The Canadian Compromise: Immigration and Food Access

             

Over 250,000 immigrants from around the world come to Canada every year seeking a better life which has established our country’s “open arms” attitude. Immigration, or as I like to call it a “new chapter of opportunity” allows families and individuals to live in a country that is safer and more stable than the circumstances they faced back home. Although Canada is trying its best to help settle newcomers, there are still issues between immigration and food access. Factors that have contributed to food insecurity include high immigrant unemployment rates, dilution and misrepresentation of cultural identity, and scarcity.

Immigrants face relatively higher unemployment rates than average which is why they only make up 26 percent of the entire Canadian workforce. This results in financial instability and food insecurity for many immigrant families and individuals. With such low incomes, many immigrants are unable to afford fresh or healthy foods because they are more expensive and are therefore forced to eat unhealthy options such as fast or frozen foods. Food and health are directly related which is why many immigrants face greater diet-related health issues compared to most Canadians. Low paying jobs denies immigrants access to quality foods and fresh ingredients which increases their risk of obesity, diabetes, and heart disease just to name a few. Paulina Rodriguez who was a graduate from Waterloo in the urban planning program made a very eye-opening statement regarding social justice issues on immigrants and food access. Rodriguez said, “Addressing diet-related health inequalities is a moral imperative, as access to high-quality food is a fundamental human right”. It is almost impossible to balance the costs of day to day life as an immigrant with the costs of healthy eating.

Many immigrants have low incomes and have to sacrifice quality over quantity to survive.

 Immigrants have made Canada the very diverse country that it is today. Although many people from different cultures and ethnicities live in our country, we have not adapted an accurate representation of their foods. Canada offers a variety of options to choose from such as shawarma, sushi, Indian and Mediterranean foods. However, when compared with the traditional cuisine immigrants make back home, our versions of these foods are often comparatively diminished relative to the original food versions. Thus many of these foods are misrepresented and diluted through multiple ingredient substitutions and non-traditional techniques. Authenticity is also a big concern for immigrants as a majority of their cultures are tied to religious beliefs that have specific food requirements such as kosher and halal. Restaurants and grocers in Canada offer little variety of halal and kosher foods which is what immigrants rely on when eating and making traditional dishes. This creates a culture shock for immigrants because they are so used to having these ingredients and foods readily available back home. Immigrants typically would rather adapt and incorporate their cultural identity and traditions rather than conform to the most common Canadian food cultures. It’s important that immigrants continue to keep their cultural identity alive through traditional foods in order to avoid being caught in the melting pot of our country’s food culture. 

Immigrants continue to face limited availability to resources due to scarcity which remains a common issue among specialty and healthy foods across Canada. Farmers’ markets for example, lack cultural diversity because they only grow and sell foods that Canadians usually consume with little regard to immigrant consumption. There are relatively few ethnic supermarkets scattered across Canada and considering over 20 percent of our population consists of immigrants (Statcan, 2016) at least half of the supermarkets should be more ethnically representative. Integration into Canadian communities can be extremely difficult for newcomers because “food plays on identity, highlighting that food is both physical and symbolic: when we eat food, our bodies react to nutrients of the ingredients. At the same time, the food also conveys meaning to ourselves and others about who we are” (Soo, 2010, pg, 1). Lack of availability of cultural foods makes “it difficult for immigrants to feel at home, welcomed, or valued and be able to integrate into and contribute to Canadian society” (Soo, 2010, pg, 2). 

 Popular Asian supermarket with only two locations in Canada: North York and London Ontario.  

It is imperative that our country address the issues immigrants face when coming to Canada for a better life. Food insecurity continues to be a problem due to high unemployment rates, misrepresentation of cultural traditions, and scarcity in specialty ingredients. Providing greater employment opportunities and training for newcomers will result in a stronger and more diverse representation amongst our country’s food industry. We should also allocate more ethnic supermarkets in geographic areas that have large immigrant communities to decrease scarcity. Lastly, it is vital that we provide greater selection and capacity of halal and kosher foods in grocers and restaurants across Canada.

    

References

Research reveals immigrants' struggle with food access. (2016, October 18). Retrieved from https://uwaterloo.ca/environment/news/research-reveals-immigrants-struggle-food-access

Soo, K. Newcomers and food insecurity: A critical literature review on immigration and food security. (2012). Major Research Paper (MRP), Ryerson University.

Alessandra Larosa-Fox, Research Assistant, ECVOntario, University of Guelph.