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The Global City: Newcomer Health in Toronto

Toronto is a destination for people from all over the world. More than half the city’s residents were born outside Canada and over the past 10 years more than half a million immigrants and refugees have settled here. While the city is greatly enriched by the diversity of its population, many newcomers experience life changes during the settlement process that have an important impact on their health.

Toronto Public Health and Access Alliance have collaborated on a research and knowledge integration project to deepen our understanding of the health status and health needs of recent immigrants and refugees. The goal of the project was to identify:

  • what is known about the physical and mental health of newcomers living in Toronto
  • the kinds of health services that newcomers need the most and the service access barriers they face
  • important health issues and health needs for specific newcomer communities
  • knowledge gaps and research opportunities related to newcomer health

Methodology

This initiative brings together existing information from many new and different sources including:

  • a review of academic and unpublished literature on newcomer health
  • an analysis of databases that contain information about the health of newcomers
  • focus group discussions with researchers, community service providers and newcomers  
  • consultations with experts in the field of immigrant and refugee health

Findings

The project’s findings provide insight into how to best maintain, promote and improve the health of newcomers to Toronto.  This knowledge is essential for policy makers, service providers and advocates.

Please click here to view the comprehensive final report. Please note that the report is only available electronically.

Please click here to hear  Axelle Janzcur (Executive Director of Access Alliance) and Dr. David McKeown (Toronto's Medical Officer of Health) discuss this report during an interview on CBC's Metro Morning.

Plain language summaries of selected topics will be available soon.

For more information, please contact:
research@accessalliance.ca
416-324-8619 ext. 321

This project is part of the Toronto Newcomer Initiative, a City of Toronto strategy funded by Citizenship and Immigration Canada to encourage participation of newcomers in the life of the city and its communities.