(ii) Employment & Income A large proportion of our participants (59.8%, n=61) reported that they currently work. Of those that do work, more than half (53.3%, n=59) of respondents indicated that their annual income is below $39,999. Of the participants who are currently students, about half (48.1%, n=25) of students do not work and rely solely on the support of their family for the coverage of tuition and living expenses. (iii) Settlement Experiences Feeling connected to others was reported to be a significant concern for more than half (57.6%, n=53) of participants. Even though participants largely reported feeling welcomed by their immediate networks, including school campuses (54.3%, n=50), the greater Asian community (44.7%, n=41) and the 2SLGBTQ+ communities (44.7%, n=41) here in Toronto, a noticeable proportion (29.4%, n=27) distinctly reported not feeling welcomed by the 2SLGBTQ+ community specifically. A more telling finding is that one third (41.3%, n=38) of participants felt like they did not belong, even amongst these communities and those that they knew. “In the first year, I'm also struggling with my identity. I don't know how do I fit into both communities, but I don't also want to just fit into either one. So like it's kind of like a struggle for myself. […] I just find it weird when I hear like Canadian-Asians or like Asian-Canadians talking about Asian-ness because I would just be like, what do you mean by that? Because I didn't understand what do you mean by Asian-ness because I'm Asian, like I'm not even Canadian so like the Asian-ness you're talking about is something that I already have, like, yeah. So I feel like because I have that struggle … because we are coming from different background or like culture, so like, I kind of like hesitate to make some new friends here.” - ISgbMSM from Hong Kong, age 22 Concerns amongst ISgbMSM about discrimination based on their sexuality and race were assessed, and while marginal, it was worthwhile to note that more individuals reported greater concern for racism (39.1%, n=36) as opposed to concern for homophobia (31.5%, n=29).
ACAS2019/2020 ANNUAL REPORT
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