Document Type
Hungry Cities Research Briefs
Publication Date
8-2021
Abstract
The widely discussed disproportionate impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on migrants and refugees are largely attributed to the various barriers that prevented them from accessing health, social, and financial supports. In Canada, for example, refugees faced various barriers to accessing healthcare and economic and social support during the pandemic (Edmonds and Flahault, 2021). Federal government programs such as the Interim Federal Health Program (IFHP) provide ‘limited, temporary coverage of health-care benefits for specific groups of people’ such as refugee claimants and resettled refugees, they still faced significant challenges. These included, for example, documentation and language barriers needed to complete application forms, and a lack of awareness and misunderstanding of the program among both healthcare providers and refugees. Often, there is also a lack of resources on top of these structural barriers which were significantly exacerbated as the pandemic unfolded (Hamilton et al. 2020).
Recommended Citation
Si, Zhenzhong, "No. 07: Experiencing The Pandemic as a Refugee in Canada: the Intersectionality of Immobility, Gender and Food Insecurity" (2021). Hungry Cities Partnership. 115.
https://scholars.wlu.ca/hcp/115
Included in
Food Studies Commons, Human Geography Commons, Politics and Social Change Commons, Urban Studies and Planning Commons