Canada's relative generosity in admitting refugees and fairness in considering refugee claims has earned this country an enviable reputation. However, having opened its doors to those selected, Canada's resettlement policies and programs fail to provide for their needs, and to promote their optimal adaptation. Based on a decade-long investigation of the resettlement of more than 1300 Southeast Asian refugee – ‘Boat People’ – the current report examines how research concerning (a) the impact of pre-migration trauma; (b) the mental health impact of social resources such as the like-ethnic community, refugee sponsorship programs, and language training; and (c) individual coping strategies such as suppressing the past, can contribute both to theory and to improving policy and practice. The presentation acknowledges the contributions of Dr. Alexander H. Leighton by demonstrating the importance of his insistence on the need for a longitudinal perspective both for conducting research and for planning programs and services. © 2006, Sage Publications. All rights reserved.

Refugee mental health Southeast Asians refugee resettlement longitudinal research resettlement policy

depression training longitudinal study social psychology refugee mental health service health care planning health promotion health care policy community care Follow-Up Studies human psychologic assessment Refugees medical research coping behavior Adaptation, Psychological ethnology medical practice resource management program development mental disease health program Humans Canada Southeast Asia cultural factor Article social adaptation migration Psychological Theory government Emigration and Immigration skill Asia, Southeastern health care need Culture