New Study On Re-integration Of Somali Youth To Be Released

By Neil Armstrong
PRIDE Contributing Writer

TORONTO, Ontario — The Urban Alliance on Race Relations (UARR) has embarked on a research project examining the reintegration of Somali Canadian youth in the society after being incarcerated.

The final report of “The Bridging Project” will be presented on June 6 at a community forum at the International Muslims Organization on Rexdale Boulevard in Toronto.

The Bridging Project is a qualitative research project advancing knowledge of the experiences, barriers, challenges and successes of previously incarcerated self- identifying Somali Canadian youth.

Additionally, the final forum will include recommendations for service providers, policies and programs to increase the efficacy and accessibility of reintegration services.

The report will be submitted to the City of Toronto at a later date and will be made available on the UARR’s website.

Jaafar Dirie, an organizer and researcher at the UARR, has been working on the one- year study that is nearing is completion.

He says the project started after an individual who was incarcerated went to a local mosque and there were no services there to assist him.

“They weren’t able to provide the assistance because they don’t have the skills set to provide reintegration services for individuals who were incarcerated. So, it was actually from there that that mosque reached out to the community,” says Dirie.

The UARR decided to step up to the task and examine the need for these services and to hear from the youth themselves through a community participatory action research.

 

Dirie says Somali youth in North Etobicoke who were incarcerated were the first ones interviewed with questions that were developed with the help of volunteer community researchers who grew up in the community.

Some of these volunteers are university students, some work in the field, and others have volunteered in the social services sector within the community.

They developed questions focused on the types of services that are being provided to these youth such as, had they ever received any services and were they aware of services that are available to them in their communities?

“Primarily we looked at several key sectors. We looked at education, in terms of when they get out, are there services to help them reintegrate back into society through education, whether they want to go back to university, whether they want to get their GD or high school diploma, whatever it may be.”

The research also examines unemployment, which Dirie describes as the biggest issue because they don’t want to reoffend and in order to keep them off the streets, many of them try to find employment.

“As we know, the biggest obstacle there is that they have a criminal record and usually that is an obstacle to gaining meaningful employment. We want to look at what service providers they are aware of that are providing employment opportunities.”

The researchers also look at the family unit and the community to help them understand the narrative of what these Somali youth have gone through.
After conducting the interviews, there were two focus groups held with community stakeholders such as reintegration service providers, parents, and community leaders.

Dirie says they are now at the stage where they are analyzing the data and trying to understand if there are gaps and trying to provide recommendations to address them.

This is in addition to providing a narrative for the experience that the youth have gone through, whether its challenges or successes that they’ve had upon their release.

Dirie has noticed that there is a lot of stigma towards individuals who were incarcerated but they and their parents were thankful that the research project is being conducted.

“But nevertheless, the subject matter is still very taboo within the community. Parents don’t want to talk about their children being arrested and young men and women don’t want to talk about their experience of being incarcerated as well.”

The individuals who were interviewed were very willing and saw the end results that the project would have for others who will be released in the future.

Recently, Dirie was at a community consultation with Tracy MacCharles, Ontario Minister of Children and Youth Services, and the feedback that he got was tremendous.

The community leaders from North Etobicoke and Central Etobicoke who attended the meeting were thankful.

“They know that it’s not enough just to talk about that there is a high incarceration rate among Somali youth, but that there are also issues in terms of reintegration. We need to have data and we need to have research to back up these claims so that we can address them effectively,” Dirie says.

He says one of the things that is unfortunate about the Somali community is that a lot of people don’t know that there are many young, active Somali youth who are more than willing to contribute their time.

Some travelled to downtown on Family Day in February for a community researchers meeting and they have been a part of the project since its onset in October 2014.

“They’ve provided assistance in terms of developing the questions, both for the interviews and for the focus group, as well as doing tasks such as transcribing and stuff like that. They are very well involved,” says Dirie, who acknowledged that he could not have done this without them.

There was also a community advisory board made up of elders from the Somali and broader community – from Etobicoke, downtown Toronto and Scarborough.

One of the outcomes of the project that Dirie wants to see is that service providers within the community that are providing reintegration service understand that there are gaps, in terms of delivering those services.

“We want to make sure that they understand where the gaps are and how they can better help their Somali clientele because a lot of them are not aware of it.”

He also wants the community to play its role, in terms of providing assistance to individuals who are incarcerated, even though they may not have the skills set.

Dirie thinks the community should have a reference system in which if an individual approaches someone for assistance, there is a mosque or community centre with a list of resources that they can tap into.

The project has spawned some smaller projects, including one that provides spiritual counseling and mentoring for inmates because a lot of ex-inmates said very few imams or community leaders visited them when they were incarcerated.

Dirie holds a Bachelor of Science in International Development Studies and Health Studies at the University of Toronto and is currently a Masters candidate in Development Studies at York University.

Free lunch will be provided at the community forum on June 6, as well as free giveaways, including two TTC Metropass and gift baskets.