Environics Institute of Canada and Century Initiative have released survey results on Canadian’s attitudes towards immigration. Environics Institute gathers information on Canadian issues and conducts public opinion polls on issues such as the government and the economy. To achieve 100,000,000 Canadians living in the country by 2100, business executives and academics founded the Century Initiative. According to the survey, more Canadian believe that Canadian immigration is more important than ever before. About 70% of Canadians answered negatively or very negatively when asked if Canada’s immigration numbers were too high.
At 23% of Canada’s population, immigrants makeup 8.3 million of its population as of the 2021 census, making Canadian immigration more desirable than ever. By 2041, it is expected that this number would increase to 34%.
2,000 Canadians were contacted by phone between September 6 and August 30, 2022, to get the data. Result accuracy is +/- 2.2 percentage points in 19 out of 20 samples from a population of this size.
Political preferences continue to be correlated with support for immigration and immigrants in all responses from the study, as they have been in previous years. Support for higher immigration levels has increased among Liberal Party (81%, an increase of 4) supporters, NDP (85%, an increase of 4) supporters, and Green Party (84%, an increase of 19) supporters. Conservative supporters, however, think immigration levels are too high 43% of the time, a 1% drop from 2021.
Despite pandemic challenges, Canadian immigration support remains high
Despite dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic’s aftermath, a labor shortage, and an unprecedented number of job openings, Canada has witnessed a record number of job openings in recent months. A new Immigration Levels Plan was created by Canada as a response. Currently, the government wants to add between 432,000 and 451,000 new immigrants to Canada by 2024. New schemes are expected by November 1st.
According to a survey, more than 50% of Canadians think immigration will help grow the country’s population. Manitobans and Saskatchewan have changed their opinions by 15 points compared to the previous year. Alberta and Ontario both gained three points.
Immigration is considered essential to the growth of Canada’s economy. A growing population also means a border tax base for Canada. In accordance with the most recent census, the majority of new immigrants are working age, which means they will be contributing to the economy by paying income tax.
A majority of Canadians support welcoming more refugees
Respondents supported Canada’s commitment to offering refugee families a safe home, particularly those coming from war-torn countries. It has been shown that some Canadians are concerned about refugees’ ability to adapt to Canadian society and how this could affect the nation’s cultural identity. As a result, Quebec’s distinctively francophone culture and character are actively defended by policies on economic immigration.
According to the findings, a growing majority of Canadians, including Quebec, reject the idea that Canada welcomes too many immigrants from colored countries.
A majority of Canadians still believe that some refugees are not “genuine” or “legitimate”. Accordingly, the percentage of respondents who hold this belief is firmer among supporters of the Conservative party or the Bloc Quebecois. According to a study from 2021, Albertans are more likely to agree than Atlantic Canadians, which rose eight points.
It also showed that the majority of Canadians disagree with the notion that racial minorities are overrepresented in the country. Most people who are over 60 or don’t have a high school diploma agree with this statement.
It represents a significant shift in public opinion compared to the general data from the 1990s.
Refugees from war zones were likely not to be accepted by specific nations when specific nations were identified. A few respondents used the example of Ukraine as an example, while others used Afghanistan as an example. The findings indicate a marginal but not significant difference in the favor of Ukrainian refugees over Afghan refugees.
