Syrian Refugees In Canada

This paper is used to discuss a future study which will explore the lived experiences of Syrian Refugees in Canada as it relates to their well-being. In order to accomplish this, the paper will be divided into seven major sections including: rationale, literature review, phenomenological discussion of well-being, ethics, recruitment, data collection, and closing remarks. The structure of the current paper is depicted in Figure 1 below.

Topic of Exploration
The purpose of this interview-based study, is to explore lived experiences of well-being. Specifically, to explore the lived experiences of well-being of Syrian refugee families. The term explore suggests a constructivist study, seeking to gain understanding (Schensul & LeCompte, 2013).
In November 2015, the Canadian government announced the placement of 25,000 Syrian refugees in over 250 communities across the country in five months (CIC, 2015). Fast-forward nine months later, the number of Syrian refugees is nearly 28,000 across 290 Canadian communities (CIC, 2016). Due to the heterogeneity of this newly arrived Syrian population, it is difficult to know the well-being of the mothers, fathers and children arriving since many research statistics show high rates of possible post-traumatic symptoms (Samari, 2015; UNHCR, 2015). The well-being of a significant number of newly admitted future Canadians is of utmost importance as these newcomers integrate into schools, the workforce and hundreds of communities across the country. Exploring Syrian refugee families requires operating at the intersection of diversity and diplomacy and is essential to post-migration psychological well-being (Fozdar, Torezani, 2008). An interdisciplinary research team at the University of British Columbia, announced that, “Refugees entering Canada represent a potentially vulnerable and understudied group,” and say that collectively we know little about familial determinants of health and well-being (HELP, 2016). The lack of knowledge of refugee family experiences (Fozdar, Torezani, 2008), is further highlighted by Stein who argues, “Despite tens of millions
Thousands have died, and 14 million people have lost their homes or become internally displaced persons (IDPs) and millions have registered as refugees (UNCHR, 2014). The UNCHR reported 4 million registered refugees to date with more unregistered (Verme et al., 2016). The following section discusses (1) brief background of the civil war, (2) the traditional concept of migration for safety, hijrah, specific to the Arab-Islamic region, (3) Sharia law and refugees, and (4) Syrian refugees seeking asylum in bordering countries and in Canada. While this section of the paper is not meant to be seminal, it provides a glimpse into a larger contextualized political narrative of the Syrian refugee