The Multiculturalism Act ( 1988 )

America has been a melting pot of cultures for many centuries, with the number of immigrants continually rising every year. Most of these immigrants come into the country with nothing at all except for the clothes on their backs and a few English words. But they also bring with them something special – their cultures and traditions from their homeland. In the Immigrant Advantage, readers can see that these specific traditions that they bring with them give them an advantage because they tend to have better mental and physical health than their native born American counterparts (5).

Juana Mora in “Acculturation Is Bad for Our Health: Eat More Nopalitos” argues that the United States offers many job and educational opportunities for Latinos, but acculturation in America negatively impacts their health. Mora offers research and statistics, most of which I find compelling, to explain that these illnesses are primarily due to the immigrants’ new “daily habits and environment changes” (Mora 660). After arriving in America, immigrants often live in crime-ridden, low income neighborhoods, rely on fast food, abuse alcohol and tobacco products, and have fewer safe areas for exercise. Additionally, the stress caused “by learning a new language and culture” and “living in new and sometimes dangerous environments” causes illnesses such as post-traumatic

First, they must pass a health-screening process beforehand. In Canada, health screening was implemented to ensure that no immigrant becomes a burden on health or social services or “is a danger to public health or safety” (Government of Canada, 2002:np). Canada has no list of diseases that will automatically disqualify would-be immigrants, but infectious conditions such as HIV-AIDS can decrease their chances of acceptance (Zencovich, Kennedy, MacPherson, & Gushulak 2006). Screening does not guarantee that the host country will receive immigrants that are healthier than its own citizens, but it does ensure that people with serious health problems are not allowed to immigrate; consequently, the cohort of immigrants coming to North America tends to be healthy.

In order to propogate the knowledge of above determinants and improve health status of Canadians, Health Canada has set up a number of community heath organizations and agencies. The work of these agencies can consist of creating awareness, improving socio-economic status, advocating better working conditions and so on. Unfortunately, many groups such as aboriginal people, recent immigrants and people with disabilities experience challenges in accessing these resources and still cotinue to lead an unhealthy life.

Multiculturalism in relation to Society and Culture is how persons work corporately in regards to their culture in a society. However, over time the growth of Australia's population has increase their culture in the country, yet the spectrum of persons in the media remains the same. Despite Australia having a multicultural policy that describe the "cultural and ethnic diversity of contemporary Australia". It is inefficient in the media, on a macro level. With the rise of media, there is a common trend with the persons in the industry being all Caucasian according to PWC recent report. This trend has interest me due to 6.7 million of Australians were born oversea. My interest is influenced by persons in the macro world, Osman Faruqi statement

In Canada, the issue of immigration poverty is at its verge of time. Over the past decade, times have worsened the once thought to be a simple task of immigrating to a prosperous, foreign country like Canada. Has developed into a much more difficult task that few immigrants have the opportunity to pursue. The inflammation of price along with everyday necessities for a family to survive and thrive upon has become ever so challenging and scarce. Unfortunately, this has become the dire reality for many demoralized immigrants in Canada. Poverty in Canada is a very profound political issue for oncoming emigrants or new immigrants. The adverse effects of poverty within Canadian society has ceased the development of immigrants and imposed them on

Canada is a ‘high-income nation’, possessing industrialized economies, technologically advanced industries, and high per capita income (Kendall et al. 2016: 24). Resulting in Canada much receiving international scrutiny as it has a vast number of individuals living in relative poverty (Kendall et al. 2016: 29). Particularly as many as five million, or one in seven people live in relative poverty in Canada (Kendall et al. 2016: 29). Constituting relative poverty is living below the standard of living relative to the average individual in Canada (Levine-Rasky 2017). In addition, income inequality acts as a social determinant of health (SDH), as it impacts the economic and social conditions of an individual or a community (Raphael 2016:

The immigrant women have greater life expectancy as compared to Canadian born women. [Ontario Immigrant Status Report Chen and Willkins and NG (1996)] and had longer lives without disability and dependency [Chen and NG and Willkins (1996)] .This is further evidenced by findings based on the rate of affected in chronic illness for life threating issues and mobility impairment. Though there are lot of research literature evidencing the reduction of the health advantages of immigrants over time but it can be set as normalizing the health effect to that of Canadian context.. This normalizing effect is due to several factors like diet and physical activity which immigrant changes to that of Canadians and thereby increasing the chances of Canadian chronic diseases. Other factors can be delayed employment and inadequate income. Immigrant women being a sub- population of this group faces almost similar issues but also more aggravated ones. With the increased of feminized immigration in recent years. At present Statistics Canada 2011 display that female immigrants represent 21.2% of total female population. The projected growth as per stat Canada if this trend continues then in 2031 52.3% would be immigrant female with a representation of 27.4% of female population. This increased feminized immigration might pose critical

The United States is a melting pot of cultures from around the globe. Many immigrants acclimate to American culture and customs while retaining many of their native culture and customs. However, much of their culture places these immigrants at risk for health disparities. Hispanics are the largest and fastest growing racial and ethnic in the United States (cardiosmart.org, 2014). According to CDC.gov (2004), compared to non-Hispanic whites, Hispanics experienced chronic liver disease 62% more, diabetes 41% more, HIV 168% more and cancer of the cervix 152% and stomach 63% more for males and 150% more for females.

Better research on immigrant health and health outcomes would go a long way to shining a light on how to tackle these problems. The current debate in the research concentrates on social determinants of health such as acculturation, which of course influences a lot of other health and healthcare decisions made by immigrants. However, only focusing on social determinants of health undermines the importance of other factors that also heavily affect immigrant health in the United States. Specifically in the case of undocumented immigrants, the debate need to focus on systemic issues impeding access to healthcare as well as pre and post migratory social, political, and economic factors. Some examples that Martinez et al listed include, “specific environmental conditions such as pollution and contamination of water, as well as pre-and-post migration experiences ranging from rape, sexual assault, and abuse to extortion and several other specific geopolitical and economic factors” (966). Social strife, political persecution or famines are real problems that can affect an individuals’ health and specifically their mental health for the rest of their lives. Torres et al urge “those involved in public health research, policy, and practice” to

The study states that the second generation immigrants are an essential part of the Canadian society, however they have not been studied enough. Immigration was resurging and thus it is critical that the impact of the second generation immigrants be studied at length. Many studies have been done regarding the economic impact that second generation immigrants have on Canada, however their educational attainment has been ignored. In general, it can be stated that second generation immigrants fare much better in terms of education attainment than native of Canada, this difference can be partly explained by the second generation’s mother tongue, however there is still a humongous difference that can be clearly seen. By the age of 13, it has been observed that immigrant children are at the same educational level or higher than those that are Canadian natives. This can be explained by immigrant parents’ higher expectations when it comes to their children’s education and their perspective when it comes to education. The data that was collected is from Statistics Canada and it looks at second generation immigrants from ages 25-65, and the data encompassed about 11,983 males. Second generation immigrants have a lower high school drop out rate, than natives and tend to go to post secondary institutions, such as colleges and universities, rather than going straight to work, without a degree. This study shows that the Canadian immigration system has been able to favorably select immigrants whose children fare the same or much better than their native Canadian counterparts. The study concludes that second generation immigrants are able to keep up with the native Canadians, by the age of 13 and tend to do even better than these Canadians. This can be explained by the second generation immigrants’ willingness to work hard in order to succeed

Social determinants of health are social, economic and physical factors that affect the health of individuals in any given population. There are fourteen social determinants of health but Income is perhaps the most important of these because it shapes living conditions, influences health related behaviors, and determines food security. In Canada, people with lower incomes are more susceptible to disease/ conditions, higher mortality rate, decreased life expectancy and poorer perceived health than people with high incomes. In numerous Canadian studies and reports, there has been more emphasis on health being based on an individual’s characteristics, choices and behaviours, rather than the role that income plays as a social determinant of health. Although Canada has one of the highest income economies in the world and is comprised of a free health care system, many low income families are a burden on the system because of the physical and mental health issues influenced by income insecurity. Low income individuals are heavier users of health care services because they have lower levels of health and more health problems than do people with higher incomes. This essay will address income as a social determinant of health in three key sections: what is known on the issue, why the issue is important and how can health and public policies address the issue. The main theme that runs through the essay is the income related health inequalities among low income groups compared to

Australia is a settler nation which is now made up of many ethnic groups who share similar cultural traditions, common language, shared history and a shared identity (ABS, 2016). These groups contribute to what is referred to multiculturalism. Australia has a higher proportion of people born overseas than the US, Canada and the UK, with 49% of Australia’s population (or a parent) being born overseas (Census of Population and Housing, 2016). Compared to other Western nations, Australia has one of the most diverse immigration populations (Collins, 2013, p. 145). The meaning of multiculturalism in Australia has changed significantly over time. Today, Australia is a culturally and ethnically diverse country and therefore is a multicultural society. In terms of public policy, multiculturalism can be defined as policies and practices implemented by the Australian government that aim to manage cultural diversity to benefit the whole of society (Department of Social Services, 2014). Although Australia is a multicultural society, there are criticisms of public policy surrounding multiculturalism.

The quantity of individuals who are into Canada is consistently expanding as seen somewhere around 2001 and 2006, the quantity of remotely conceived individuals expanded by 13.6%, and by, 2006 Canada had developed to have 34 ethnic groups with no less than one hundred thousand individuals each, of which eleven have more than 1,000,000 individuals and various others are spoken to in littler sums. 16.2% of the populace self-distinguishes as a noticeable minority (Statistics Canada, 2011). This massive immigration has ensured that multiculturalism in Canada has never faced any threat of collapse. The Canadians know that the only way different cultures are going to strive in the country is by supporting legal immigration of people from various parts of the world into the country. By allowing the settlement of immigrants, multiculturalism in Canada was being

The research clearly shows how ethnicity and citizenship status is directly tied to an individual’s health status and health care experiences (Holmes, 1787-88). We know that immigration to USA is regulated by law. The political hierarchy has framed the legal law in such a way that immigrants do not enjoy the same privileges as citizens. The apparent differences between people who are citizens and non-citizens is so inherent, that the disadvantaged non-citizens accept it with little outlet for protest. Since it is the law of the land, non-citizens willingly accepts the structural violence inflicted upon them due to immigration related issues.