The Somali Community
Edward Opoku-Dapaah
The flight of Somalis to Canada began in the late 1970s after the 1976 removal of discriminatory clauses in Canadian immigration laws. The influx gained momentum from 1980 to 1990 when Somalia fell under Siad Barre's military rule. During this decade, political repression against targeted clans and violent acts by military units and individuals in the national armed forces resulted in the flight of Somalis to destinations within and beyond Africa. Many of the Somalis who came to Canada testified that they experienced violent persecution, mass repression, and torture.
Approximately 25,000 Somalis have settled in Toronto within the past 12 years. Toronto's multicultural nature, comparatively better economic opportunities, and the large Somali community have made the city a popular choice for resettlement by Somali refugees. Most fled Somalia and found their way to Toronto first, seeking refugee status once they were here in Canada. Refugee claims by Somalis rose from a mere 31 in 1985 to 3,503 within the first six months of 1991. The total number of Somalis who applied for refugee status from within Canada between 1985 and 1991 was 12,957. This made Somalis the most numerous among the African refugees coming to Canada. The substantial increase in Somali refugee claims between 1988 and 1991 was commensurate with the heightened repression, famine, and resultant displacement that occurred in Somalia during that period.
Somalis who sought refugee status from within Canada waited in the refugee backlog for two or more years before completing the inland refugee determination process. This prolonged the refugee application period and its attendant anxieties. In 1989 there were 2,613 Somalis in the refugee backlog. Even after sucessfully completing the process, applicants could wait as long as two years before receiving permanent status. While they waited refugee claimants were not allowed to apply for and change their immigration status. Claimants received permanent residential stattus only when the application process was completed with a positive outcome. Also, claimants could not leave the country since travelling abroad jeopardized the refugee claim. They were required to inform immigration authorities whenever they relocated.
Most Somalis in Toronto are within the age range of eight to 40. It is mostly young adults who are able to embark on stressful flight to destinations beyond Africa. More than half are female. The presettlement educational attainments of Somalis in Canada is moderately high; about one-fourth of them finish high school or more. A large proportion of Somali youth are rolled in schools and colleges.
The picture is different, however, for those who are between the ages of 21 and 35. Only a small percentage of those in this age category are currently pursuing academic studies or professional development. Factors affecting academic pursuit include lack of educational counselling and financial assistance. Government grants and educational loans have not been available to those who intended to pursue higher education or upgrade skills. In almost all Canadian provinces, even after residential status is granted, landed refugees are required to work at least a year before they are eligible for grants.
Somalis' active participation in employment-related programs such as skills upgrading and retraining, have been hampered the lack of information. New immigrants' access to retraining in Ontario's public educational system and federally and provincially funded programs is impeded by institutional barriers such as lack of publicity, entrance requirements, tuition fees, prerequisites, and full- time attendance requirements. Some training programs have stringent prerequisites such as Ontario or Canadian experience and language proficiency, which Somali refugees find hard to meet.
Somali women have lower educational achievements compared with Somali men, and they are less inclined to pursue studies. Situational barriers related to child care, language proficiency, scheduling, and financial cost impede Somali women's education. Socio-cultural forces have also impeded their efforts to engage in studies; besides their paid work outside the home, women also perform most of the domestic duties, which leave them very little time to pursue even part-time studies. Wives' career plans may require approval from their husbands, which is not always forthcoming.
The fact that the Somalis' prior socio-cultural and economic norms diverge from mainstream Canadian norms and that they encounter barriers in pursuing academic studies or employment-related training programs limit their effective participation in Canadian society. Somalis come from a Third World nation that is on the threshold of industrial development. Their exposure to advanced technology and industrial culture is very low. Moreover, in the case of those with prior academic and professional accomplishments, their qualifications and related work experiences were obtained in foreign institutions whose professional training methods differ from those in Canada. These circumstances make it crucial that those with prior academic and professional credentials take refresher courses and skills upgrading so they can utilize their qualifications in Canada. Those who have no academic qualifications or skills that can be transferred to the Canadian economic context need to pursue occupational training or education of some sort.
Many Somali refugees have a low proficiency in English. This reflects the fact that English is neither the official language nor a widely used one in Somalia. Even those who are highly educated and proficient in English need to undertake language classes to acquire a proficiency comparable to that of the average Canadian. Somali men have a higher English proficiency rate than Somali women. The disparity stems from socio-cultural practices in Somalia that favour education for men more so than women. The determination to improve proficiency in English has been hampered by inadequate access to language training programs and the insensitivity of existing programs to the cultural backgroundi of Somalis.
The Somali refugee community is concentrated in north metropolitan Toronto. Approximately half the community live the suburb of Etobicoke. Somalis are also concentrated in North York, Malton, York, and Scarborough. A large percentage of them live in rented accommodations, particularly in high-rise apartments. The choice of area of settlement is influenced mostly by the desire to live closer to fellow Somalis. Group tenancy - that is, a number of people sharing a common apartment - is very popular. This is the result of the continuous arrival of Somalis in Toronto and the lack of affordable housing for refugees who on subsistence allowances! Judging by the Canadian norm of person per room, Somalis in Toronto are overcrowded in their residential units.
The population's lifestyle is heavily influenced by prior socio-cultural values. The preference for living close to other Somalis is an extension of communal living among kin and extended relatives in Somalia. Living close together has also enabled them to create an island of familiarity in a new and complex environment.
Age is highly respected, and the elderly exercise considerable influence on the young. Marriage ceremonies follow strict Muslim laws. Marital roles follow the traditional pattem in which wives are responsible for child care and domestic duties. Children are constantly reminded of the traditional way of doing things and the importance of knowing their heritage. The influence of Islamic religious teachings pervades their daily activities. In spite of such strong attachments to cultural values, adherence to Canadian norms are also enforced.
Individual Somalis find it difficult to participate in mainstream Canadian society. Instead, they are drawn into networks of primary relationships with kin and other members of the African community. Friendship ties are very strong and involve a high degree of commitment. Inadequate access to settlement-related facilities, stereotyping in the media, and other social and economic disadvantages have fostered reactive solidarity among Somalis. People tend to limit their social activities not only among their own compatriots but also within their immediate geographic confines.
Several factors have led to this. First, they are unfamiliar with the Canadian environment. The differences between the socio-cul tural practices of their homeland and those of Canada have placed them at a disadvantage. As a result, individuals are unable to establish channels of communication with members of the wider community. Secondly, those with limited or no proficiency in English find it hard to communicate with the general public. Thirdly, participation in employment and educational pursuits,
which can bring them into regular contact with others, is affected by institutional barriers, such as delays in getting permits to work or study. Fourthly, when Somalis arrive in Canada as refugee claimants, many of them do not receive any orientation about formal and informal institutional structures and prevailing social norms in Canada, which hampers their ability to interact with other Canadians. All these factors, particularly the lack of orientation and (in the case of those who were caught in the refugee backlog) the uncertainty about the outcome of refugee applications, have impeded the development of interpersonal relations and friendships with native-born Canadians.
The current unemployment rate among the Somali community is approximately 40 per cent. This is partly attributable to the generally high level of unemployment in Toronto's depressed economy. Since the late 1980s, the recession in Canada has slowed down economic activity. Industrial employment has declined as manufacturing has become more capital intensive and the economy more service oriented. Under these conditions, the growth of per capita income in Canada depends on skilled workers, capital investment, technology, and international market for more efficient production. Somali refugees' limited exposure to industry, lack of technical skills, limited English proficiency, and inadequate opportunities to obtain upgrading or retraining place them at a disadvantage within Canada's job market.
Three patterns are discernible in the econonic characteristics of the Somali refugee community. First, a few do not have work permits, so they depend on government assistance. Second, the majority with landed immigrant status have work permits, but are compelled to work as cleaners, flyer distributors, parking-lot attendants, taxi drivers, and couriers. People with prior educational qualifications and work experience are unable to get jobs on the basis of these achievements. Moreover, employers demand Canadian work experience and adequate language skill. Discimination has also prevented those with work permits and high academic qualifications from getting preferred jobs. Since they have no access to upgrading and retraining facilities to help them obtain desirable jobs, they are compelled to seek employment in fields that marginalize their potential. Third, many Somali refugees who have work permits cannot find work. Unemploymnte among Somalis stems from the fact that Canada's advanced industrial society has no room for informal economic activity such as petty trading, peddling, tailoring, cloth weaving, craft work, subsistence agriculture, and pastoral activities that employed such people when they were in Somalia. Somali men have a higher employment rate than Somali women, which reflects men's greater English proficiency, higher educational background, and males' traditional role as the breadwinner in the family. The average income is approximately $10,000, indicating that most Somali refugees live well below the poverty line.
Somali refugees in Toronto have formed numerous community associations to cater to their needs. The most established ones are the Somali Community Association of Etobicoke, Somali Immigrant Aid, Somali-Canadian Women's Association, Somali Islamic Society, and the Ogaden Somalis Association. The Somali-Canadian Women's Association has been primarily concerned with addressing gender-specific problems facing its members. There are also agencies that mobilize relief aid to the Somalis back home, for example, the Western Somali Relief Organization and the Somali Aid Working Group. The associations provide settlement-related services, such as orientation for new arrivals, referrals to government departments, employment and family counselling, translation services, day care, and English classes. The associations also provide entertainment through social get-togethers, annual dinners, and dances.
Limited financial resources available to the groups restrict their ability to function effectively as care-givers for the Somali community. Some community members have frequently alleged that various Somali associations perpetuate clan factionalism through their overt allegiance to particular clans. This affects the image of the associations within the community and restricts their ability to raise funds from the Toronto community to support programs. The associations lack professional expertise to help clients with complex problems, such as psychological trauma resulting from displacement, family breakdown, and family abuse. Also, the presence of many groups performing similar functions sets the stage for competition and rivalry.
A small number of community members express satisfaction with their life in Canada in terms of residential status, an improved socio-economic situation, and the opportunity to bring over family members from Africa. Most Somali refugees are dissatisfied because of their reduced socio- economic status, the prevalence of discrimination, and feelings of homesickness.
Somalis in Toronto have retained their traditional cultural values to a considerable degree. The internalization of Canadian norms by Somalis is very low; adherence to Canadian values is made based on circumstantial demands or when it is deemed crucial for meeting personal motives. Their social interaction has not progressed beyond their primary (kin and co-ethnic) level of social participation; interaction with the Canadian-born is limited.
Their inability to blend easily into Canada's mainstream culture and their residential concentration in certain areas have frequently engendered racism from a section of the community. For those who still see Canada as primarily a European Judeo-Christian nation, Somalis have become an irritant. There have been occasional denunciations describing the status of Somalis as refugee, as "bogus" and "fraudulent" in leading dailies. The most graphic example was a five-part series on Canada's immigration system in the Toronto Sun (20-24 September 1992), which questioned the legitimacy of Somali refugee claims.
The continuous turmoil in their homeland and the media's persistent depiction of it as a land of misery, chaos, and total disaster affects the emotional stability and self-perception of this refugee community. Interviews conducted in 1992 revealed that Somalis find it difficult to concentrate on their lives in Canad due to the deaths of relatives. Healing and coping take a long time. Somalis who are working find it difficult to concentrate on their jobs due to the personal problems they face and the memories of chaos and death that grip their country daily. Somali families have been torn apart; families in Toronto are single parents with "reconstituted family members," that is, extended family groupings of survivors. Somalis encounter major problems in bringing their families here.
These social, econonic, and psychological characteristics of Somalis do not constitute integration into Canadian society but marginalization. Marginalization occurs when refugees are sidelined onto the periphery of Canadian society without participating fully in the prevailing social, economic, and political activities to their advantage. As a result, they can live neither according their own standards nor attain those of the host country.
Overall, Somalis constitute the largest African community Toronto. There are many enthusiastic and dynamic young people who are trying to improve their own situation in Canada while hoping that the situation back home in Somalia will improve enough so that some day they will be able to return.
