Immigration Minister Sean Fraser recently said that Canada reached the 300,000 mark earlier this year, more than any previous year. Since the founding of the Federation in 1867, Canada has welcomed over 300,000 immigrants in one year only six times between 1911 and 1913 and 2018, 2019 and 2021.
After COVID-19 related travel restrictions resulted in a drop in the number of new immigrants in 2020, the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) added immigration in 2021, ending the year with a record 405,330 new immigrants. Even so, IRCC did not break through the 300,000 mark until the fourth quarter of that year.
So far, public data on the IRCC official website reports the number of new immigrants as of June 2022. Results for July and August will be announced in the coming months.
As of the end of June, about 231,620 new immigrants came to Canada. The difference between the figures from late June to August suggests that Canada welcomed about 68,000 permanent residents in two months.
If this ratio remains unchanged for the remaining four months of the year, Canada could reach its target of even more than 431,000 new immigrants in 2022. If the immigration department reaches this goal, it will surpass the previous record set in 2021.
The existing data shows us which countries immigrants come from and the Canadian provinces and regions where they log into.
India is still the largest source of new immigrants. In the first half of this year, 68,280 Indians have obtained Canadian permanent residence , accounting for 29% of all immigrants to Canada. Indian citizens have been the largest source of new immigrants in Canada since 2017.
China ranked second, with 16,540 new immigrants logging into Canada in the first half of the year. Philippines ranks third.
After the Taliban took over, the permanent residents from Afghanistan increased significantly. In 2021, Afghanistan was the 9th most popular source of new immigrants, and the federal government promised to relocate 40,000 refugees after the influx of Afghan immigrants into Canada in the second half of 2021.
So far this year, Afghanistan ranks fourth. As of August 31, 2022, approximately 18,075 refugees have arrived in Canada under the new Afghan permanent residence program.
The province with the most new immigrants logged in is still Ontario . In the first six months of this year, a total of 101,155 new immigrants immigrated to Ontario, almost three times the second place BC . By the end of June, BC accepted 36,700 new permanent residents.
Quebec overall welcomes the third largest immigrant, with 31,880 people in the first half of this year. Alberta ranks fourth with 26,920 new immigrants.
