Newcomers and work
Immigrant workers account for much of the labour force growth in Canada. IWH research seeks to understand the work experiences of recent immigrants or newcomers to Canada. The focus of this research includes the barriers newcomers 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
Arts-based study reveals complexities of working as a nail technician
Workplace hazards have been the focus of many studies on the health and safety of nail salons and their workers. An arts-based study strived to demonstrate the complexity of nail technicians’ relationships to their work, finding both harms and joys.
Published: July 31, 2025
At Work article
Meeting on newcomer workers’ health inspires ideas for research and collaboration
Newcomer workers have a higher risk getting injured or ill at work than Canadian-born workers. In a step to address this longstanding issue, IWH recently hosted over 50 stakeholders to discuss the health and safety challenges these workers face.
Published: December 6, 2024
Project
Project
Role of employers and settlement agencies in safe employment integration
Status: Completed 2020
Project report
Project report
Safe employment integration of recent immigrants and refugees
This report details the findings of an Institute for Work & Health study on employment preparation process of newcomers in Ontario, with the aim of determining key training and resource needs and opportunities related to safely integrating recent immigrants and refugees into the labour market.
Published: March 2018
At Work article
Newcomers often lack OHS protection and information in their precarious first jobs
They face difficulty finding work, due to language barriers, foreign credentials or lack of Canadian experience. Their first jobs are precarious, sometimes unpaid. To top it off, they receive next to no training on OHS and employment standards issues, as a new IWH study has found.
Published: February 2018
IWH in the media
New immigrants vulnerable to workplace accidents
New arrivals in Canada face additional vulnerabilities on the job, according to studies by Institute for Work and Health (IWH) in Toronto, writes Ian Harvey.
Published: Daily Commercial News, January 2018
Impact case study
Concerns about newcomers’ safety at work lead organizations to IWH toolkit
Organizations working with recent immigrants are incorporating parts of the Institute's toolkit for teaching newcomers about workplace health and safety into their programming. Organizations in Ontario, Alberta, Northwest Territories and Nunavut, and even as far away as Australia, say the resource is just what they were looking for.
Published: December 2017
IWH in the media
Recent immigrants, refugees largely unaware of OHS: Researchers
When immigrants and refugees come to Canada, they are handed a 140-page document that contains only one small paragraph about employee rights. Unfortunately, this might be the only OHS exposure these workers receive, writes Amanda Silliker, reporting on an Institute for Work & Health research project.
Published: Canadian Occupational Safety, November 2017
IWH Speaker Series
IWH Speaker Series
Safe employment integration of recent immigrants and refugees
Settlement and integration involve helping recent immigrants and refugees find work and become economically solvent. Many newcomers end up in survival jobs that expose them to hazards and are precarious and physically demanding. In this plenary, presenters Dr. Agnieszka Kosny, Dr. Basak Yanar and Dina Al-khooly summarize a recent study investigating how newcomers come to understand their rights and where there are gaps in resources and training.
Published: October 2017
Project
Project
Information and resource needs of newcomers to help ensure their safe integration into the labour market
This project looked at the needs of recent immigrants and refugees to Ontario to help ensure they can safely integrate into the Canadian labour market.
Status: Completed 2017
IWH Speaker Series
IWH Speaker Series
Measuring OHS vulnerability among new immigrants
While previous research has identified that recent immigrants are at increased risk of work injury and illness, little is known about the specific mechanisms that lead to this elevated risk. In this plenary, Institute for Work & Health (IWH) research associate Morgan Lay presents preliminary results from a recent IWH collaboration with settlement agencies to better understand the workplace and social contexts that lead to increased risk of work injury among new immigrants.
Published: May 2016
Impact case study
WCB adapts toolkit for newcomers to Manitoba context
The toolkit, called Prevention is the Best Medicine, hopes to bridge the knowledge gap among newcomers of OHS and workers' compensation issues.
Published: April 2014