Refugees & Forced Migration
The Canadian Perspective. An A-Z Guide
by Catherine Baillie Abidi and Shiva Nourpanah
Nimbus Publishing, 2019
ISBN 9781771087292 (sc)
$15.95, 144 pp, ages 16+
nimbus.ca
Maritime-region scholars Catherine Baillie Abidi and Shiva Nourpanah have both academic and practical experience dealing with refugees. As the editors of this work, they have relied on the expertise of nearly two dozen contributors. The resulting guide provides easy to comprehend explanations of commonly used terms in the field of migration. Following a historical overview of persecution and displacement, the book offers an A to Z summary of topics (starting with activism and ending with youth refugees). Some of the accounts are incredibly personal (Amara Bangura discusses “war” in this context by recounting how he and his neighbours survived deadly fighting in Sierra Leone) while others are far more academic in nature. One of the more esoteric topics includes Marianela Fuertes’ explanation of non-refoulement—which is a foundational principle of modern international law that legitimate refugees cannot be expelled or directed away from a safe haven.
Classroom Connections: With borders, walls, caravans, and camps featured on media screens every day, this guide to refugees and forced migration should be a welcome addition to any secondary school’s resource room or social studies/social sciences/history teachers’ shelves. While it has a particularly Canadian perspective—explaining our country’s various legislative measures and practices (such as providing health coverage to asylum seekers)—it also naturally has an international focus (with entries on topics like the United Nations Commissioner for Refugees). This guide is fundamentally academic in nature (there are forty footnotes detailing essential reference works and related journal articles), but it certainly could be used in a high school setting.
Review by George Sheppard.
This review is from Canadian Teacher Magazine’s Winter 2020 issue.
