Newcomers and Food Insecurity: a Critical Literature Review on Immigration and Food Security

In Canada, recent immigrant households are more likely to be food insecure than non-immigrant households. This is important for Canada, which receives approximately 250,000 permanent residents each year, as food security is linked to how immigrants perceive membership, reconstruct identity, and integrate successfully. Literature on immigration and food insecurity exists; however, it has not been collected or analyzed through an in-depth, critical review. This paper comprises the findings of a review of Canadian and international literature on barriers to food security for immigrants and their children. It includes sources from the academic, interdisciplinary literature in addition to government and non-government primary data, and considers the experiences of immigrants in terms of availability, accessibility, adequacy, acceptability, and agency of food. This review provides an understanding of the research that exists on the causes of food insecurity for newcomers, as well as identifies gaps in the literature and recommendations for further research.