Everyday Peace and Displacement: Homestay Hosting as Informal Peacemaking for Displaced Ukrainian Women in Toronto

This study examines how homestay hosting arrangements function as everyday spaces of informal peacebuilding for displaced Ukrainian women resettled in Toronto, Canada. Amid growing global displacement, informal models of refugee reception such as homestays offer unique opportunities for safety, healing, and integration, yet remain underexplored in research and policy. This study draws on a secondary analysis of qualitative data from 18 interviews with Ukrainian women who experienced living with Canadian host families. Thematic analysis revealed four interconnected themes: homestays as spaces of everyday peace; emotional and relational dimensions of peacebuilding; gendered labour and power negotiation in shared spaces; and the tension between safety and ongoing precarity. While homestays offered a temporary sense of peace, experiences were shaped by trauma, uncertainty, and complex relational dynamics. Women engaged in invisible emotional and domestic labour to sustain harmony, often without formal support. The findings suggest that homestay hosting can serve as a meaningful site of informal peacebuilding but requires intentional design and support. This study highlights the need for trauma-informed, gender-sensitive practices, and policy recognition of informal hosting as a valuable component of refugee peacemaking. Implications extend to host training, community support infrastructure, and future research on domestic spaces as sites of healing.