Calculated Kindness? The Voices of Women Refugee Claimants: Accessing Pre- and Postnatal Health Care Services in Toronto, Ontario

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.25071/1920-7336.41186

Keywords:

women refugee claimants, prenatal care, postnatal care, healthcare access

Abstract

In Canada, refugee claimants are given temporary immigration status, making access to health care services challenging. While the federal government determines the entitlements granted to refugee claimants, provinces are responsible for delivering health care services. This qualitative study conducted in-depth semi-structured interviews with eight refugee claimants and six service providers in Toronto, Ontario. An intersectional theoretical framework was employed to examine the experiences of women refugee claimants and their complicated and often incomplete access to prenatal and postnatal health care services. Findings revealed that delivery of health care services in Ontario created barriers to access and under-utilization of services resulting from intersections of health coverage, immigration status, gender, class, and discrimination.

Metrics

Metrics Loading ...

Author Biography

Hellen Gateri, School of Social Work, MacEwan University, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Hellen Gateri is an Associate Professor at MacEwan University, School of Social Work. She can be reached at gaterih@macewan.ca

References

Ascoly, N., Halsema, I. V., & Keysers, L. (2001). Refugee women, pregnancy and reproductive health care in the Netherlands. Journal of Refugee Studies, 14(4), 371–393. https://doi.org/10.1093/jrs/14.4.371

Balintec, V. (2023, July 26). More and more asylum seekers are coming to Canada. Is it enough to stem global tide of refugees? CBC News. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/canada-asylum-seeker-increase-1.6916053

Beiser, M., Noh, S., Hou, F., Kaspar, V., & Rummens, K. (2001). Southeast Asian refugees’ perceptions of racial discrimination in Canada. Canadian Ethnic Studies, 33(1), 46–59.

Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77–10. https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa

Brun, C., & Fabos, A. (2015). Making home in limbo? A conceptual framework. Refuge: Canada’s Journal on Refugees, 31(1), 5–17. https://doi.org/10.25071/1920-7336.40138

Bulman, K. H., & McCourt, C. (2002). Somali refugee women’s experiences of maternity care in west London: A case study. Critical Public Health, 12(4), 365–378. https://doi.org/10.1080/0958159021000029568

Campbell, R. M., Klei, A. G., Hodges, B. D., Fisman, D., & Kitto, S. (2014). A comparison of health access between permanent residents, undocumented immigrants and refugee claimants in Toronto, Canada. Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health, 16, 165–176. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-012-9740-1

CBC News. (2012, December 18). Failed refugee claimant with cancer denied health care. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/failed-refugee-claimant-with-cancer-denied-health-care-1.1200682

CBC News. (2013, March 26). Minister stands by denying health coverage to failed refugees. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/minister-stands-by-denying-health-coverage-to-failed-refugees-1.1372895

Chalmers, B., & Hashi, K. O. (2000). 432 Somali women’s birth experiences in Canada after earlier female genital mutilation. Birth, 27(4), 227–234. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1523-536x.2000.00227.x

Collins, P. H. (1990). Black feminist thought: Knowledge, consciousness, and the politics of empowerment. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203900055

Crenshaw, K. (1989). Demarginalization the intersection of race and sex: A Black feminist critique of antidiscrimination doctrine, feminist theory and politics. University of Chicago Legal Forum, 8(1), 139–167. https://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/uclf/vol1989/iss1/8

CTVNews.ca Staff. (2013, June 21). Uninsured refugees denied basic health care in Canada: Doctors. CTV News. https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/health-headlines/uninsured-refugees-denied-basic-health-care-in-canada-doctors-1.1336972

Dempsey, K. E. (2022). Migrant agency and counter-hegemonic efforts among asylum seekers in the Netherlands in response to geopolitical control and exclusion. Geopolitics, 27(2), 402–423. https://doi.org/10.1080/14650045.2021.1912019

Gateri, H. W. (2019). Exploring barriers refugees and refugee claimants experienced accessing reproductive health care services in Toronto [Doctoral dissertation, York University]. YorkSpace. http://hdl.handle.net/10315/35786

Gaudion, A., McLeish, J., & Homeyard, C. (2006). Access to maternity care for “failed” asylum seekers. International Journal of Migration, Health and Social Care, 2(2), 15–21. https://doi.org/10.1108/17479894200600012

Hankivsky, O., & Christoffersen, A. (2008). Intersectionality and the determinants of health: A Canadian perspective. Critical Public Health, 18(3), 271–283. https://doi.org/10.1080/09581590802294296

Harris, H. P., & Zuberi, D. (2015). Harming refugee and Canadian health: The negative consequences of recent reforms to Canada’s interim federal health program. Journal of International Migration and Integration, 16(4), 1041–1055. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12134-014-0385-x

Heslehurst, N., Brown, H., Pemu, A., Coleman, H., & Rankin, J. (2018). Perinatal health outcomes and care among asylum seekers and refugees: A systematic review of systematic reviews. BioMed Central, 16(18), Article 89. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12916-018-1064-0

Khanlou, N., Haque, N., Skinner, A., Mantini, A., & Landy, C. K. (2017). Scoping review on maternal health among immigrant and refugee women in Canada: Prenatal, intrapartum, and postnatal care. Journal of Pregnancy, 2017, Article 8783294. https://doi.org/10.1155/2017/8783294

Kirsch, G. E. (1999). Ethical dilemma in feminist research: The politics of location, interpretation and publication. State University of New York Press.

Kuile, S., Rousseau, C., Munoz, M., Nadeau, L., & Ouimet, M. (2007). The universality of the Canadian health care system in question: Barriers to services for immigrants and refugees. International Journal of Migration, Health, and Social Care, 3(1), 15–26. https://doi.org/10.1108/17479894200700003

Lincoln, Y. S., & Guba, E. G. (1985). Naturalistic inquiry. Sage Publications.

McKeary, M., & Newbold, B. (2010). Barriers to care: The challenges for Canadian refugees and their health care providers. Journal of Refugee Studies, 23(4), 523–545. https://doi.org/10.1093/jrs/feq038

McLeish, J. (2002). Mothers in exile: Maternity experiences of asylum seekers in England. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/273987382

Merry, L. A., Gagnon, A. J., Kalim, N., & Bouris, S. S. (2011). Refugee claimant women and barriers to health and social services post-birth. Canadian Journal of Public Health, 102(4), 286–290. https://www.jstor.org/stable/41995611

Mumtaz, Z., O’Brien, B., & Higginbottom, G. (2014). Navigating maternity health care: A survey of the Canadian prairie newcomer experience. BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, 14, Article 4. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2393-14-4

Okoro, O. N., Hillman, L. A., & Cernasev, A. (2022). Intersectional invisibility experiences of low-income African American women in health care encounters. Ethnicity & Health, 27(6), 1290–1309. https://doi.org/10.1080/13557858.2021.1899138

Raphael, D. (2011). The political economy of health promotion: Part 1, national commitments to provision of the prerequisites of health. Health Promotion International, 28(1), 95–111. https://doi.org/10.1093/heapro/dar084

Rosenthal, L., & Lobel, M. (2020). Gendered racism and the sexual and reproductive health of Black and Latina women. Ethnicity & Health, 25(3), 367–392. https://doi.org/10.1080/13557858.2018.1439896

Ruiz-Casares, M., Cleveland, J., Oulhote, Y., Dunkley-Hickin, C., & Rousseau, C. (2016). Knowledge of healthcare coverage for refugee claimants: Results from a survey of health service providers in Montréal. PLoS ONE, 11(1), Article e0146798. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0146798

Samuels, G. M., & Ross-Sheriff, F. (2008). Identity, oppression, and power. Affilia: Feminist Inquiry in Social Work, 23(1), 5–9. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886109907310475

Simich, L., Wu, F., & Nerad, S. (2007). Status and health security: An exploratory study of irregular immigrants in Toronto. Canadian Journal of Public Health, 98(5), 369–373. https://www.jstor.org/stable/41994958

Spitzer, D. (2004). In visible bodies: Minority women, nurses, time and the new economy of care. Medical Anthropology Quarterly, 18(4), 490–508. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3655400

Statistics Canada. (2019, August 18). Just the facts: Asylum claimants. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/89-28-0001/2018001/article/00013-eng.htm

Stavropoulou, N. (2019). Understanding the “bigger picture”: Lessons learned from participatory visual arts-based research with individuals seeking asylum in the United Kingdom. Journal of Migration & Culture, 10(1), 95–118. https://doi.org/10.1386/cjmc.10.1.95_1

Weber, L., & Parra-Medina, D. (2003). Intersectionality and women’s health. Charting a path to eliminating health disparities. In M. T. Segal., V. P. Demos, & J. J. Kronenfeld (Eds.), Gender perspectives on health and medicine: Key themes (pp. 181–230). Elsevier.

Webster, P. C. (2015). Many refugees still denied care despite ruling. Canadian Medical Association Journal, 187(10), E307–E308. https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.109-5093.

Winn, A., Hetherington, E., & Tough, S. (2018). Caring for pregnant refugee women in a turbulent policy landscape. Perspectives of health care professionals in Calgary, Alberta. International Journal of Equity in Health, 17, Article 91. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12939-018-0801-5

Willey, S., Desmyth, K., & Truong, M. (2022). Racism, healthcare access and health equity for people seeking asylum. Nursing Inquiry, 29, Article e12440. https://doi.org/10.1111/nin.12440

Wilson-Mitchell, K., & Rummens, J. A. (2013). Perinatal outcomes of uninsured immigrant, refugee and migrant mothers and newborns living in Toronto, Canada. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 10(6), 2198–2213. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph10062198

Young, L. (2017, August 23). Asylum seekers get healthcare benefits first, eligibility questions later. Global News. https://globalnews.ca/news/3690481/asylum-seekers-benefits-eligibility/

Zivot, C., Dewey, C., Heasley, C., Srinivasan, S., & Little, M. (2020). Exploring the state of gender-centered health research in the context of refugee resettlement in Canada: A scoping review. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(20), Article 7511. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17207511

Published

2024-06-17

How to Cite

Gateri, H. (2024). Calculated Kindness? The Voices of Women Refugee Claimants: Accessing Pre- and Postnatal Health Care Services in Toronto, Ontario. Refuge: Canada’s Journal on Refugees, 40(1), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.25071/1920-7336.41186

Similar Articles

<< < 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 > >> 

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.