Dear Potential Interviewee,

We are contacting you regarding a study that Immigrant Women Services Ottawa is conducting in collaboration with a team of researchers at Western University about immigrant (first-generation), newcomer, and refugee women’s feelings, experiences, and coping mechanisms during the COVID-19 pandemic. We would like to invite you to participate in an interview to ask you about your feelings and experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic, the way your identities and surroundings have affected your experiences, and how settlement and government services have supported you in coping with your experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic and in post-COVID recovery.

To conduct the interview, we will communicate with you to schedule a time at the best of your convenience to meet online through Zoom. You will require a personal computer, tablet or cell phone enabled with a camera, microphone, and internet connection.

The interview will take approximately one and a half hours and will be recorded. You will receive a Tim Hortons gift card for $30 to compensate you for your time. If needed, the interview could have an interpreter so that you would be asked questions in your preferred language and you would be free to answer in your preferred language as well.

Participation is completely voluntary and will not affect your relationship with Immigrant Women Services Ottawa. The information that you provide will be confidential and will not be attributed to you in any way. You will not waive any legal right by participating in this study.

Would you be interested in participating in this interview? If yes, please email us at bsadika@uwo.ca. One of the researchers will then contact you by email to set up a time for the interview. By contacting us via email, you are giving us permission to email you in response in order to set up an interview and provide you with the necessary documents for the interview. The interview will be conducted by Bidushy Sadika, a PhD researcher from Western University.

Thank you!