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.

Distributional injustices have been documented by many environmental justice scholars in recent years, while procedural justice issues remain less explored. For instance, immigrants and newcomers disproportionately experience substandard housing conditions and discrimination in the housing market, but few studies have examined how immigrant communities are seeking to improve their living conditions or engage in related governance and advocacy processes. Drawing upon interviews and focus groups with residents, community organisers and representatives from social service agencies in Rexdale, an inner suburb of Toronto, this paper examines how immigrants and newcomers are reacting or taking action to improve conditions in a high-rise neighbourhood at the scale of their housing units, high-rise buildings, and neighbourhood. Through a procedural justice lens, cumulative, multi-scale injustices experienced by immigrants and newcomers are revealed. Findings reveal obstacles and barriers that are preventing immigrants from engaging in advocacy and other means of improving their living conditions, in addition to opportunities for increasing newcomer participation in housing and neighbourhood improvement efforts.