From Silence to Self-Advocacy: Re-centring the Voices of Refugee Youth in Canadian Classrooms

This chapter examines how refugee-background youth navigate belonging, exclusion, and identity within Canadian schools through a narrative inquiry of two cases, Basel and Deema. Drawing on narrative inquiry, critical refugee studies, culturally sustaining pedagogy, and compassion-based education, it explores how trauma, language barriers, racialization, gendered dynamics, and institutional practices shape everyday schooling experiences. Basel’s story illustrates how war-related trauma, English-language challenges, and academic marginalization intersect with social isolation, while moments of recognition, particularly through sport and supportive educators, open pathways towards belonging and re-engagement. Deema’s narrative highlights the impact of gendered Islamophobia, bullying, and identity silencing, alongside the transformative role of community support and affirming relationships in rebuilding confidence and fostering leadership. Through cross-case analysis, the chapter traces a relational movement from silence, shaped by fear, exclusion, and misrecognition, towards emerging self-advocacy grounded in trust, affirmation, and opportunity. It argues that refugee students’ agency develops not as an individual trait but through culturally safe and relationally responsive environments. The chapter calls for a reorientation of refugee education in Canada towards justice-oriented, anti-oppressive, and compassion-based approaches that challenge deficit narratives, address structural inequities, and centre refugee youth as knowledge holders and active participants in shaping more inclusive educational spaces.