According to a new study by the Institut de recherche Robert-Sauvé en santé et en sécurité du travail (IRSST), up to 80 per cent of people injured on the job in Montreal and requiring rehabilitation are immigrants.

IRSST researcher Jessica Dubé said the province's workers health and safety commission (Commission des normes, de l'équité, de la santé et de la sécurité du travail - CNESST) reports that the majority of its cases involve immigrants -- compared to a decade ago, when the majority involved Quebec workers.

"We spoke with occupational health and safety commission employees, injured immigrant workers, rehabilitation counsellors, employers and doctors," Dubé said in an interview Tuesday. "We wanted to understand the different issues in the vocational rehabilitation process for immigrant workers."

She said the increase in injuries involving immigrants can be explained in part by the growing immigrant population in Montreal and the sectors in which they choose to work - or are pushed to work.

Dubé explained that many immigrants face barriers in the labour market, such as the non-recognition of their diplomas and accreditations by Quebec professional orders. These difficulties sometimes lead immigrants to accept jobs for which they do not have the right skills or training, which she said increases the risk of injury.

The study shows that some of the industries that lead to many injuries - and that include a high percentage of immigrants - include agriculture, manufacturing, and health and social services, which tend to involve long hours, strenuous work and manual labour.

"These jobs carry a higher risk of injury because they are highly manual and repetitive," the researcher said.

In addition, immigrants may not be aware that they can report injuries and possibly receive compensation, Dubé said.

"In some cases, they will wait to report the injury, or not report it at all, and in other cases, they will wait until the injury gets worse or becomes chronic before reporting the injury, which may explain to some extent why we find so many immigrant workers in rehabilitation," she explained.

The researcher added that some workers will not report their injuries for fear of retaliation and dismissal.

Dubé called the results of the study disturbing and said one of the goals is to raise awareness of the situation.

"We also hope it will lead to changes in policies related to occupational health and safety," she said. "And possibly new intervention strategies that will help doctors and employers facilitate the process of getting workers back to work."

The study is ongoing, and full results will not be available until June.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Dec. 21, 2022.

This story was written with the financial assistance of Meta and The Canadian Press News Fellowships.