The first presentation was by Michael Asante. Asante’s working on a project lead by Sandeep Agrawal that falls under the Place and Infrastructure theme. The project is examining Canada’s policies in relation to the needs of a particular subset of immigrants– climate refugees.

With climate change impacting the lives of people around the world, displacement as a result of natural disasters is becoming more prominent. As a result countries like Canada do not have any clear policy protecting persons forcibly displaced by climate change disasters. 

Asante’s study explored Canada’s stance in protecting these persons and proposed some policy recommendations. Asante shared some preliminary findings from keyword searches, interviews and literature reviews.

The second presentation was by Silvia Odhiambo. The project, lead by Elizabeth Onyango, falls under the Immigrant Health and Well-Being theme and is focused on how food insecurity intersects with the mental wellbeing of immigrant youth.

Food insecurity is a growing concern across Canada and has been shown to negatively impact mental health. How does it affect immigrant youth who face additional intersectional challenges?

Odhiambo shared the purpose, objective and methodology of the project as well as what impact this research will have.