The Economic, Educational, and Mental Health Conditions of Newcomers in Canada During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session

Proposal

This panel focuses on the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on three groups of newcomers to Canada: immigrants, refugee children, and international students, from the perspectives of economics, education, and public health. Issues of systemic racism, racialization and discrimination in employment and advancement for newcomers, unequal educational opportunities for refugee children and their teachers, and mental health conditions of Chinese international students are examined and discussed based on research data.

Canada prides itself in being a multicultural society, with steady waves of newcomers landing on its shores every year, driving the country’s population and economic growth. In 2019, over a quarter of its workforce were foreign-born and 80% of its population increase in 2017-18 came from net immigration. Asia has remained the top source continent for immigrants in recent years. Meanwhile, Canada attracts growing numbers of international students to study in its secondary and tertiary institutions. The enrollment rate of international students has increased from 6.4% to 16.2% over the past decade, with a large portion of them from China. Diversity of ethnicity is pronounced in metropolises such as Toronto and Vancouver, with over half of the population being ethnic minorities from non-European origins. While support systems for newcomers are more comprehensive in such places, it could be a different scenery for newcomers in smaller centers where resources are stretched and the predominant population is homogeneous in language and ethnicity. In addition, mental health issues of newcomers are often overlooked for many reasons. The researchers of this panel aim to address related issues pertaining to newcomers to Canada in lieu of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The first panelist examines the effects of the COVID pandemic on the labour market outcomes of recent immigrants, most of which are visible minorities born in Asia. The study used a difference-in-difference methodology and a nationally representative monthly Labour Force Survey data over the period surrounding the outbreak of the COVID pandemic from Statistics Canada and took advantage of the pandemic as an exogenous shock to the labour market.

The results showed that recent immigrants suffered disproportionately adverse effects on employment probability relative to Canadian-born workers. This was especially the case for the immigrants who worked in the low-skilled occupations and hard-hit industries. The COVID effects on hours worked by individuals who remained employed were more modest, as were the differential effects between recent immigrants and Canadian-born workers.

Looking into the education sector, the second panelist gleans from the qualitative data of several mix-method projects with particular attention to teachers of refugee newcomer students, and address the inequity and inadequacies in the educational system Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological model was used as the theoretical framework. Results of the data analysis indicated the absence of teacher in-service and pre-service education programs on working with ESL newcomer students from refugee backgrounds. It has become a pressing issue with the arrival of recent cohorts of refugees from Syria, Afghanistan, and Ukraine during the COVID-19 pandemic, when instruction was switched back and forth between classroom and online modes. The stress levels of newcomer students and their teachers were multiplied, causing a wider gap in terms of educational equity and a sense of marginalization.

On the other hand, hiring internationally trained ESL professionals was out of the question because their credentials were not recognized. A gateway to a local certification program was non-existent. Such inequality in educational and professional opportunities has caused the low retention rate of TESL professionals coming to the province and exacerbated the shortage of ESL teachers in schools receiving large numbers of refugee children. There was a lack of racial and linguistic diversity in the province’s teaching profession at a time of increased diversity rate among the students. To conclude, the panelist called for a systematic change in policies and programming in education sectors.

To complement the above studies in economics and education, the third panelist presents findings from a quantitative online survey on the mental health conditions of Chinese international students aged 16 or above in canada. Mental health conditions were indexed by the levels of depression, anxiety, and stress assessed with the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21) and the general mental health status assessed with the Physical and Mental Health Summary Scales (SF-12). The results indicated that financial status was a significant predictor of all mental health outcome variables of these students, and those with less satisfied financial status reported lower levels of mental health status across the board. Chinese international students received inadequate funding from their host institutions and were excluded from various financial assistance from the federal government to mitigate the impact of the pandemic on individuals. Insufficient financial support, coupled with reduced employment opportunities, were associated with poor mental health outcomes among Chinese international students.

Another significant predictor of all mental health outcomes was the level of education. Compared to high school students, undergraduate and graduate students were more likely to experience mental health issues during the pandemic because they were faced with more uncertainties in job/internship opportunities and post-graduation career planning, and were more expected to be financially independent. Therefore, they were more susceptible to the negative consequences of the pandemic compared to high-school students. These findings shed light on mental health conditions and risk factors among Chinese international students during the COVID-19 pandemic, and indicated the need for targeted programs to mitigate the detrimental effects of financial burdens on international students.

Sub Unit

• General Pool

Chair

• Xuemei Li, Memorial University of Newfoundland

Individual Presentations

• Anti-Asian Discrimination and COVID-19 Effects on Recent Immigrants to Canada - Tony Fang

• Educational and Professional Opportunities for Newcomers and Teachers in Canada - Xuemei Li, Memorial University of Newfoundland

• Mental Health Conditions of Chinese International Students in Canada during the COVID-19 Pandemic - P. Peter Wang