SaskatchewanResearchers say barriers in schools, stigma and language gaps leave migrant youth with less access to sexual health education.Researchers say trends reflect systemic barriers, not individual choicesSarah Onyango · CBC News · Posted: Sep 27, 2025 6:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 3 hours agoResearchers recommend comprehensive, culturally relevant and accurate sexual health education in schools, preferably occurring more than once in high school for newcomer students. (CBC)Teens who are new to Canada are having less sex than their Canadian-born peers, but when they do they’re less likely to use contraception, according to new research.The study, led by researchers at the University of British Columbia and the University of Regina, found that while rates of sexual activity among 15-year-olds have declined overall in the past decade, contraception use among migrant youth is falling even faster.”Among migrant youth who have had sex, there have been declines in using birth control pills and condoms,” said Daniel Ji, an assistant professor at the University of Regina and co-author of the study. “This is a concern for preventing unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections.”The team analyzed responses from more than 30,000 Canadian teens in the international Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) surveys from 2014, 2018 and 2022.The survey asked whether teens had ever had sex and if they had used protection the most recent time.”They’re not using birth control or they’re not using condoms or, what would be ideal, using both,” said Elizabeth Saewyc, director of UBC’s school of nursing and the Stigma and Resilience Among Vulnerable Youth Centre.”They also talked about not necessarily having access to knowing where to go to get the kind of sexual health information or resources to be able to protect themselves.”Missing key lessonsJi said the numbers mainly point to systemic barriers facing newcomer teens, not individual choices.”Gaps in school-based sexual health education, cultural stigma and limited access to youth-friendly services,” he told The Morning Edition’s Adam Hunter. A youth advisory group made up of migrant teens helped interpret the findings. They pointed to several challenges.”Some of the things they talked about were missing the time in the school year when sexual health education might be provided in school, or not necessarily having the language skills to be able to participate in that,” Saewyc said.Cultural stigma was another factor.”They talked about there being potentially a cultural stigma in their family or their culture of origin around using birth control or being sexually active,” Saewyc said.Filling the gapsBoth Ji and Saewyc say tackling that stigma is key.”It’s important to challenge the stigma that’s associated with contraception use among migrant youth by normalizing these discussions about sexual health with families and in schools,” Ji said.WATCH | Researchers discuss their study on CBC’s Morning Edition: New study highlights gaps in sexual health education for migrant teensResearch has found that teens new to Canada are less sexually active than their Canadian-born peers and their use of contraception is declining. Saewyc said that when sex education isn’t offered in schools, teens often turn to social media platforms like TikTok, which does not necessarily give accurate guidance and “may not give them the kind of information about consent and about being able to avoid circumstances where they might be placed in an unsafe situation.”Both researchers say addressing the gaps will require changes in schools, health care and communities.Ji said those changes can be quite simple.”The key take away for me would be that migrant youth really do need to have up-to-date, scientifically accurate medical information and education to be able to make sexual health decisions that are going to be safe and healthy,” he said.ABOUT THE AUTHORSarah Onyango is a reporter and producer at CBC Saskatchewan. She holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism at the University of Regina. Sarah is passionate about diverse storytelling in Saskatchewan. She can be reached at sarah.onyango@cbc.caWith files from CBC’s Morning Edition
Study finds newcomer teens in Canada less likely to use contraception
