Displacement, COVID-19, and Food Security: A Photovoice Study with Resettled Syrian Women in Kitchener-Waterloo, Canada

This paper examines the multiple ways forced migration and the COVID-19 pandemic shaped the food security experiences and food-focused activities of resettled Syrian women in Kitchener-Waterloo, Canada. Based on a participatory Photovoice study with 11 Syrian women, it explores how displacement undermines food security, including cultural food security, and why recovery remains difficult even after resettlement in a high-income country like Canada. Participants reported that forced migration from Syria disrupted their regular food practices and food consumption due to financial constraints and limited access to familiar ingredients, creating a persistent gap between food memories, rituals, and available diets. While resettlement in Canada increased food availability, many families still faced challenges in accessing healthy and culturally appropriate foods. The COVID-19 pandemic worsened these gaps through food inflation, mobility restrictions, social distancing requirements, increased financial pressures, chronic illness, and gendered care-based duties. It also disrupted food-centred social and religious rituals, such as communal meals during Ramadan and Eid. As primary caregivers in their households, women faced greater domestic pressures even as they developed new food-related coping strategies.