Essed’s (1991; 2002) emerging theoretical approach to ethnocultural exclusion opens up a promising channel towards better understanding of the realization of this concept. Based on the premise that racism is inherent in social order in general and in the dominant culture in particular, exclusion is experienced through systematic and recurring daily experiences that accumulate over time. During the winter of 2006, the Social Planning Council of Ottawa (SPCOttawa) set up 12 focus groups comprising 64 volunteers with the aim of identifying exclusionary behaviours affecting families of Somali, Chinese and Lebanese origins. A typical sample took into account the migratory background and diversity of all three communities. Each sample was broken down into four sub-groups : young women, young men, mothers, fathers. The young women in our sample group confront barriers to integration into Canadian society that have been created as much by their families and cultural communities as by members of the dominant culture at large. Since their communities are preoccupied with socioeconomic issues, these young women experience an invalidation of their perceptions by them as well as the feeling of being different from their culture of origin. The strategies they adopt to counter such invalidation are scarcely acknowledged; in turn, this wall of silence increases the degree of invalidation felt by these women.