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Informing integration: assessing what we know, admitting what we don't know.

Article Excerpt
Two things weigh on my mind as the process of getting this volume to press draws to a close. The first is that the response to our call for papers demonstrates how important this call truly is, and how far we still have to go as a community of knowledge to fully answer it. The second is that public debate about refugee integration flourishes despite the lack of knowledge, in ways that ought to alarm us. The opportunity of introducing this collection allows me to address both of these concerns. I will do so in reverse order.

In mid-October I was mulling over some (different) introductory remarks when I happened upon Martin Collacott's comment in The Globe and Mail (15 October 2007, p. A17). Collacott's subject was the appropriate role for Canada in responding to massive population displacement in and around Iraq. The thesis he was pursuing was that Canada should be wary how many of these people (many of whom are refugees--which is not my point, just yet) should be resettled in Canada because, in Collacott's view, they will face integration problems.

Interestingly, Martin Collacott did not make a submission to this volume. Despite his assertions of knowledge about refugee resettlement, delivered in a tone of sober authority. There are many ways to counter Collacott's argument. These include a careful assessment of the harms of protracted camp existence (the only alternative to resettlement available at this time); an exploration of what counts as a 'success' in Canada; according some agency to those caught up in this crisis, who undoubtedly have views about their own futures; evaluating when integration difficulties can be sheeted home to individuals and when they must reasonably rest with the host society.

Another vital counter is to consider the firm distinction between immigrants and refugees. Immigrants come to Canada on the basis of governmental 'selection' because of some economic or family role which they fulfill. These categories are frayed...