French is the local language, English is equally required to be active in the labour market. The immigrants coming from French-speaking African nations have to learn English while those coming from non-French backgrounds, need to learn French. Hence knowing French and English become necessary to fully operationalize in the labour market in Montreal and be successful in one’s career trajectory. Moreover, the level of fluency in the official language of the host community is central to the idea of belongingness and to the socio-cultural imagination of the complete integration process of RIYs. Language is critical because the inability to acquire it has both social and economic ramifications and to the larger goal of integration wherein the groups are always considered and perceived as “outsiders”.

Conclusion

The experiences of RIYs in our study demonstrate the need for the acknowledgement of the racialization and multiple vulnerabilities of RIYs in their integration process (Khanlou, 2008; Shields & Lujan, 2018). Specifically, in the province of Quebec, in their everyday lives, RIYs are subjected to discrimination and racism coupled with other disadvantages as a result of their immigration status, racial, ethnic, and gender identities as well as the inability of some to speak French. In addition to making RIYs feel not welcome in Montreal, these discriminations limit their access to good economic opportunities in Quebec, and greatly hinder their ability to foster their resilience.

Investigating the experiences of Refugees and Immigrant Youths as a group is a common trend in research within this field. However, the experiences, trauma, and circumstances surrounding the migration and resettlement of refugee and immigrant youths vary significantly from the experiences of other newcomer populations, leading to differences in the degree of postmigration stressors, Mental Health problems, access to Mental Health services (Christmas & Barker, 2014; Matos et al., 2018; Bempong et al., 2019) as well as the extent to which each group views their resettlement. These differences may influence their level of resilience. Given these differences, it will be useful for future research to consider the differences in the experiences and conceptualizations of the resilience of refugee youth and immigrant youth.

Generally, the experiences of the RIYs from this study reflect that integration has multidimensional aspects. From landing in a new country like Canada, adjusting to the social and cultural climate of Quebec, and constantly making efforts to belong here is excruciating to individuals and groups who already have a history of social and economic marginalisation back in their home countries. This requires resilience as a strategy to be developed to survive and thrive in a new environment. The important concern that remains is that although resilience is essential to the integration of RIYs, the acts of hostility and subtle racism hurt their capacity to be resilient. RIYs are trapped in a vicious circle where resilience is required to adjust and adapt but the resentment and push back further dents resilience which was built after facing numerous challenges. Further research of individuals and groups who have successfully integrated into Montreal and Quebec can provide some cues in improving their lived realities. At this point in time, one asks whether successful integration ever takes place or if RIYs have to be content with the fact that life is relatively better in comparison to their home countries and that is what ultimately matters.

Appendix A

Fig. 1
figure 1

Conceptualization of Resilience by Refugee and Immigrant Youth