Research and practice increasingly suggests discrimination compromises health. Yet the unique experiences and effects facing immigrant and refugee populations remain poorly understood in Canada and abroad. We review current knowledge on discrimination against newcomers in Canada, emphasizing impacts upon health status and service access to identify gaps and research needs. Existing knowledge centers around experiences within health-care settings, differences in perception and coping, mental health impacts, and debates about "non-discriminatory" health-care. There is need for comparative analyses within and across ethno-cultural groups and newcomer classes to better understand factors shaping how discrimination and its health effects are differentially experienced. Women receive greater attention in the literature given their compounded vulnerability. While this must continue, little is known about the experiences of youth and men. Governance and policy discourse analyses would elucidate how norms, institutions and practices shape discriminatory attitudes and responses. Finally, "non-discriminatory health-care" interventions require critical evaluation to determine their effectiveness.

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Key MessagesE-bikes are an under-studied emerging technology with potential to facilitate sustainability agendas in urban transportation (e.g. active, multi-modal, low-carbon mobility).Little to no research has been conducted on e-bikes in Canadian urban contexts where sprawl and car dependency are predominant. E-bikes may be a viable substitute for cars for shorter commutes, yet weight, winter weather, and battery life remain barriers.Automobile dependency is widely regarded as unsustainable and non-conducive to the newer Smart Growth planning paradigm. The need for reform in transportation behaviour, policy, and infrastructure is topping urban political agendas globally. E-bikes are one emerging technology with promise for advancing sustainability agendas. E-bikes are revolutionizing transportation in China and parts of Europe, yet little is known about user patterns in North America, particularly Canadian cities where uptake tends to lag. Through longitudinal focus groups and interviews we explore the changing behaviours, experiences, and perceptions of a group of novice e-bike riders over a three-year period in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario in order to expand upon the limited knowledge base on urban e-bike usage, impacts, and challenges. Prevailing themes discussed include the types of trips e-bikes are typically used for, implications for physical activity, prospects for enabling a modal shift away from cars and encouraging multi-modal transit, and limitations (e.g., battery restrictions, heavy weight, lack of infrastructure, fear of theft, winter weather, etc.). Further research is needed to better understand how e-bikes influence physical activity, social determinants of health, and safety; how demographic and physical environmental factors influence individual decisions around modal shift; and differences in use patterns between avid and novice cyclists.

There is a large and growing body of research acknowledging the existence of health disparities between foreign-born and native-born populations in many high immigrant-receiving countries. Significant attention has been paid to the role of physical and social environments in the changing health status of immigrants over time. However, very limited attention has been given to these issues within the context of rural geographies, despite global evidence that immigrants are increasingly settling outside of traditional gateway cities and into rural communities. This paper presents the results of a scoping review aimed at assessing the state of knowledge on the health impacts of immigrant migration into rural communities in Canada. Guided by Arksey and O’Malley’s scoping protocol, we conduct a review of academic literature in Canada related to rural migration. A total of 25 articles met inclusion criteria which included access to the social determinants of health. Findings identified a paucity of research directly connecting rural settlement to health but the literature did emphasize five distinct social determinants of health for rural residing immigrants: social inclusion, culturally-appropriate services, gender, employment, and housing. This paper concludes with an identification of research gaps and opportunities for future research into whether rural-residing immigrants face a double burden with respect to health inequity.