"Either you make it together, or you fall apart": Re-Establishing the Meaning of Family through the Experiences of Latin American and Caribbean Youth


Laura Perez Gonzalez, Toronto Metropolitan University; Henry Parada, Toronto Metropolitan University

This presentation will discuss findings from the Rights for Children and Youth Partnership (RCYP) Project, a project which seeks to explore the factors that protect and hinder children and youth’s rights in Central America, the Caribbean, and among their diasporas in Canada. This study uses Critical Race Theory and Latino Critical Theory to understand the different barriers Latin American and Black Caribbean immigrant youth face in the adaptation process in Ontario. We examine the experiences of newcomer racialized youth and the meaning that family holds in their view of the world, underscoring the social, cultural, and emotional challenges that influence their sense of self and understanding of “home”. Based on 25 interviews with Latin American and Black Caribbean immigrant youth and Ontario-based service providers and community leaders, our presentation highlights the concept of family from the standpoint of youth trying to adapt to their new lives in Ontario. The findings point to the complexities of navigating the decision made to immigrate, as youth are not often a part of this decision-making process. Participants reported dealing with family separation and reunification, balancing between the notion of holding onto their identities while simultaneously being required to fit in to new environments, and the social and economic pressures to support their families and uphold a family-oriented culture. The dynamics of family and immigration played a key role in how youth perceived their sense of self and the emerging responsibilities that came with being in a new country. These experiences reveal the need to critique the normative understanding of family and belonging in a predominantly White settler society to better understand the ways in which intersections of immigration, race, ethnicity, and cultural values impact family structures and adaptation processes. While Canada promotes the vision of a diverse and multicultural state, racialized immigrants continue to face systemic barriers towards equal opportunities for success, including racial discrimination, language barriers, precarity towards accessing resources based on legal status, and limited recognized social and cultural capital. The findings ultimately highlight the important role that migrant and resettlement services can play to better support families and youth, particularly drawing on the need to understand the reality and intersections of racialized immigrant family experiences.

Non-presenting author: Veronica Escobar Olivio, Toronto Metropolitan University

This paper will be presented at the following session: