Immigrants as well as Canadians are well aware of their own personal health. We become aware of ourselves and are able to determine if we are not operating at our normal function. This sense is something I believe that we naturally develop from a young age. We are able to train our mind and bodies to work together and give us a heads up if something is not quite right within our system. This process of identifying that we need medical attention has been taught to us by parents, doctors, and siblings, through previous personal experiences, regular check ups, and witnessing the symptoms of our siblings when they are ill.
Contributing factors may be that most of those who choose to immigrate won't do so if they are ill. Therefore the quantity of healthy immigrants coming to Canada is higher than the quantity of ill immigrants. Also an immigrant must be of a certain standard of health, before being granted permission to come to Canada. An immigrant must be of good health to be employable once in Canada. Finally, there is a screening process that all potential immigrants must undergo. This screening process is done to identify any chronic or serious medical conditions that may be pre-exciting, and could affect their likelihood of being accepted for canadian citizenship. This is all taken into consideration when reviewing applications for Canadian citizenship (immigration and refugee protection act).
According to the 1996 Statistics Canada Health report, chronic illnesses were more common among the Canadian born (all persons born in Canada) population (57%), then among the European immigrant (those born in Europe, the United States of America, Australia, and New Zealand) population (50%). The prevalence of these illnesses were even lower when looking at more recent non-European (all other countries of birth) immigrants (37%). Although as time went on and recent immigrants (meaning having lived in Canada for less than 10 years) turned into long-term immigrants (meaning lived in Canada for more than 10 years), there were more chronic illnesses reported (Chen, J., Ng, E., Wilkins, R., 1996).
There are many factors that come into to play with each category, such as age, lifestyle, genetics, education, household income, as well as others. For example, smoking is much more common among the Canadian born population, and even higher when comparing Canadian born women to European and non-European female immigrants. Although as with chronic illnesses the gap between these groups becomes smaller once immigrants have spent more than 10 years in Canada (Chen, J., Ng, E., Wilkins, R., 1996)
A possibility for the Canadian born population being less healthy than the immigrant population could be due to the required health standards to be granted entry to Canada, and the high amount of Canadians who smoke or who have smoked in comparison to the immigrant population (Chen, J., Ng, E., Wilkins, R., 1996). This being said, I believe that immigrants also have a longer life expectancy than canadian born people, partially due to the factors listed above.
With all the promotion towards quitting smoking, being more active, and maintaining a healthier lifestyle, I would hope that in the future all canadian citizens will be of equal good health.
- Denise
References
Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, S.C. 2001 c. 27, section 16, (2 (b)). Retrieved October 29th 2012 from:
http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/I-2.5/page-7.html#h-13
Chen, J., Ng, E., Wilkins, R. (1996). The Health of Canada's Immigrants in 1994-95, Statistics Canada: Health Reports, Spring 1996, 7(4), 33-45.
What an intersting perspective! I have never read of this point of view before, regarding the higher general health of immigrants. I have often heard that North Americans are definitly not as healthy as people from most other countries in the world, mostly due to diet I believe. But this is fascinating. We are so strict to allow people who are healthy into our country, and yet we are really not all that healthy ourselves.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with your last statement, and I hope that people here in Canada will become more aware of our health. I work at a Health Food store here in Sault Ste. Marie, and it is amazing how more and more people are coming in to try and improve their health and quality of life. It is also remarkable how many people are becoming gluten and lactose intolerant. We have obviously gone wrong somehwhere in our food production or processing. I would imagine that these diseases are very slight or even non-existent in most countries where immigrants are coming from.
This is a very thought-provoking post and does suggest the idea that we can learn so much from immigrants, and that we should never feel superior just because our country is a desirable destination. We have a lot to learn.
-Selina
Good post! This article made me think of the one I posted about the cutting of some medical benefits to refugees. This is being done by the conservative government since they believed that refugees shouldn't receive better care than Canadian citizens. Refugees used to get dental work and medical prescriptions, and those have all been cut now. I wonder if their health will continue to be better now that these changes have been made. Also, I understand that refugees come here without the same background and health checks as immigrants. I also wonder what the health difference is between immigrants and refugees in Canada.
ReplyDeleteShannon
Great post...I also have never looked at this point of view before. It also made me more comfortable knowing about the extent of the screening process our immigrants go through, and I can now look at how difficult the process of entering our country can be for imigrants in a new light. Erica
ReplyDeleteThis is a very informational post (in a good way!). It is a sad thought, but many people think of immigrants as dirty and filled with diseases. But with all of the medical tests that you pointed out, it can't be true! Sure, everyone is susceptible for diseases and illnesses, but it would never occur to people that we (Canadians) may be the cause of them. Canada is home to many manufacturing plants which pump dirty smoke out into the air everyday. Along with the excessive amount of smokers, we could just be injuring ourselves, health wise. The blogs that we are all posting are positive and are able to give the people reading them a better understanding that immigrants are just people who need our help to start a new and better life, so why don't we just treat them like that?
ReplyDelete-Alannah