Reimagining Refugee Childhoods: Disrupting the Politics of Belonging in Canadian Classrooms

Belonging is widely recognized as a foundational concept in early childhood education, closely tied to children’s learning, well-being, and identity development. Policy frameworks, such as Ontario’s Kindergarten Program, position belonging as both an educational goal and a pedagogical responsibility, emphasizing relationships, participation, and connection. Developmental research similarly underscores its importance for socioemotional growth, self-concept, and future orientations. However, despite its prominence, belonging is often treated as universally accessible and inherently positive, obscuring the ways it is shaped by power, racial hierarchies, and national narratives that regulate inclusion and exclusion within schooling contexts. This chapter critically examines belonging as a politicized and contested construct, particularly for refugee children from the Global South resettling in Canada. Educational discourse frequently frames refugee students through trauma-centred and deficit-oriented narratives, positioning them as lacking and in need of remediation. Such perspectives influence teacher expectations and institutional practices, often resulting in lowered academic standards, misplacement, and limited opportunities. Consequently, belonging becomes conditional, tied to assimilation into dominant norms rather than recognition of diverse identities and knowledges. Drawing on a qualitative study with Syrian refugee children and their mothers in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), this chapter foregrounds multivocal narratives that illuminate how belonging is experienced, negotiated, and reimagined. Informed by Black Feminist Thought (BFT) and childhood studies, the analysis centres children as active meaning-makers. The chapter argues for a reconfiguration of belonging that moves beyond deficit framings towards more equitable, relational, and culturally sustaining educational practices.