Finding Care and Community: Malvern’s Tamil Youth

The Greater Toronto Area is home to newcomers everyday. The city offers opportunity, getting good health care isn’t always easy for those just arriving and settling in. Many newcomers face language barriers, long wait times, or trouble navigating and understanding complex systems. Over time, these challenges can have a real impact on their health and sense of belonging. Thankfully, community health centres across the country are working hard to change this. They provide care that's welcoming, culturally responsive, and designed for the needs of newcomers. From health education to mental health support, these local services are often a lifeline for new residents.

In the next few blogs, I’ll take you on a tour of some Greater Toronto Area (GTA) neighbourhoods. In each, I’ll highlight a major newcomer community and their unique challenges, developments, what still needs improvement, and why these stories matter.

Greater Toronto Area Administrative and political map [Photo: DSpaceca] 

Extensive research shows that newcomers often arrive in Canada much healthier than their Canadian counterparts, a pattern well known as the “healthy immigrant effect”. But over time, their health drastically declines. Many newcomers struggle to find their way through the new and complex healthcare system, often relying on emergency care when regular support would be better and less costly. A study has confirmed that investing in navigation and community based care for newcomers is not only healthier for individuals, but also more affordable for the system as a whole.

With this in mind, let’s take a closer look at Malvern, located in East Toronto, this neighbourhood is known for its South Asian population with families from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, and Sri Lanka among others. I’ll be focusing on the Sri Lankan Tamil community for this blog as Malvern become a major settlement area for Sri Lakan Tamil refugees who fled their home country facing ethnic genocide from 1970s to 2009. Many that reestablished themselves in Canada were able to reunite with their family through Canada’s family reunification policy. Like many newcomers, these communities settled in low income neighbourhoods before gradually advancing through education, entrepreneurship, and community building.

Sri Lanka Conflict Timeline [Photo: Newcomer Health Hub]

Cultural Context

Sri Lankan Tamil culture, like many minority cultures deeply values strong community, family reputation and resilience. While they have created strong social ties, it has also reinforced mental health stigma and gender roles.

As first generation Tamil newcomers carry trauma from the genocide, the constant fear of hardships and displacement, the second generation are navigating intergenerational and cultural trauma. This generational gap is leaving youth feeling torn between expectations at home and the realities of growing up in Canada. It reminds me of the show, Never Have I Ever, although this show is based on an Indian Tamil family, it captures the push and pull of trying to honour family culture, community remarks, and finding your own voice. 

Barriers 

A small study of second Generation Tamil youth in the GTA offered meaningful insights to how young people are struggling to access mental health support.

Schools and Universities are the initial places youth learn about counselling and turn to for help. However, the issue with schools has been they provide academic counselling but not mental health counselling. On the other hand, universities normally have limited appointments and so found to be full every time visited or having to wait for months in an emergency situation before getting an appointment.

All participants also expressed a strong desire to speak with a professional ideally from the same background as they are more likely to understand the cultural family conflicts, pressures, relationships, and family dynamics. 

While participants were aware of local community programs like Scarborough Centre for Healthy Communities (SCHC), Youthlink, and the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) among many others, they all went to Canadian Tamil Youth Development (CanTYD) because of its extended hours, Tamil speaking youth staff, allowing them to feel culturally safe and approachable. Affordability and privacy were also barriers why many avoided using insurance as the parents name appears on the insurance used rather than the university name at the university billing.

Family Dynamics

Many also talked about cultural and generational barriers that made it hard to seek help. Such as the inability to openly express themselves at home due to gender expectations or family reputations in the community. One participant explained: “Our parents come from a war torn area and worked so hard to rebuild their lives here. When we talk about stress, they compare it to surviving war. It’s hard for them to see that our struggles are real too.” Many others also said they waited until they were working or living independently to reach out for help because their parents wouldn’t want them to talk about their problems to strangers. 

Improvements Suggestions by Participants

• Family education sessions and open conversations about mental health could help bridge this gap over time as many parents are starting to open up and understand about mental health needs. However, they also believe they would restrain from taking part in these services as it completely goes against their traditional values and fear of being judged in the community

• Integration of mental health counselling directly into schools for early prevention 

• After school or mentorship programs like Big Brothers Big Sisters that normalize conversations about mental health and connect youth with culturally aware professionals 

• Extended hours and walk in options for university and community based mental health services to meet flexible schedules

• Community led, culturally grounded care like that offered by CanTYD so they are seen, heard, and provided with culturally responsive navigation tools

Reflection

Malvern’s story highlights the urgent need for culturally responsive and accessible mental health care for newcomer youth. It also shows how strong community leadership like the efforts of CanTYD can make a real difference in reducing these gaps and having a safe and trusted space for youth. For many Tamil youth, the issue isn’t just about accessing services, but about finding care that speaks and understands their language.  

---

Where We Go Next

In the next blog, we’ll explore Etobicoke neighbourhoods and their experiences of integration post migration, navigate care services and the ongoing systematic barriers, cultural stigma, and housing insecurity. Taking a closer look at how these uniquely affect residents and the role of community led initiatives if any.