Why Atlantic Canadian immigrants fared better than others in the pandemic

The pandemic did not take as heavy a toll on the mental health of immigrants in Atlantic Canada as it did on other Canadians, according to a Statistics Canada survey.

Immigrants in Atlantic Canada were more likely to tell researchers that their mental health had gotten better rather than worse since the start of the pandemic. This was not the case for non-immigrant Atlantic Canadians or immigrants in other parts of the country.

The Statistics Canada survey, taken in 2022 with results published this spring, found 30 per cent of immigrants in Atlantic Canada reported better mental health compared to pre-pandemic times, and only 22.7 per cent reported feeling worse.

In that same study, more than 30 per cent of other Atlantic Canadians reported their mental health was worse after that experience, not better, while only a few more than 10 per cent said it had improved. Nationally, immigrants reported better mental health than non-immigrants, but the difference was not as pronounced as it was in Atlantic Canada.

Raquel Hoersting, a psychology professor at the University of Prince Edward Island with a specialty in mental health and culture, described immigrants as a unique population.

"Here's someone who has a lot of, often, grit, a lot of strength, a lot of resilience, to be able to move, to be able to establish a whole new life in a new country," said Hoersting.

Paul Musa, president of the Nigerian Canadian Association of Prince Edward Island, said anyone willing to seek out that level of change in their lives is better positioned to face hardship.

"They must have developed themselves mentally, socially, to be able to cope with whatever challenge they encounter on their journey to greener pasture," said Musa.

He described the mentality this way: "This journey, I'm ready to go through whatever I face, whatever challenge that comes my way."

Immigrants also have a heightened sense of community, said Hoersting.

It is a sense that is bolstered by organizations like Musa's, and in Atlantic Canada some of those organizations rallied to support their members even before the pandemic was declared in March of 2020.

Atousa Costandi, board member and secretary for the Iranian Cultural Society of Nova Scotia, said her group saw how COVID-19 was hitting their home country and began making preparations before Canada really started to feel the effects.

The society connected with doctors who were immigrants from Iran, who began translating public health information into Farsi. When quarantine requirements were put in place, it found rooms for new arrivals from Iran.

"We were right on it. We were trying to get sanitizer and masks to people, especially people who were new in town," said Costandi.