COVID-19 and Refugee Families in Montreal: Strategies for Reaching Hard-to-reach Populations in Health Emergencies

Abstract

Communication between government and immigrant newcomer communities is challenging. Research shows that accessing accurate information and resources among newcomer groups is often difficult due to limited access to media; lack of internet access; low levels of fluency in official languages; less knowledge of official sources of information; and fewer resources to navigate between accurate and inaccurate information sources (e.g., Caidi & Allard, 2005; Kalich, Heinemann, & Ghahari, 2016). These issues can reduce the success of the COVID-19 response, particularly in Quebec where 14.6% of the population are immigrants (Statistics Canada, 2021), with that number rising to 34% in the city of Montreal (City of Montreal, 2020). This study built upon the Quebec segment of a Canadian Institutes of Health Research-funded, 4-year longitudinal study, Syrian Refugee Integration and Long-Term Health (SyRIA.lth), which explored the impact of pre- and post-migration conditions, sociodemographic characteristics, and migration pathway on integration trajectories and long-term health and mental health outcomes for Syrian refugees. This study identified the needs, vulnerabilities, and strengths of Syrian newcomers in the face of the pandemic, which included access to information through public health messaging and other barriers that community members faced in the context of COVID-19, impacts of COVID-19-related social isolation on refugee families as well as strategies that families used to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic.