Research Library

The Alberta Advantage Immigration Strategy is a comprehensive guide issued by the Government of Alberta that outlines the province’s vision for immigration. It provides an overview of the guiding principles and the way forward for a successful immigration strategy. The report also addresses system issues related to immigration in Alberta and highlights the benefits of implementing this strategy for the province. This is a valuable resource for anyone interested in understanding the government’s approach to immigration in Alberta. The Alberta Advantage Immigration Strategy is a comprehensive guide issued by the Government of Alberta that outlines the province’s vision for immigration. It provides an overview of the guiding principles and the way forward for a successful immigration strategy. The report also addresses system issues related to immigration in Alberta and highlights the benefits of implementing this strategy for the province. This is a valuable resource for anyone interested in understanding the government’s approach to immigration in Alberta.
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Immigrants tend to have lower screening rates than non-immigrants, and religious leaders may help close this gap. In particular, increased awareness of cancer and access to cancer screening is needed among immigrants facing barriers to care, such as Muslim immigrants in Alberta. Imams in Calgary were interviewed, and results found that most had cancer knowledge, but less knowledge about cancer screening. Imams were highly supportive of incorporating health messaging into their faith messaging, and using their role and status in the community to help increase screening rates and counter misunderstandings. Immigrants tend to have lower screening rates than non-immigrants, and religious leaders may help close this gap. In particular, increased awareness of cancer and access to cancer screening is needed among immigrants facing barriers to care, such as Muslim immigrants in Alberta. Imams in Calgary were interviewed, and results found that most had cancer knowledge, but less knowledge about cancer screening. Imams were highly supportive of incorporating health messaging into their faith messaging, and using their role and status in the community to help increase screening rates and counter misunderstandings.
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Healthcare access and mental health challenges faced by Black refugees in Calgary and Edmonton, AB were explored. Language barriers, cultural differences, and a lack of trust in the healthcare system were major obstacles to accessing care. Successful programs and initiatives implemented in other countries to promote health equity among refugee populations are highlighted. Overall, the importance of taking a holistic approach to addressing the mental health needs of Black refugees in Canada is emphasized. Healthcare access and mental health challenges faced by Black refugees in Calgary and Edmonton, AB were explored. Language barriers, cultural differences, and a lack of trust in the healthcare system were major obstacles to accessing care. Successful programs and initiatives implemented in other countries to promote health equity among refugee populations are highlighted. Overall, the importance of taking a holistic approach to addressing the mental health needs of Black refugees in Canada is emphasized.
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Accessible primary health care is essential for the health of immigrant populations in Canada. This study explored barriers to accessing care among a relatively less studied immigrant population group, Nepalese immigrant women, which will help effectively shape public policy and improve access to primary health care for the wider immigrant population in Canada. Community-engaged focus groups were conducted in Calgary, AB. The focus groups identified long wait times as a major barrier to receiving PHC services, along with lack of proficiency in English, lack of access to medical records, competing responsibilities and unfamiliarity with the Canadian healthcare system. Accessible primary health care is essential for the health of immigrant populations in Canada. This study explored barriers to accessing care among a relatively less studied immigrant population group, Nepalese immigrant women, which will help effectively shape public policy and improve access to primary health care for the wider immigrant population in Canada. Community-engaged focus groups were conducted in Calgary, AB. The focus groups identified long wait times as a major barrier to receiving PHC services, along with lack of proficiency in English, lack of access to medical records, competing responsibilities and unfamiliarity with the Canadian healthcare system.
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This cross-sectional study examines the healthcare experiences of Albertans during the COVID-19 pandemic, with a focus on comparing experiences between those born in and outside Canada. The study collected 10,175 surveys in October 2020, with nearly 10% of respondents reporting their status as born outside Canada. The study found that foreign-born Albertans experienced more delays in care and had less access to healthcare services than Canadian-born Albertans. The study highlights the need for policy and practice changes to address the healthcare disparities faced by immigrant populations during the pandemic. This cross-sectional study examines the healthcare experiences of Albertans during the COVID-19 pandemic, with a focus on comparing experiences between those born in and outside Canada. The study collected 10,175 surveys in October 2020, with nearly 10% of respondents reporting their status as born outside Canada. The study found that foreign-born Albertans experienced more delays in care and had less access to healthcare services than Canadian-born Albertans. The study highlights the need for policy and practice changes to address the healthcare disparities faced by immigrant populations during the pandemic.
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This community-based research study provides new data collected from 25 in-depth individual interviews with immigrant women HCAs who were working in LTC in Calgary, Alberta between January 1 and March 30, 2021. The data, analysed through the lens of intersectional exclusion, highlight how the pandemic has impacted the working lives of immigrant women employed in LTC facilities on a daily basis, as well as their suggestions for enhancing their safety and employment conditions. Two key themes emerged during the process of data analysis: (a) HCA experiences of economic exclusion and workplace precarity—many of which pre-dated the pandemic but have been exacerbated by current policies and practices that prioritize profits over quality of community care, and (b) experiences of broader social exclusion, many of which are tied to being considered “just HCAs” who are doing “immigrant’s work”, rather than including HCAs in broader conversations about how to reform and improve the LTC sector for future. Concluding thoughts discuss how to improve policy to support low wage workers within LTC in order to address intersectional inequalities and to better support front-line care workers during current and future health pandemic recovery efforts. This community-based research study provides new data collected from 25 in-depth individual interviews with immigrant women HCAs who were working in LTC in Calgary, Alberta between January 1 and March 30, 2021. The data, analysed through the lens of intersectional exclusion, highlight how the pandemic has impacted the working lives of immigrant women employed in LTC facilities on a daily basis, as well as their suggestions for enhancing their safety and employment conditions. Two key themes emerged during the process of data analysis: (a) HCA experiences of economic exclusion and workplace precarity—many of which pre-dated the pandemic but have been exacerbated by current policies and practices that prioritize profits over quality of community care, and (b) experiences of broader social exclusion, many of which are tied to being considered “just HCAs” who are doing “immigrant’s work”, rather than including HCAs in broader conversations about how to reform and improve the LTC sector for future. Concluding thoughts discuss how to improve policy to support low wage workers within LTC in order to address intersectional inequalities and to better support front-line care workers during current and future health pandemic recovery efforts.
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This study explored the perspectives of new immigrant workers regarding occupational health and safety and workplace conditions that increase workers’ vulnerability to sustaining injury or illness. Using an interpretive research approach and semi-structured qualitative interviews, 42 new immigrant workers from a range of industries operating in two cities in a province in Canada were interviewed. Seventy-nine percent of the workers were highly qualified. A constant comparative approach was used to identify key themes across the workers’ experiences. The findings revealed that new immigrant workers have an incomplete understanding of occupational health and safety. In many workplaces, poor job training, little worker support, lack of power in the workplace, and a poor workplace safety culture make it difficult for workers to acquire occupational health and safety information and to implement safe work practices. This study proposes workplace policies and practices that will improve worker occupational health and safety awareness and make workplaces safer for new immigrant workers. This study explored the perspectives of new immigrant workers regarding occupational health and safety and workplace conditions that increase workers’ vulnerability to sustaining injury or illness. Using an interpretive research approach and semi-structured qualitative interviews, 42 new immigrant workers from a range of industries operating in two cities in a province in Canada were interviewed. Seventy-nine percent of the workers were highly qualified. A constant comparative approach was used to identify key themes across the workers’ experiences. The findings revealed that new immigrant workers have an incomplete understanding of occupational health and safety. In many workplaces, poor job training, little worker support, lack of power in the workplace, and a poor workplace safety culture make it difficult for workers to acquire occupational health and safety information and to implement safe work practices. This study proposes workplace policies and practices that will improve worker occupational health and safety awareness and make workplaces safer for new immigrant workers.
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Parenting is a socially and culturally constructed role and experience. Parenting practices vary across and within communities yet most of what we know about parenting in the literature stems from Western worldviews on what ideal parenting and child-rearing looks like in practice. Taking a postcolonial feminist approach, this study helps to diversify the literature by presenting the perspectives of 11 parents with traditional and postcolonial African worldviews who have migrated to Canada. With the purpose of examining gender-based parenting practices of African refugees in Alberta, Canada, this study drew upon existing interviews from a larger study focused on gender relations in African immigrant families. The study used interpretative phenomenological analysis informed by three theoretical frameworks (transnationalism, postcolonial feminism, and intersectionality) to generate three themes and nine subthemes. These findings reveal old, new, and bifocal ways African refugees practice parenting in a postmigration context as well as the impacts of structural forces on their practices. Key among the complicating factors described involve a lack of community-focused and culturally-informed social supports for adjusting to new gender roles and relations in cultural traditions, family life, and parenting challenges typical in their post-migration experiences. Implications for childcare, community, and workplace supports to help African refugees successfully manage the higher risk of facing a host of interpersonal, systemic, and structural barriers when they arrive in Western host countries like Canada are discussed. Studies on gender roles and relations in parenting practices for African refugee parents are rare and this study provides much-needed insights that can be further explored. Parenting is a socially and culturally constructed role and experience. Parenting practices vary across and within communities yet most of what we know about parenting in the literature stems from Western worldviews on what ideal parenting and child-rearing looks like in practice. Taking a postcolonial feminist approach, this study helps to diversify the literature by presenting the perspectives of 11 parents with traditional and postcolonial African worldviews who have migrated to Canada. With the purpose of examining gender-based parenting practices of African refugees in Alberta, Canada, this study drew upon existing interviews from a larger study focused on gender relations in African immigrant families. The study used interpretative phenomenological analysis informed by three theoretical frameworks (transnationalism, postcolonial feminism, and intersectionality) to generate three themes and nine subthemes. These findings reveal old, new, and bifocal ways African refugees practice parenting in a postmigration context as well as the impacts of structural forces on their practices. Key among the complicating factors described involve a lack of community-focused and culturally-informed social supports for adjusting to new gender roles and relations in cultural traditions, family life, and parenting challenges typical in their post-migration experiences. Implications for childcare, community, and workplace supports to help African refugees successfully manage the higher risk of facing a host of interpersonal, systemic, and structural barriers when they arrive in Western host countries like Canada are discussed. Studies on gender roles and relations in parenting practices for African refugee parents are rare and this study provides much-needed insights that can be further explored.
This publication has no Abstract to dispaly

The entire healthcare system, including primary healthcare (PHC) services, has been disrupted since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. As the crisis threatens all citizens significantly, further barriers to accessing care exist for those who are most vulnerable, experience marginalization, and have pre-existing challenges. We aimed to explore immigrants’ lived experiences in accessing and receiving PHC services during the pandemic. A multiphase mixed-methods study using a sequential explanatory design was employed. The first study includes a systematic review that synthesizes the evidence on the experiences that immigrant patients have receiving PHC. Study two provides insights from a recently employed “COVID-19 Experiences and Impacts Survey” data and compares the experiences of Albertans that were born in and outside Canada. Descriptive statistics and multivariable logistic regression were performed, using STATA. The third study is a qualitative inquiry that aims to gain a deeper understanding of the newcomers’ (living in Canada ≤5 years) and providers’ experiences in PHC during the pandemic. A thematic analysis was applied, using NVivo software. Immigrants reported many challenges in accessing and receiving PHC, and these challenges have been increased since the COVID-19 pandemic. The results of this thesis yielded six recommendations that can inform PHC quality improvement initiatives and PHC policy. The entire healthcare system, including primary healthcare (PHC) services, has been disrupted since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. As the crisis threatens all citizens significantly, further barriers to accessing care exist for those who are most vulnerable, experience marginalization, and have pre-existing challenges. We aimed to explore immigrants’ lived experiences in accessing and receiving PHC services during the pandemic. A multiphase mixed-methods study using a sequential explanatory design was employed. The first study includes a systematic review that synthesizes the evidence on the experiences that immigrant patients have receiving PHC. Study two provides insights from a recently employed “COVID-19 Experiences and Impacts Survey” data and compares the experiences of Albertans that were born in and outside Canada. Descriptive statistics and multivariable logistic regression were performed, using STATA. The third study is a qualitative inquiry that aims to gain a deeper understanding of the newcomers’ (living in Canada ≤5 years) and providers’ experiences in PHC during the pandemic. A thematic analysis was applied, using NVivo software. Immigrants reported many challenges in accessing and receiving PHC, and these challenges have been increased since the COVID-19 pandemic. The results of this thesis yielded six recommendations that can inform PHC quality improvement initiatives and PHC policy.
This publication has no Abstract to dispaly

The Alberta Association of Immigrant Serving Agencies (AAISA) and the Calgary Catholic Immigration Society (CCIS) jointly commissioned Pivotal Research Inc. (Pivotal Research) to conduct policy research focused on Temporary Foreign Workers (TFWs) in the Prairie provinces—encompassing the provinces of Alberta, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan—building on the TFW Prairie Region Project to provide AAISA and CCIS with insights and opportunities to strengthen the TFW-serving ecosystem across the Prairie region. The Alberta Association of Immigrant Serving Agencies (AAISA) and the Calgary Catholic Immigration Society (CCIS) jointly commissioned Pivotal Research Inc. (Pivotal Research) to conduct policy research focused on Temporary Foreign Workers (TFWs) in the Prairie provinces—encompassing the provinces of Alberta, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan—building on the TFW Prairie Region Project to provide AAISA and CCIS with insights and opportunities to strengthen the TFW-serving ecosystem across the Prairie region.
This publication has no Abstract to dispaly