Aceh-Malaysia-Vancouver : Settlement Among Acehnese Refugees Five Years On

Ideally, the Canadian government, researchers, and/or service providers would trace the settlement outcomes of government assisted refugees (GARs) from various countries over time, but such data is expensive to collect and challenging at the national scale. In a modest effort to fill this gap, research with GARs from Aceh, Indonesia was conducted in 2005 (one year after most arrived) and again in 2009 to ascertain settlement outcomes in the areas of housing, official language acquisition, employment, and participation in Canadian society. While the 2009 findings are but a snapshot of social and economic relations among the Acehnese at the time, they offer the fullest available picture of how these GARs are doing; what their concerns, priorities, and challenges are; and what Canadian policies do to facilitate or hinder their aims as new Canadians and permanent residents. More than five years after their arrival, a number of official language and employment issues persist. Spousal sponsorship has proven a salient goal for the majority of men who are still single. Working towards, saving for, and waiting for such relationships to materialize may well be impeding integration aims in Canada. Recommendations to address these situations are offered.