What role can citizenship play in the social determinants of health?
Research shows that becoming a citizen has important economic and social benefits that could result in positive health outcomes for individuals and society. These positive health outcomes are at play through a few key social determinants of health. They work through income, employment, and working conditions because the majority of immigrants to Canada are economic class immigrants. But they also work through social inclusion and cohesion, because once here, community connections, language, accessible services, discrimination, racism and other factors all play into whether someone can maintain good health and thrive.
What role then, does citizenship play in the social determinants of health? We don’t have all the evidence about the relationship between citizenship and health. While there is some evidence that citizens do better, we do not yet know why. This think piece explores these questions about the connections between citizenship and health.