Meet Baljeet – a newcomer experiencing economic precarity

One of the five household archetypes experiencing food insecurity

Last month, we shared a blog post describing some of the research the Centre has embarked on to better understand the economic, demographic, geographic and social/cultural characteristics of households experiencing food insecurity. Over the past few weeks, we have shared more about what we learned about three of the five household archetypes:

• Families including a person with a disability 
• Single adults living with a disability
• Single mothers

In this post, we will look more closely at “Baljeet”, and other immigrants to Canada experiencing food insecurity, sometimes many years after their arrival.

Food insecurity within immigrant households

Newcomers to Canada have represented 75% of Canada’s population growth in recent years — the majority are economic migrants with permanent residency. Historically, this group experienced rapid paths out of food insecurity; now many immigrants continue to experience food insecurity well into their residency. As of 2022, 28% of people aged 15 years or older who had immigrated within the last 10 years were living in food-insecure households, compared to 21% of those born in Canada. And 23% of all immigrants aged 15+ were food insecure.

Baljeet

Baljeet and his wife immigrated to Canada eight years ago in search of better economic opportunities. When they arrived in Calgary with their daughter, they had limited housing options but managed to find a short-term basement apartment to rent. Baljeet first struggled to find work without any Canadian experience on his resume and eventually found a job at a fast-food restaurant through a cousin. Trained as a physiotherapist, Baljeet embarked on reskilling and taking exams to earn his Canadian credentials, knowing that he could earn more if he found employment in his profession. Once he found work in his field, his family was able to buy a starter home in a more desirable community. His wife also found work as a part-time Early Childhood Educator which brought more income into the household. As the cost of living has grown, they’ve had to watch their spending closely and have cut out all non-essentials. The financial pressure worsened amid a parental health scare back home which required them to send funds to their family and arrange a last-minute trip abroad. As a result, Baljeet and his wife are purchasing low-cost, less nutritional foods and are eating less at mealtimes to ensure their daughter has enough food.

Baljeet’s story highlights some key themes we heard in our interviews, including:

Critical moments to design for

To prevent, or quickly move immigrant families out of, food insecurity, there are some critical moments we can design for:

• Initial arrival: Improving outcomes and reducing crippling pitfalls during initial arrival seems to shape long-term outcomes for newcomers when it comes to income, debt, and food security.
• Family growth: Supporting newcomers through periods of family expansion, which may entail unexpected expense for those less familiar with the Canadian system, may help them avoid food insecurity. For this group, expansion might include adding both children or their parents/in-laws to the household.
• Upskilling, reskilling, and accreditation: Supporting these periods of reduced income and increased expenses may pay dividends, reducing families’ slide into financial trouble while improving the ability of newcomers and immigrants to contribute productively to the Canadian economy.
• Housing transitions: Supporting immigrants with finding and accessing quality housing may reduce the need to transition to new housing as frequently. Supporting them during periods of housing transition may reduce the likelihood of food insecurity.

Promising system touchpoints

Our interviews and workshop also highlighted some promising system touchpoints to reach immigrants and newcomers, many of which are similar for other archetypes, including:

• Settlement, community and employment services: These commonly accessed services for newcomers may be important channels for steering them towards sound, early-stage decision-making, as well as bridging into employment services.
• Schools and daycare: The common thread of family formation may suggest that schools and daycares could provide a useful channel for both universal food-related programming as well as navigation support.
• Colleges, universities, and professional/trade associations: For newcomers who seek to upskill or recredential, embedding food and income-related supports directly in educational institutions or professional associations may enable easy access.
• Faith and cultural communities: These community groups can be vital for initial arrival, and may be important supports at moments of exceptional need (e.g. pre- and post-natal care); however, they may be less well-suited to supporting chronic insecurity for a post-arrival newcomer.
• Social media and Multicultural print/TV media: Many newcomers rely on social media and community media to help them navigate opportunities for income and support.

You can learn more about all five archetypes in our summary report. Next month, we will take a deeper look at the archetype of middle-income families with children.

If you’d like to discuss the report or receive a copy of the full research report, please fill out our request form or email info@feedopportunity.com.