**3. Results**

### *3.1. Participant Characteristics*

We recruited 28 youth who had recently moved to Canada. The sample was arrived at upon realizing that we were coming across redundant information in our interviews which was an indication of data saturation [36]. There were 9 (32.1%) females and 19 (67.9%)

males between ages 13 and 25 (Mean = 19.2, SD = 3.52) years. There were 10 (35.7%) adolescents and 18 (64.3%) young adults. Most of the youth were originally from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) (57.1%), Burundi (14.3%), and Somalia (7.1%). The youth arrived in Canada as refugees with 7 (25%) of them being unaccompanied, 15 (53.6%) being accompanied by their families while 6 (21.4%) were accompanied by one of their parents. By the time of carrying out the study, youth had lived in Canada for an average of 4.87 years.

#### *3.2. Youth's Cultural Adaptation Experiences Before Coming to Canada*

Experiencing new cultures and undergoing the process of acculturation started when youth left their countries of origin. Youth migrated through different transitional countries in Africa where they lived for between 1 and 13 years. Twenty-five (89.3%) of the youth lived in one transitional country, while three (10.7%) lived in multiple countries prior to migrating to Canada. When asked about where they lived after leaving their countries of origin, youth's responses reflected a journey through countries and was similar to the following quote:

"*I left Sudan and went to Ethiopia to start school and then I stayed for a couple of years then they gave us a resettlement paper. We filled it out and ended up coming here.*" (25-year old Sudanese male)

Youth moved through countries because of war or other conflicts. At times, their families stayed in more than one place as they searched for an ideal place to settle leading to a sense of instability. In their discourse, youth used phrases and words such as you have to *"move to a different province," move to a different country," "you have to go back,"* and *"we never lived permanently in one place,"* to emphasize the instability that living while on the move created.

Living in multiple places and countries introduced them to new cultures with youth having to deal with multiple ethnicities. One of the youth that migrated to Cameroon from Burundi mentioned:

"*We went to Cameroon, I saw our house, the new house and I was surprised, I was not used to it. It felt so weird. I saw the people and they were all different because there were people from Burundi and Cameroon. Their cultures were also different.*" (20-year old Burundian male)

Youth often, felt discriminated because of their ethnicities and countries of origin. Because of facing discrimination, youth struggled to belong:

"*Well at first, it was kind of hard because people in Nigeria were insulting us by saying, 'You Congolese people, you guys cannot stay in your country,' because there are a lot of Congolese people in Nigeria. I felt like the people there were ignorant, I felt like I had nowhere to go, my life was ruined, and I did not know why I was still living.*" (22-year old Congolese male)

The challenges of living in places other than their home country helped to shape youth's identity and approach to navigating different cultures. For the most part, youth integrated to the cultures and their identity evolved to the point of feeling more connected with the transition countries rather than their birthplaces. When it came to the time of migrating to Canada, youth expected their experiences to be better. Youth expected to tap into their identity and integration experiences of living in multiple countries and finding ways to adapt to different cultures in Canada.

The youth's cultural adaptation experiences in Canada are depicted in the four themes: (1) disruption in the family, (2) our cultures are different, (3) searching for identity: a cultural struggle, and (4) learning the new culture.

3.2.1. Disruption in the Family

On the theme of 'disruption in the family,' youth talked about separation from their parent(s) because of their experiences of leaving their countries of birth, and its influence on their adaptation in Canada. Youth's parents separated because of divorce, or because one or both parents moved to a different country in search of opportunities that were missing in their countries of birth. At other times, the disruption was because of loss of one of the parents. One of the youth who was originally from Burundi narrated that his parents separated because his father needed to find better employment:

"*My dad went back to Burundi to work because in Cameroon it was hard for him to work. In Cameroon, it is not easy to find a good job and stay there. In Cameroon he had a nice job, but they did not pay him well. The payment was always late yet in Burundi he had a better position, so he went back in Burundi to work.*" (20-year old Burundian male)

In the initial times after their families were disrupted, youth struggled to understand the reasons for the separations and whereabouts of their parents. Loss of contact with parents resulted in youth feeling ill fated, lonely, and sad. Two refugee youth mentioned:

"*My parents divorced when I was like four years old, so I never saw my father since I was like seven years old. You know to grow up with that longing for my father is not so lucky.*" (14-year old Somalian male)

"*I ask my mom, 'Who is my father?' Sometimes she tells me, 'Your father was a good man, he usually helped me a lot, he was trustworthy,' all those. But I ask her, 'Why did he leave us?' She tells me, 'I do not know too.' It makes me wonder.*" (14-year old Somalian male)

Youth coped with the experience of living without their parents by seeking out for opportunities on their own. One of the youth who was left by his parents when he moved to Canada talked about living far away from home and learning to be self-dependent. He migrated to Canada with his sister, but his parents never joined them. They remained in Sudan. He found it difficult to live away from his parents but felt that the experience shaped his perspectives and approach to life:

"*I keep repeating 'it is a hard time' because as a kid I did not get that love that one is supposed to get from their parents. I was just going to school and pretty much raised myself. I had to grow up on my own, never stopping to work for something that I wanted. I never gave up or whined for anything. I never ask anybody for anything, but I believe in hard work.*" (25-year old Sudanese male)

When parents separated, either one parent raised the youth or a relative whom they felt affected their future relationships. For example, one of the youth who was raised by her grandmother had difficulties in relating with her stepsiblings and mother when they reconnected in Canada. The teenager felt misunderstood by her stepsiblings and struggled to understand them as well.

"*When I arrived, I joined my family and it took me a long time to connect with my stepsiblings. I knew that they loved me, but I was not used to them. When I came, I just used to live with my cousin, my sisters, and my brothers. I never had a chance to talk to my stepbrothers, and then when I came everybody was happy to see me. However, we could not understand each other. It was so hard. I was so sad and sometimes I thought that maybe my mother did not like me either.*" (18-year old Congolese male)

The family disruptions that took place before and during youth's resettlement, made it difficult for youth to settle down and adapt to life in Canada. These youth lacked the social support by their parents.

#### 3.2.2. Our Cultures Are Different

On the theme of 'our cultures are different,' youth talked about differences between cultures from their African countries of origin and Canadian cultures that were evident

upon their immigration. Youth were relieved to come to Canada but were astonished to face new challenges. The cultural differences between their birth countries and Canada were great. In their discourse, youth talked about the differences as a '*culture shock*' and went further to describe how families, parenting, and food were perceived differently. Youth used words like *'here,' 'there,' 'back home,' 'in Africa,'* or *'in Canada'* to elaborate on the cultural differences in the two places.

In youth's discourse about how families were different, they felt that in Canadian culture, families are more of the nuclear type, which comprises of a father, mother, and children. Whereas in their countries of birth, families were perceived to go beyond the connotations of nuclear types to include community members and neighbours. Because of the family structure in birth countries, one felt a sense of support, sense of belonging, and believed there was someone watching their back while in Canada, there was a sense of loneliness, isolation, and individualism.

Some people have a different concept of family. For example, in the African culture, family does not just mean you, your parents and your siblings. It is basically the neighbours. You consider them as family such that everybody knew everybody pretty much. (16-yearold Burundian Male)

In expressions of familism, refugee youth's families expressed a welcoming attitude to guests. During data collection, research assistants were often asked to join families in sharing meals, which was common in the culture of many African countries. One of the research staff reflected the welcoming experience where other people are perceived as family members and invited to share meals. In her field notes, she stated: "I was impressed and humbled by the way the participant and her family welcomed me. After the second interview, they insisted that I share a meal with them. I observed from the food that they did not have much prepared, but they insisted that they share the little they had with me." Their generosity reminded her of a proverb from her country back home which states, "*However little food we have, we'll share it even if it is only one locust*" [37].

Youth felt there were differences between the cultures around parenting at their countries of birth and Canada. At their countries of birth, youth felt the culture around parenting involved disciplining children using stricter and firmer behaviours such as parents "*shouting orders*" at their children. However, the cultures in Canada encouraged parents to be more lenient and supported children to report to the authorities all forms of strict behaviour including shouting. In addition, youth felt that African parents were very protective and sometimes restricted their movement or roles. On the other hand, Canadian parents were less protective and more willing to let their children develop their own independence.

"*Back home, our parents were very strict on us. They would say, 'Oh do not go out.' Those were the standards. But in Canadian culture, parents are very relaxed. You know, their children turn 18 and they tell them 'We will kick you out of the house, go get yourself an apartment,' but our parents want to keep you even though you are 21, 22, years old because they fear, they do not trust that their child can live on their own. It is more of the culture thing, like a black people thing.*" (25-year old Nigerian Female)

Sometimes the differences in cultural practices created conflict between youth and their parents. While in their countries birth, youth were expected to follow their parents' commands without questioning. However, once in Canada, youth had a desire to change how they related to their parents, move on, and adapt to Canadian culture, against their parents' wishes. When asked about the differences in cultural practices around relating to their parents, youth stated:

**Participant:** "*We are not in Africa anymore; I know we are expected to keep the African culture but that has to stop*."

**Interviewer:** "*You do not think it is a cultural thing, like you know when in the African culture children are meant to be sent to do things*."

**Participant:** "*Well I believe there is a limit for everything. There is a limit especially when your parent is able to do what he/she is requesting you to do, because that is just being lazy. We are not in Africa anymore and I have to stopsome of the African cultural practices*." (19-year old Congolese Male)

Despite the conflict that differences in cultural practices around parenting created, the youth and their parents managed the differences by navigating multiple cultures. Youth and their parents learned from peers about other parenting practices, reflected on their culture and preferences, then adopted practices they were comfortable with.

Cultural foods were different between youth's countries of birth and Canada. Upon coming to Canada, youth struggled to get used to their new diets. Some of the regular foods surprised youth because they were not usually part of their diets. Youth found it difficult to come across cultural foods (e.g., halal or foods that were permissible to eat based on their religious or cultural values):

"*I discovered that nothing was halal. What they were selling and used to give us for breakfast was not halal. Back home everything you eat is halal of course. What I did was to ask where I could find halal food. We did not want to feed ourselves with something that was not halal because we are Muslims.*" (20-year-old Congolese Male)
