York University in Toronto, and the FCJ Refugee Centre have partnered on a program to offer precarious status youth—known as ‘Dreamers’—a post-secondary education, according to the centre’s website.
The program is called Access to Education and is the first of its kind in Canada and allows ‘Dreamers’ to pay domestic tuition fees while pursuing their degree.
The term ‘Dreamers’ refers to youth under the age of 31 who are protected under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)—a federal program created under former U.S. president Barack Obama to allow people brought to the U.S. illegally as children the temporary right to live, study and work there.
Canada also has its own ‘Dreamers,’ many of who have fled from the United States due to fears of being deported.
Recently, an increase in the ‘crackdown’ on undocumented immigrants occurred in the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement last year that he would end the DACA program.
Some of them, like Rosa, 23, (whose last name is withheld because her immigration status is precarious in Canada), told CBC News she was worried she might never get a chance to attend university.
She told CBC’s Metro Morning that she grew up in El Salvador and her brother was being threatened by gangs for political reasons. After fearing for their lives her family fled to the U.S. when she was only nine years old.
Rosa’s family then settled in a small town in Texas, but they had to live undercover for fear of raids and possible deportation.
When Rosa was 17 her family fled once again, this time because of an increase in raids, and came to Canada to seek refugee protection.
Rosa told CBC News that when she heard of the program she was ecstatic and applied immediately. She is now enrolled in Film Production at York University.
The program at York University was developed over a nine-month period and created two different pathways for the students to pursue a degree.
The first pathway has a bridging program for students who have been out of school for a while and helps them transition to university.
Students are to complete a course titled “Critical Approaches to Migration and Uprootedness” and upon completion of this course students are able to apply to undergraduate programs at York.
The second pathway involves direct admissions to York for recent high school graduates.
According to the FCJ Refugee Centre’s website, it has been working with the university on making administrative changes, such as how to enrol students, create a safe campus environment, and provide specialized student supports.
The centre serves refugees and other individuals at risk because of their immigration status; they address issues that newly arrived refugees have in Canada, such as lack of resources and discrimination, according to its website.
They assist individuals in ways such as: filing paperwork, translation, referral to immigration and counselling.
A year after the first bridging course was implemented, York University accepted 10 undocumented students which made them the first university in the country to do so, according to a CBC News Metro Morning report.
But, funding for the program—which came from a Pan Am Games Grant from the city of Toronto— will end in March and therefore it is not guaranteed the project will continue, according to CBC.
Photo by Aaron Hemens
