Each year, about 200,000 immigrants arrive in Canada and about one-third are children and youth under the age of 25.¹. In 1998, for example, among the 174,100 people who immigrated to Canada, about 65,140 were under 25 years of age, accounting for 37 per cent of this group. Many of these young people came to Canada as dependants, accompanied by their families. Some came on their own to attend school or for work.

Whether they came by themselves or with their families, these children and youth left behind friends and relatives, and a familiar social system. Compared to adults, immigrant children and youth face unique challenges – most notably, getting used to the school system in Canada and balancing the cultural values and behaviour expected of children and youth in their home country with those of their new country.

While most studies on immigrants have tended to focus on the acculturation process for adults, there is little available research about how recent young immigrants are faring.² This report breaks new ground by assembling demographic and lifestyle data about this growing group of young Canadians, as well as reporting on the young peoples’ own views of their experiences in Canada and those of social, health and educational service providers.

This report is organized into four sections:

• Section I profiles the socio-demographic characteristics of immigrant children and youth, exploring where these recent immigrants have come from, their official language abilities, where they settle, and their socio-economic status.

• Section II describes some of the differences in lifestyle between immigrant and Canadian-born youth by analyzing available data on their social supports, spirituality, patterns of balancing school and work, as well as their use of tobacco and alcohol.

• Section III, presents young immigrants talking about their experiences integrating into Canada. This section contains a summary of focus group discussions with 50 immigrant youth who have been in Canada for five years or less. The focus groups were conducted in Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal by Ekos Research Associates.³

• Section IV reports on the capacity of social service agencies to respond to the needs of immigrant children and youth and the needs of their families. This section is based on a survey conducted by the CCSD among community agencies that serve immigrant children and youth in the 13 Canadian cities with the highest proportions of immigrant families.