Canada welcomed more immigrants in 2022 than ever in history and plans to welcome even more over the coming years. As we move forward, mental health researchers and practitioners are taking a closer look at immigrant wellbeing.

Canada’s Quality of Life Framework defines a sense of meaning and purpose as believing the things one does in life are worthwhile. Having a strong sense of meaning and purpose is correlated with having good overall health and high life satisfaction.

Over the last year, having a strong sense of meaning and purpose has dropped for immigrants at a quicker rate than non-immigrants.

The following graph represents the percentage of immigrants and non-immigrants that reported a strong sense of meaning and purpose in 2021 and 2022. Selecting different fields under “Sociodemographic characteristics” will display new data.

These patterns are likely related to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to CAMH, Canada’s largest mental health teaching hospital, COVID-19 took a considerable toll on Canada’s immigrant population.

But these impacts are even worse for immigrant women. In the first quarter of 2022, immigrant men started to regain a strong sense of meaning and purpose while immigrant women have continued to drop since the second half of 2021.

 A 2016 research study identified several social determinants unique to immigrant women’s mental health. CAMH says a more “holistic approach” will be required in addressing them.