From a comparative focus on ethnocultural minority youth in Australia, Canada and France, this synthesis paper addresses five issues: (1) youth’s view of themselves and their sense of community; (2) barriers to integration; (3) innovative governmental and community approaches to youth integration; (4) opportunities youth create for themselves; and (5) the impact of policy types and programmes. The Australian research draws a non-linear image of youth’s transitions, struggles and community participation. The Canadian research focuses on transcultural processes of identification, school completion, racial and spatial attachments, and social networks of immigrant youth. The French research strains to hear young people’s voices, and struggles to find a way to cope legitimately with social cohesion in a country that does not recognize its inherent plurality. Thus, poverty, spatial segregation, economic disempowerment and political disenfranchisement of youth vary in their severity according to the multiculturalism and citizenship policy context.
