Essay on Support of Immigrants in Canada

Each day, hundreds of newcomers begin their life in Canada. Some immigrants that have fled persecution; others join their fellow family members while others are looking for a better life for themselves. Every year, it is estimated that over 200,000 people settle in Canada (Bloemraad). Their origin land personal histories might be extensively different, and everyones experience on arrival is unique. In Canada, there are so many groups and the way these communities integrate with the immigrants differs since are some that welcome the immigrants while others are not willing to welcome the immigrants . The immigrants are individuals that suffer a lot while trying to adapt since their arrival was not planned. Some of them are deeply dramatized by the experience since they come from war countries and they frequently arrive separated from their immediate family members whom they left behind due to circumstances (Bloemraad). Since immigrants started trickling in, there has been a debate on whether Canada should provide great support for the immigrants or not. However, immigrants come with a lot of benefits, and since the governments and various communities have the capability of supporting the immigrants , it is the highest time that they should support the immigrants .

The government should provide health care to medically uninsured immigrants and immigrants . In any given country, immigrants are vulnerable population. Once these immigrants settle in Canada, there is a great possibility for health problems since most of them left countries that had no or limited medical care resources. Other may have lived in refugee camps that were characterized by poor sanitation and hence they might have contracted diseases such as cholera and other complications. Also, compounding their plight is the fact that most of these immigrants are not capable of paying their medical expenses out of pocket since they are not granted public health insurance once they come to Canada. Canada wants to get the best out of the immigrants regarding cheap labor they provide in most of the industries and to ensure employee are productive, canada requires to keep the immigrants healthy (Vali and Caulford 1253).The government should improve the immigrants claim process and implement emergency health insurance coverage while their claims are still being processed. In Canada, immigrants, are employed basing on their expected contribution and professional expertise to the workforce. In the year 2016, Canada admitted more than 150,000 immigrants , and most of them were well equipped to work in some industries. Nonetheless, despite the countys universal health care system, many of these immigrants that have obtained legal document are never granted public health insurance. A lot of migrants have reported for not being attended to by various community health centers across the country on account that they do not meet the required registration such as possession of identifying papers(Vali and Caulford 1254).The government should increase in capacity and relaxation of enrolment at community health clinics. In Toronto, various community health centers have a capacity restriction, and this has contributed to waiting lists to enroll. There are incidences whereby some community clinic have refused to attend to pregnant while presenting at an advanced gestational age (Vali and Caulford 1254). Since the government seems to benefit from some of the immigrants, providing health care to medically uninsured immigrants will keep them healthy as many of them will not struggle in seeking medical services as shown.

Canada should also support the immigrants socially. Social support is the basic determinant of health and is essential to maintaining well-being as food, shelter, and income. Social support plays a vital part during main transition period by enabling individuals to cope with the circumstances they are facing, controlling the influence of stressors and enhancing health among immigrants (Berry). As such, social support helps the immigrants to handle instantaneously the stress they have gone through and reinforce the self-confidence that is required to manage the challenges they are encountering (Simich, Laura, et al. 259). Social networks further enable access to information, goods, and services in the host society. As immigrants try to settle in Canada, various disadvantage tends to affect them, such as underemployment, downward mobility, discrimination and lack of enough social support. The immigrants are therefore required to rebuild the interrupted social network. A lot of them feel isolated especially during integration period, and there is no social support (Simich, Laura, et al.. 260)

The government should, therefore, set out formal health and social service organization that should be mandated with providing the much needed social services. The moment the immigrants arrive in Canada, organizations should ensure that the immigrants overcome the settlement difficulties that the face at the beginning. Also, Canadian communities and community-based support group should help immigrants to broaden their social networks and lead to help-seeking and opportunity within the broader society. Canada comprises of many groups, some of them are willing to integrate with immigrants easily while in some place, the immigrants are facing resistance. In such a situation, the Canadian government should sensitize such communities regarding the benefits of social support to the immigrants. Various workshops can be organized in the various community set up with the intention of ensuring that the rejection rate is minimized (Stewart, Miriam, et al.126). With the challenges that immigrants face and the benefits that come with social support, focusing on the provision of such services to immigrants have a huge impact on their lives.

Canada should also efficiently implement private sponsorship of immigrants program. The private sponsorship resettlement program should aim at providing financial support and resettlement of immigrants . When these immigrants arrive in Canada, the first major problem is lack of a place to stay, neither do they have enough money to rent somewhere to leave. The sponsorship program will enable a lot of well-wishers to come in since there are already established organizational groups within the community that are mandated with resettling the immigrants and individuals contribution is channeled through this organizations. The Canadian government and other private organizations should provide their funding through private sponsored immigrants programs. The privately sponsored immigrants programs should also focus on building various housing units to accommodate some of the immigrants as one way of resettlement. Resettling everyone refuge is a bit expensive, but doing it a collective way attracts economy of scale and thus reducing on resettlement cost (Wilkinson and Joseph Garcea).Resettling the immigrants is only one way of ensuring that immigrants are secure in Canada; however, the challenge that remains is ensuring that immigrants are self-sufficient. As such, the government through such programs should ensure that it comes with initiatives of assessing the qualifications of some of the immigrants and try to search jobs for them in various companies across the country. There should also be financial assistance to help the individuals to buy basic commodities once they settle. Also, sponsored immigrants programs can also focus on providing light training to some immigrants to prepare them for informal jobs that they might encounter while looking for jobs in Australia. The implementation of the program will be effective since it will provide a platform where different groups of people will come together to achieve a common goal, which is ensuring that every immigrants is settled (Wilkinson and Joseph Garcea).

The essay has focused on ways that Canada can use to support immigrants which include, provide health care to medically uninsured immigrants and immigrants , provision of social support and lastly, implement private sponsorship of immigrants program. The benefits that are accrued from providing support to the immigrants means that Canada should fully embrace proposed initiatives. The immigrants contribute to the economic and infrastructural development of Canada, so they should be incorporated into their systems. Even though the implementation of all these strategies will help in assisting immigrants in Canada, the tougher measure should be taken to regulate the number of immigrants entering Canada. If the country continues allowing more and more employees to trickle in, the provision of essential services such as healthcare will be a challenge and if there will be such services, the quality of the services offered will be the major issue.

Works Cited

Simich, Laura, et al. Providing social support for immigrants and immigrants in Canada: Challenges and directions. Journal of immigrant health 7.4 (2005): 259-268

Berry, John W. "Mutual attitudes among immigrants and ethnocultural groups in Canada." International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 30.6 (2006): 719-734

Stewart, Miriam, et al. Multicultural meanings of social support among immigrants and immigrants . International Migration 46.3 (2008): 123-159

Caulford, Paul, and Yasmin Vali. Providing health care to medically uninsured immigrants and immigrants . Canadian Medical Association Journal 174.9 (2006): 1253-1254

Bloemraad, Irene. "Understanding Canadian exceptionalism in immigration and pluralism policy." Migration Policy Institute, July (2012).

Wilkinson, Lori, and Joseph Garcea. "The economic integration of immigrants in Canada: am

mixed record?." (2017).