We're talking about a generation of kids who have gone through this conflict over the last six years. There are some children who know only this conflict, when you're talking about very young children. Then you're talking about older youth, who have had their education severely disrupted and their opportunities for the future disrupted. There, I think, many young people particularly feel a keen sense of frustration and also high levels of trauma. As you say, they're coming into our school system, and even though there's a lot of opportunity here it can be really difficult to fit in and to navigate that.
For me, I think what's absolutely vital, first of all, is to recognize that youth need youth-only space. Youth need youth-friendly space that's targeted to their particular needs. Youth will be navigating all sorts of challenges around schooling, around work, around personal relationships, around the unique health needs of young people that are different from children and different from adults. We recognize this in the social services we provide and a lot of our partners provide.
To me, key to this is integration and specialized services that recognize that refugee youth will have particular needs relating to all of these different areas. They need a safe, targeted space for them in their own language to be able to feel comfortable talking about these issues.
I would also add that we know that these youth will have different faiths and beliefs and experiences, and they'll need a lot of information to be presented in a safe and respectful manner relevant to that. Again, peer-to-peer networks are a great way to tap into that and also to tap into the powerful volunteer base we have among Canadian youth and among refugee youth who really want to find a meaningful way to get involved. There's often no power like talking to a peer, someone who knows what you've gone through or can empathize in some way. Where possible, support for those kinds of programs can be very valuable.