A Culturally Relevant "NoBody's Perfect" Parenting Program for African Immigrant Women in Canada

This study examines the curriculum and impact of The Nobody’s Perfect parenting program delivered by the Public Health Agency of Canada. Specifically, the study challenges notions of this program as an adaptable and effective model for training first time, young and immigrant mothers in parenting skills that empower both families and children. The present study highlights the program’s deeply Eurocentric and Western values and imaginations through the case of 17 African immigrant mothers whose voices and knowledge are erased and devalued by such modern Canadian parenting training schemes presuming these racialized women’s cultures backward and their childrearing experiences unusable in the Canadian context. Drawing from 17 personal interviews with immigrant women from 12 countries in Africa, the study illuminates the complex nature of the childrearing experiences of these women, shining light especially on their transnational and hybridized parenting practises informed by African and indigenous cultural values and beliefs yet already internalized parental models disseminated by European colonialism and political domination over Africa. The analysis leads to recommendations for ways to ground parental support in Canada in immigrant cultures thus positioning immigrant children and families for prosperity and wellbeing in Canada. Ph.D