Newcomers
Immigrant workers account for much of the labour force growth in Canada. IWH research seeks to understand the work experiences of recent immigrants (newcomers) to Canada, the barriers they face in understanding and accessing their occupational health and safety and workers’ compensation rights and responsibilities, and the tools and programs needed to help ensure they can be safe and productive members of the Canadian labour force.
Featured

At Work article
Employers struggle to provide newcomers with OHS training, support: IWH study
Employers are responsible for providing OHS training and support to keep workers safe. When it comes to workers who are new to Canada, workplaces face particular challenges following through on this responsibility.
Published: November 29, 2022

IWH in the media
Report urges worker safety while respecting cultural differences
Growing numbers of immigrants are welcomed as an important tool in Canada's economic growth, but systemic OHS improvements are needed to ensure they can work as safely as their non-immigrant co-workers, Don Wall reports on an IWH study.
Published: Daily Commercial News, January 2023
Project
Project
Creating safe workplaces for newcomers
An IWH qualitative study is looking at feasible and effective approaches for helping employers create safe workplaces for newcomers.
Status: Ongoing

At Work article
Employers struggle to provide newcomers with OHS training, support: IWH study
Employers are responsible for providing OHS training and support to keep workers safe. When it comes to workers who are new to Canada, workplaces face particular challenges following through on this responsibility.
Published: November 2022
Journal article
Journal article
Employers' experiences with safe work integration of recent immigrants and refugees
Published: Safety Science, July 2022
IWH Speaker Series
IWH Speaker Series
Safe work integration of newcomers: Employer perspectives
Employers play an important role in the safe and sustained work integration of immigrants and refugees in Canada. Despite this, we know little about employers’ expectations, experiences and challenges in relation to the hiring and retaining of newcomers. In this presentation, Dr. Basak Yanar shares insights gained through a recently completed project on the work integration of newcomers. She discusses the perspectives of employers, as well as the experiences of immigrant-serving organizations that work with employers in promoting safe and sustainable work integration.
Published: October 2020
Journal article
Journal article
Safe employment integration of recent immigrants and refugees
Published: Journal of International Migration and Integration, June 2020

At Work article
Supporting settlement agencies to raise OHS awareness among newcomers
Newcomers to Canada face a higher risk of workplace injury and illness, due in part to a lack of knowledge about their OHS rights and responsibilities. Settlement agencies can help raise this awareness, but they also need support from the prevention system to do so, according to a recent project.
Published: April 2020

At Work article
What research can do: IWH newcomer training resource sees uptake by various groups in Canada
Newcomers to Canada often lack knowledge about workplace health and safety issues or about their rights and responsibilities in the event of a work injury or illness. IWH's Safe Work Toolkit, designed to help settlement agencies fill in this knowledge gap, has seen uptake in Ontario and beyond.
Published: February 2020
IWH Speaker Series
IWH Speaker Series
Capacity building and evaluation of OHS training in settlement agencies
Newcomers to Canada are at an increased risk of workplace injury and illness, due in part to a lack of knowledge about their rights and responsibilities in occupational health and safety (OHS). Settlement agencies are well-positioned to promote OHS awareness among newcomers, but some may lack the resources and capacity to do so. In this presentation, Institute for Work & Health (IWH)'s Dr. Basak Yanar joins Occupational Health Clinics for Ontario Workers (OHCOW)'s Eduardo Huesca to talk about the development and delivery of the OHS capacity-building workshops for settlement agencies. They will share results of an evaluation capturing the experiences of service providers and newcomer clients, and discuss opportunities for Ontario’s OHS system partners to further support the settlement sector.
Published: January 2020
Journal article
Journal article
Tool for the meaningful consideration of language barriers in qualitative health research
Published: Qualitative Health Research, January 2020