Canadian Institute of Environmental Studies has partnered with Century Initiative to release survey data on Canada’s perceptions of immigration. The Environics Institute is a research institute that conducts polls and collects data on issues such as the Canadian government or the economy. Century Initiative is a registered charity run by business leaders and academics that advocates the population of Canada to reach 100,000,000 by 2100. The overall result of the
survey is that more Canadians support more immigration than ever before. When asked if Canada’s immigration levels were too high, nearly 70% of Canadians expressed disagreement or strongly disagree.
This is the biggest support for immigration in the survey’s 45-year history, and the 2021 census data shows that immigrants account for 23% of Canada’s total population, or 8.3 million. It expects that number to increase to 34% by 2041.
data were collected through telephone interviews with 2,000 Canadians between September 6 and 30, 2022. Samples of this size drawn from the population produced results in 19 of 20 samples with a accuracy of plus or minus 2.2 percentage points.
In all replies, as in previous years, the study found that support for immigrants and immigrants was often associated with individuals’ political inclinations. Overall support for the improvement of immigration levels has increased since 2021 by the Federal Liberal Party (79%, up 4), New Democratic Party (85%, up 4) and Green Party (84%, up 19). Conversely, 43% of Conservative supporters believe immigration levels are too high, but that is still a 1% drop from the 2021 study.
Support immigration despite pandemic difficulties
The data comes as Canada is coping with the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, historic labor shortages and record 1 million job openings. In response, Canada has been improving the goals in the program’s plans. The current plan aims to add nearly 432,000 to 451,000 new immigrants in Canada by 2024. The new plan is expected to be released by November 1.
More than 50% of Canadians surveyed believe that Canada needs more immigrants to increase the population. The most significant changes compared to the 2021 data suggest that people in Manitoba and Saskatchewan have changed their views, up 15 percentage points from the previous year. Alberta and Ontario also rose by 3 points.
The number of immigrants in the Atlantic province of Canada has tripled over the past five years, but support for immigration is less than in the past, down 9 percentage points.
There is also a common feeling that immigration is crucial to Canada's economic growth. Canada has also increased its tax base through immigration.
Recent census reports that two-thirds of new Canadian immigrants are at working age, meaning that most new Canadian immigrants will pay income taxes for systems such as economy and health care and education.
Canadians believe in accepting more refugees
Most respondents are positive about Canada’s commitment to providing safe shelter for refugees, especially for those fleeing the conflict zone. However, the survey shows that some people are concerned about the ability of refugees to integrate into Canadian society and the impact this has on the country’s culture and identity. This is particularly notable in Quebec , the province strives to implement economic immigration policies that promote its unique French-speaking culture and identity.
However, when asked whether Canada has accepted too many immigration from racialized countries, the results show that more and more Canadians, including Quebec, have rejected the idea.
There are still some beliefs among Canadians, and 37% agree or strongly agree that some refugees are not legal or “real” refugees. Like all other questions, among supporters of the Conservative Party or Quebec Group, the proportion of respondents who insisted on this belief was higher. Regionally, Alberta believes this is the most, but Canadians along the Atlantic are increasingly agreeing, an increase of 8 percentage points from the 2021 survey.
Nevertheless, the survey shows that Canada as a whole refuses to accept the idea of how many minority immigrants there are in Canada. Those who agree with this statement are generally over 60 years old or do not have a high school diploma.
This is a significant change compared to the overall data from the 1990s, when the public's perception of the issue was almost equally divided.
Overall, when referring to a particular country, there is little change in perceptions about accepting refugees from conflict areas. Some respondents were cited as examples of conflict areas such as Ukraine, while others were asked about conflict areas such as Afghanistan . The results show that support for Ukrainian refugees is slightly different from that for refugees from Afghanistan, but not much.
