Impact of Language Barriers on Immigrants to Canada

BACKGROUND: Immigration Statistics
Providing a statistical background on both immigration and language fluency is essential to understanding how large the scale of individuals facing these barriers is. There are approximately 250,000 immigrants to Canada each year. The majority of these immigrants to Canada come from Asia, the Middle East, the Caribbean, and Africa (Pottie, 2008). Immigration represents nearly 70% of the Canadian population growth. Even after four years of arriving in Canada, 26% of all new immigrants still faced language difficulties (not sure about ur whole ‘tense’ situation :P) in English or French (Pottie, 2007). According to Statistics Canada, the 2001 Census stated that 40% of immigrants aged 25-54 who came to Canada in the 1990s had a university degree (Statistics Canada, 2003). Nearly 70% of immigrants experience barriers in the Canadian labour market, despite the fact that 76% of these immigrants have at least one foreign international credential (Schugurensky, 2005).

LANGUAGE BARRIERS: Health Care Services This barrier has a domino affect; it affects all aspects of life for immigrants. It causes emotional strain, places barriers to accessing services (including the health care services) consequently affecting the health of immigrants. The restriction of access to health care is one of, if not the most important barrier language has for immigrants. Canada provides a universal health care insurance system, a publically funded system, said to be accessible to all residents. The health implications this has on all immigrants vary from minor to major. These implications have not affected only one race of immigrants either; it has become an issue for all immigrants. The settlement process not only causes high stress but also immense emotional strain. Leaving their countries of origin and settling in a new country with a different culture is extremely difficult.
Based on research surveys conducted there is a correlation between language proficiency and poor self-reported health. Women face greater impact, health wise, based on this barrier (Pottie et al., 2008). Also the elderly communities of immigrants are more vulnerable based on not only their immigrant status but also their age (Lai & Chau, 2006). The 1990 Ontario Health Survey took a sample of 35,000 households in Ontario measuring demographic, health, and behavioral information (Woloshin, Shwartz, and Katz, 1997). This survey calculated rates of breast examination, mammogram, and pap tests for the three language groups within the survey. From this survey, it was evident that the English-speaking individuals were most likely to report receipt of the service. Women who spoke another language other than English at home were less likely to receive important preventive services (Woloshin et al., 1997). This may be caused by communication barriers, barrier (barriers) to accessing the service, or based on cultural differences. Looking at research done on older Chinese immigrants in Canada, the largest visible minority group in Canada shows the harsh reality of the barriers. Research was done to see whether barriers significantly and negatively impact the physical and mental health status of aging immigrants (Lai & Chau, 2006). Based on the questions asked of these immigrants, the most common barrier was a language barrier; the professionals could not speak their language. Other barriers were relevant to accessibility, education about existing services, and cultural differences. This leads immigrants to have a negative perception of the services provided. They feel unwelcome to attempt to approach services that are difficult to access.
Immigrants get substandard health care because of their inability to speak English well. Very few hospitals have translators, leaving these immigrants with no health care. The ability to communicate is ultimately necessary to provide good, proper health care. Family physicians face difficulty in caring for these immigrants in terms of communicating medical advice, information, and gaining knowledge of their history. Patients face difficulty in communicating to book appointments, gaining health information, and receiving advice on medication. Lack of communication based on language has a heavy impact on accessing care, patient satisfaction as well as health outcomes. When immigrants initially come to Canada they reported better health than those born in Canada but there has been a gradual decline to this (Pottie et al, 2008).

LANGUAGE BARRIERS: Youth
It is important to look at not only how the older population of immigrants are affected by the barriers they face through the settlement process but also at the youth. The attention tends to be directed at how the settlement process affects the family with regard to employment, access to services, but puts aside how the children are impacted. Language barriers, low family income, and low parental education may lead to immigrant children facing the risk of developmental delay or poor academic performance (Karoly & Gonzalez, 2011). Language fluency is a necessary factor for students to participate and be successful at school. Not only does language help the immigrant youth succeed academically but also in terms of social integration, “fitting in”. There are ECE, Care and Education Programs available to immigrant families but again structural barriers, including language barriers, prevent them from taking advantage of them. These programs have shown short-term benefits that have led to long term gains for children as they go through school. The issue is that there is a low rate of participation in these programs by immigrant children and families (Karoly &Gonzalez, 2011). It has been suggested that making these ECE programs better accessible to immigrants, making them public or non-profit programs, will (I added a comma, in case u were wondering…Hehe) help benefit immigrant children and families. Once again, eliminating the barriers is the greatest and hardest solution to this issue.

Authoritative Sources

Department of Justice. (1985). The Canadian Health Act. Department of Justice Canada.
Retrieved from

Karoly, L. A., & Gonzalez G. C. (2011). Early Care and Education for Children in Immigrant
Families. The Future of Children, 21(1), 71-101.

Lai, D., & Chau, S. B., (2006). Effects of Service Barriers on Health Status of Older Chinese
Immigrants in Canada. Social Work, 52(3) 261-269.

Pottie, K. (2007). Misinterpretation. Canadian Family Physician, 53.

Pottie, K., Ng, E., Splitzer, D., & Mohammed, A., & Glazier, R. (2008). Language proficiency, gender and self-reported health: An analysis of the first two waves of the Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Canada. Canadian Journal of Public Health, 99(6).

Schugurensky, D., Slade B., & Luo Y. (2005). Can Volunteer Work Help me Get a Job in my
Field? On Learning, Immigration and Labour Markets. Proceedings of the Lifelong Learning & Work Conference, Toronto. Retrieved from

Statistics Canada. (2003b). Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Canada. The Daily. Thursday,
September 4, 2003. Retrieved April 10, 2005 from http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/030904/d030904a.htm.

University of Ottawa. (2011). The 1984 Canada Health Act. Society, the Individual, and
Medicine. Retrieved from

Wayland, Sarah. (2006). Unsettled: Legal and Policy Barriers for Newcomers to Canada. Law
Commission of Canada. Retrieved from

Woloshin, S., Shwartz, L. & Katz, S. J., (1997). Is Language a Barrier to the Use of Preventive
Services? Journal of General Internal Medicine, 12(8), 472-477. doi: 10.1046/j.1525-1497.1997.00085.x