Advancing Equity Through Mentorship: Supporting Racialized Immigrant and International Students in Canadian Higher Education

Mentorship initiatives have increasingly supported racialized students in Canada, yet gaps remain in addressing their intersectional needs. This study examines the experiences of Black postsecondary immigrant, refugee, and international students in the Mentorship and Resilience Project (MRP), a racially concordant mentorship initiative. Using a convergent mixed-methods design, data were drawn from interviews, focus groups, and post-workshop surveys. Guided by Anti-Black Racism and Intersectionality frameworks, the study explores how institutional diversity discourses may operate as non-performative practices that obscure structural inequities. Findings show students faced intersecting challenges related to migration status, race, and gender, marked by tensions between invisibility and hypervisibility. Racially concordant mentorship and equity-focused workshops offered representation, guidance, psychosocial support, and strategies for navigating inequitable systems, while fostering belonging and validation. While mentorship offers meaningful support for racialized and international students, addressing systemic inequities requires broader structural and institutional change.