This qualitative research study explores female circumcision within the Canadian community perspective. / Issues examined in the literature review include: the historical background of the practice, its cultural and religious implications, its effects on health, existing social pressures to continue or discontinue the practice and the subjective constructions of majority and minority identities, perspectives and interactions in Canada's multicultural society. / For the purposes of this study majority/minority relations are explored in terms of the interactions between an immigrant community from a FC practicing country and the mainstream community in Canada. The Somali community has been chosen for this case study as the one best known to the author and as one in whose country of origin available statistics indicate a 98% prevalence rate of FC. Canadian mainstream reactions to this practice are analyzed through media reporting and statements from Somalis in Canada describing their interactions with the mainstream community on this issue. / Members of the Somali community in Montreal, Quebec and Ottawa, Ontario were interviewed in order to cover as wide an area as possible, including difference in provinces. The following six themes were chosen after data analysis: the Effects of FC on Health, the Cultural Orientation of FC, Religious Beliefs Regarding FC, Social Pressures, A Sense of Differentness and Efforts to Discourage the Practice of FC. These themes are discussed with special attention being paid to 'differentness' and the mechanisms or coping skills developed to deal with this complex social phenomenon which involves opposing values, beliefs and perceptions. / In its final section, the study examines the social work implications of the findings which address intercultural fears, anxieties and the dynamics of power involved in the way the FC issue has been addressed in Canada. / Practice, program and policy recommendations with regard to discouraging FC practice are made at the end of the thesis. / The study concludes with the observation that the debate around FC in Canada is much wider than the issue itself and that the practice has been sensationalized in a manner which has emphasized perceptions of differentness which exist in our society. No constructive dialogue will be possible around this issue until the issue of differentness is addressed, and mutual fears and anxieties evoked by the perception of differentness are dealt with in a sensitive manner, in both immigrant and mainstream communities.

No description available.

In the past decade, the Somali Canadian community has experienced a heightened rate of youth violence. Since 2005 several dozen young Somali men have lost their lives. Most of the incidents occurred in Edmonton and Toronto, with sporadic incidents in Ottawa as well. The violence, mostly concentrated in northern Alberta, attracted sustained media attention which, in turn, led to public and private discussions within the Somali community. This study explores the determinants of youth involvement in violence and related criminal activities, as well as the impact of that violence on the families of its victims and perpetrators, and the larger Somali community. The study’s design consisted of in-depth interviews with Somali Canadians and non-Somali key informants, in the three cities where the majority of the Somali population resides, to elicit their explanations of the violence, and their perceptions of its impact. Results indicate that the proximal determinant of the violence was the young men’s participation in the drug trade in northern Alberta. Distally, determinants of the violence link three intersecting themes: poverty, racialization and gender. Poverty and racism marked the early lives of the male youth and their families in Ontario. The resettlement barriers experienced by first generation Somali refugees, the racism that this community and its youth encountered in public institutions such as schools, the criminal justice system and the media, and the anti-poor posture of neoliberalism, combined to create vulnerabilities to risky behaviour in male youth. My analysis suggests that young men entered the drug trade and/or participated in criminal activities in order to fill material needs and enhance their self-esteem. The inequities that underpin the determinants of violence require remedy at multiple levels. I propose an evidence-based population health framework for the prevention of youth violence, and identify interactive levels (individual, community, institutional, societal) at which to target prevention and intervention efforts.