Immigrants 'Marooned' In Suburban Ocean

"[The transition to suburban life for many immigrant women] can be a recipe for depression and resentment, which often can't be expressed, since the village atmosphere of home is replaced by compartmentalized, isolated suburban living...'Back home, you have your uncles and your cousins,' says Dhaya Lingam, a Tamil woman in her 50s who lives across from the Elango home. 'Here, it's strangers.'

Ms. Taylor Simpson was struck by similar statements during two years of consultations with community groups in her former role at York Region. 'It was life altering for me to really hear, particularly in these rapidly growing suburban communities, how much this loss of a sense of community really, really impacted people in a deep and spiritual and quality-of-life kind of way,' she says."

"Over time, the transition eases, especially as children mature and provide a bridge between their parents and the mainstream community. It's during the intervening years that the stress can become just too much."

"'I think people are marooned out in the ocean, they're on an island," Mr. Cousens says. 'They are Robinson Crusoes. They are building their own little new home and they are struggling and it is not easy.'"