Caring for Yazidi Refugees in Canada

Yazidi refugees, Photo by The Department for International Development

This NYT Article about Canada’s struggles to care for Yazidi refugees is a must read.

The Yazidis are a small, non-Muslim, religious and ethnic minority mostly from the Northern Iraq. (You can read more about their religion and history here.) They’ve been the target of extreme violence at the hands of ISIS or the Islamic State. As one French priest has documented, Yazidi men have been killed, women sold into sex slavery, and children taken away.

Some Yazidi refugees have made their way to Canada. And, as the NYT reports, Canada has been unprepared for the “unimaginable trauma, both physical and emotional” that these refugees have suffered.

The Yazidi refugees suffer from PTSD, manifesting in seizures, night terrors, and flashbacks. The article does an excellent job describing these events.

In addition, the article is unique in picking up on the issue of secondary trauma. The author notes that “[c]ounselors, doctors and other workers are hearing such upsetting stories that they themselves need treatment.”

It’s a powerful, emotional read that might lead to great classroom discussion.

BTW – if you’re interested in the Yazidi who’ve settled in the US (to Lincoln, Nebraska!) — PBS News Hour covered that story back in January.

-KitJ