Every year, Logife
m welcomes a variety of women in difficulty, each one of whom has her own particular life story. In 2017, almost a third (32%) of the women sheltered were immigrants and faced some difficulties in their experience because of this. As a worker, I can testify to the strength of these women, but also to the various obstacles strewn on their path.
The immigration process of these women has not always been easy and has often increased their vulnerability. Among the difficulties faced by these women, we can mention lack of awareness of resources and rights, social isolation, language barriers, non-recognition of professional skills, situations of discrimination or immigrant status that make access to services more complex.
To give an example, I remember an immigrant woman who arrived at Logifem with very little English or French. She was having a hard time, following an episode of mental illness and a breakup with a husband who was her main economic support. Most administrative and legal procedures were unknown to her and hard for her to follow. She was unaware of her rights related to custody of children, divorce and access to information about her psychiatric records. Helped by the support of Logifem workers and her incredible resilience, she was able to regain control of her life. This woman is just one example among many others that demonstrates the positive impact that support which is adapted to the needs of immigrant women has on their well-being.
Since Logifem seeks to be a transforming force in the lives of these women and a place where they feel welcome, it is important that we better understand what they’re living through to respond more effectively to their needs. That is why we are very happy to have received a grant for a project to improve the services of Logifem to immigrant women. This project will take various forms, including exploratory research to evaluate our services and identify the needs, development of recommendations, creation of reference documents, deciding on relevant training for workers and development of a team of volunteer helpers. We are confident that such a project will have a long term beneficial impact on women who are at Logifem.
Sophie Rioux-Olivier
Project Coordinator