Pathways to Prosperity: Canada

Since the 1980s, Dr. Tuula Heinonen has been interested in integration issues encountered by newcomers, both refugees and immigrants. In her former work as a hospital social worker in Montréal and Edmonton, she met many clients from Viet Nam, Sri Lanka, Haiti, and other nations who experienced health and hospitals quite differently from the Canadian born or acculturated clients. In the hospital environment, she found that the rules, practices and procedures were often frightening, strange and confusing to newcomers. Furthermore, hospital staff sometimes had difficulty understanding patients and their families which led to communication problems, apprehension and inadequate care. “I wanted to understand newcomers’ views on their own health and what was needed to care for those who were ill or injured” said Heinonen. Today, Tuula is a Professor in the Faculty of Social Work at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg where she continues to examine integration issues of immigrants and refugees in new host countries.

Lately Tuula has been engaged in research about the mental health of refugees from African nations, such as Congo, Rwanda, Somalia (with Principal Investigator, Régine King) and on parenting children adopted from China (with Principal Investigator, Marlene Pomrenke). “I have recently applied and succeeded in receiving funds for a small new project on experiences of Canadian-born parents who have adopted internationally also with Marlene Pomrenke” said Heinonen. Tuula’s most recent co-authored work regarding an immigrant integration issue is “Effects of remittance behaviour on the lives of recent immigrants to Canada from the Philippines: A population-based longitudinal study” published in the Journal of Family and Economic Issues. In the study, the authors examine three waves of longitudinal data regarding the impact that remittance behaviour has on recent Canadian Filipino immigrants. The findings indicate that although the respondents’ own health was not affected over time by remitting, their housing and living conditions were impacted. Thus, remitters were less likely to be home owners and more likely to rent compared to non-remitters when controlling for the effects of age, sex, family income and immigration. The authors suggest that housing policies and economic issues, particularly for immigrant women, need to be addressed and considered in further research.

As a P2P collaborator with the Prairie node, Tuula has found that being a part of the Partnership has been helpful in advancing her practice and policy interests to improve services and understanding of newcomers to Canada. Heinonen adds “I also appreciate being part of a community of researchers with whom I share common visions and goals, that is to advance knowledge so that newcomers to Canada have a better experience in this country and that government is responsive to the needs of refugees in social services, health care, education and other domains.”

Click here for more information on Tuula Heinonen’s research and published work.