Dr. Wallapak Polasub
VFR: Dr. Wallapak Polasub, let’s get to know you! Tell us about yourself and your journey to working with Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s (KPU) Institute for Sustainable Food Systems.
Dr. Wallapak Polasub: I moved to Canada from Thailand in 2011. I explored a couple of part-time jobs when I first arrived here, but they were not something that I wanted to pursue as a career. When I joined the Institute for Sustainable Food Systems (ISFS) at KPU in 2013 as a research associate, I felt that I found a perfect place for me to be.
Food system studies were something new to me, but I found them fascinating since my background lies in environmental and resource economics. I believe that our economy cannot grow sustainably unless we take care of our natural world. Food systems, in a way, are a foundation of our economy, providing nourishment, jobs, culture; and can also potentially create major negative impacts to our environment and natural resources.
Through research and extension activities, the ISFS aims to advance sustainable local/regional food systems. We focus on organic/regenerative agriculture, community economic development, and food sovereignty of diverse communities.
Currently, my interest centres around the topic of newcomers to Canada. Because of my own experience of being an immigrant, I became interested in how our local food systems can support newcomers in acculturating and integrating into the Canadian society while maintaining their cultural identities. When I started to do preliminary research on this topic, I realized that I needed to look at the beginning – at the question of newcomers and their root causes of food insecurity.
VFR: Your recent research project, Newcomers, Food Insecurity, and Pathways Forward, centres around the experiences of those who have newly arrived in Canada. Can you please outline some of the immigration trends in Canada and how poverty intersects with immigration status?
WP: Immigration has long been a strategy to support economic development in Canada. In many sectors of our economy, we do not have enough skilled workers to fill the jobs. For example, Canada’s agricultural sector had more than 60,000 temporary foreign workers and 30,000 workers in the food and beverage manufacturing sector in 2021.
In addition to building our economy, we accept newcomers to Canada for other reasons, such as for family reunion and humanitarian reasons. For example, my mom decided to immigrate to Canada because she wanted to be closer to me and my daughter. I also have a friend who sought an asylum in Canada because of the war in his homeland. In 2021 alone, about 400,000 immigrants landed in Canada and nearly one million held temporary work or study permits. In the near future, The Ministry of Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship reported the goal of accepting about 1.5 million new immigrants between 2023 to 2025.
For whatever reasons people come to Canada, in many instances, many of them are put in a vulnerable situation, such as not having social networks to support their new lives or not being able to find employment. As a result, a larger proportion of the newcomer population are living in poverty compared to the Canadian born population. Many remain in poverty for several years after settling in Canada. Data from our 2021 Census of Population show a trend of an inverse relationship between poverty rate in newcomer population and the length of stay in Canada.
In British Columbia, for example, over 15% of newcomers who arrived within the last five years (of the time when the data were collected) were in poverty. This percentage was less than 10% among those who arrived 20 years prior. We hypothesize that newcomers need time to adjust to their new country. Moreover, in order to escape poverty, individuals may require targeted support to lead fulfilling lives and make meaningful contributions to our economy.
VFR: There are also differences in household food insecurity status between individuals who are born in Canada compared to recent immigrants. Please explain these differences in more detail.
WP: Unfortunately, we don’t really have much data specifically on newcomers and food insecurity. This will be the area of research on which we need to further explore. The recent data (from Statistics Canada) that we have for newcomers are for persons aged 16 years or older (this is different than the household food insecurity.)
The data for Canada shows that a larger proportion of immigrants (26%) are more food insecure compared to those born in Canada (16%). Among the immigrants who are food insecure, 17% experience moderate or severe food insecurity meaning that they either have to compromise the amount or quality of food or in extreme cases they have to go without food for days. The data does not provide a detailed explanation of why immigrants are more likely to be food insecure. However, we think that newcomers may have additional barriers that prevent them from achieving food security other than not having enough income to afford food.
VFR: Please share more about your recent research study and some of the key findings in terms of barriers to food security for Newcomers.
WP: Due to the lack of data specifically on newcomers in Metro Vancouver, I collaborated with the Pacific Immigrant Resources Society to explore this topic. We held regular meetings with several newcomers so they could share their lived experience. We talked to service provider organizations as well as social planners to better understand current services provided, policy environment, and different barriers to food security.
Firstly, we discovered that the experience of being a newcomer is not solely determined by the duration of one's stay in Canada. Although the five-year mark is commonly utilized to define newcomers for resettlement services, immigration, and statistical purposes, we learned from multiple individuals that even though they have been in Canada for more than five years, they continue to discover something new about the country and its food systems. Additionally, some still face challenges in ensuring food security for themselves and their families.
The key barriers to food security is poverty or lack of adequate income. This applies to both newcomers and Canadian born. However, newcomers also face several unique challenges. For example, newcomers may not be able to earn enough income to afford food because they are not able to find appropriate employment due to language barriers or racism.
Many types of food found in Canada could also be unfamiliar to them while familiar food and culturally appropriate food can be difficult to find or are very expensive. Newcomers may also have fear to participate in collective actions to advocate for themselves. Even a simple thing like the smell of food could indirectly impact newcomers’ food consumption behaviours and health. One of our project participants told us that she lost nearly 20 kg within the first few months of arriving in Canada because of the new food environment and the differences in how food tasted and smelled.
Another participant told us that she had to do a lot of reading on her own to learn about how to utilize certain vegetables commonly found in Canadian stores or canned goods she received from food banks. At times, she wasn’t sure if information found on the internet was trustworthy, but she didn’t have anybody whom she could consult or seek help. Another participant spent a lot of time on public transit in order to go to an ethnic store that sold food from her country and once she got there, she often couldn’t afford to buy everything her family needed. These are just a few examples, and I think it is important to learn all these different stories, so we can understand newcomers’ situations better.
VFR: Service provider organizations (SPOs) provide different types of support for newcomers to overcome these different barriers. However, your research found that they face hurdles in addressing food security in the newcomer community. What did staff at SPOs tell you about their challenges?
WP: SPOs play a really important role in supporting newcomers in many aspects of their lives, such as language classes, food literacy programs, and volunteer or job skills training opportunities. These activities help connect newcomers to Canadians and each other to expand their social network. However, we heard from several organizations that in recent years, the demand for emergency food programs has increased to an extent that, at times, these emergency food programs divert resources away from other key programs.
The major barrier that SPOs face is funding. Funding is often limited in term of the amount, how they can spend the funds, and the length of funds. As a result, SPOs are unable to expand their services. We heard also that many SPOs feel that they shoulder most of the responsibilities in supporting newcomers because there isn’t a holistic system of governmental support to help newcomers after they arrive in Canada. Several SPOs also told us that they are operating at their maximum capacity, and there are still many more clients that they can’t reach.
VFR: From a government planning perspective, challenges also emerged. Please share some of these challenges.
WP: Specifically regarding newcomers, our local food policies or charters lack policy language directed towards them. While some poverty reduction plans acknowledge new immigrants as an at-risk population, there is often a lack of explicit language addressing their unique challenges. As a result, their concerns may not receive the necessary attention, as there are often several other priorities that need to be addressed. We heard from several planners who shared the complexity of managing their portfolios while needing to balance between limited time and resources.
Additionally, language is another important issue. Local governments often do not have “translation readiness” for languages spoken by newcomers. Therefore, it is difficult for government officials to engage with local communities.
VFR: There are obviously many issues, but what are the opportunities that currently exist, and what are some key pathways forward that emerged during the project?
WP: Honestly, I will have to repeat what other scholars have said before: that food insecurity is a problem of income and inequity in our society and our food systems. This is not new information.
Many newcomers would rather be able to afford food themselves rather than depending on an emergency food program. One participant said that he would rather be taught to fish instead of being given fish. I think this reflects the general sentiment of preference to have dignity in food access. In the short run, emergency food programs are really helpful during crises, but we cannot let this short-term intervention be our long-term solution. I don’t deny that this is a complex issue. There isn’t a simple solution to it as food systems are connected to every aspect of our lives.
I think for a start, inclusivity is the key. I hope that we open our ears more and listen to stories from newcomers, invite them to have a seat at the table, and be part of the solution. Therefore, collaboration between SPOs and local governments are very important. As SPOs are the ones operating on the ground, they can help advocate for newcomers, amplify their voices, and provide the needed information to our government officials so they can set appropriate strategic policy directions. For example, we know that access to culturally appropriate food is important for newcomer communities. But if they cannot advocate for themselves, affordable ethnic food stores might be pushed further away as neighbourhoods get gentrified.
Raising awareness for newcomer struggles is also vital for the general public. I think we still need to battle racism and misconceptions about newcomers. They are not a burden to our society. They have high potential if given equal opportunities. We need to increase our intercultural willingness and awareness from all parts of our food systems. Some women might become the bread winners for their families for the first time through employment in the food sector. We need employers to have the willingness to hire newcomers and the patience to familiarize newcomers with the Canadian legal and work culture. Such attitudes won’t occur if employers do not have enough awareness on what struggles and barriers newcomers are facing.
If you wish to learn more about Dr. Wallapak Polasub’s research and connect visit: https://www.kpu.ca/isfs/refugees-and-immigrants-local-food-access
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