New Trend: Immigrants moving to smaller cities in Canada

Some years ago, immigrants preferred to settle in popular cities such as Toronto, Calgary, Montreal, and Vancouver. However, a new immigration trend is emerging now. The Ryerson University paper has outlined the findings in a recent survey. The survey reveals that smaller Canadian cities are now in a good position to attract a large number of immigration candidates. Between 2013 and 2019, the number of immigrants coming to Canada and settling in small cities increased by 45 percent. And the number of new immigrants settling in the Census Metropolitan Areas (CMAs) increased by 40 percent. While the immigration numbers went up by 9 percent only in the four big Canadian cities. CMAs: These are major centers that are located around a population center such as Toronto. The city of Toronto, Brampton, Pickering, Vaughan, and Mississauga are part of the Toronto CMA. We can infer from this data that a large number of newcomers are now choosing to move to small cities.

Immigration rate in urban centers

Around 14 Canadian urban centers enjoy an immigration rate of 100 per 10,000 inhabitants. The below-mentioned cities have good immigration rates:

Regina
Saskatoon
Halifax
Moncton
Winkler
Brandon
Brooks
Wood Buffalo
Charlottetown
Swift Current
Fredericton
Steinbach
Thompson
High River

These urban cities saw a great rise in the count of new permanent residents. As these urban centers have low population and labor shortages, the requirement of immigrants is high. Also, most of these cities have a declining population as the birth rate is less than the death rate. So, these cities are in dire need of immigrants to sustain their economy. However, in 2020, several immigrants who have received their COPR (Confirmation of Permanent Residence) could not arrive in Canada due to travel restrictions. So, employers hired temporary foreign workers to meet the labor shortages in some fields like fish processing and agriculture.

How did smaller cities manage to attract immigrants?

Several factors contributed to the rise of immigration numbers in small cities. Canada has many regional programs to attract newcomers. These regional immigration programs are becoming beneficial for both immigrants and Canadian cities. The Provincial Nominee Programs are the best means to immigrate to the urban centers of all Canadian provinces. Each Canadian province has its PNP through which it nominates candidates to secure Permanent Residence. The number of immigrants settled in Canada through the Provincial Nominee Programs was 68,600 in 2019. While in 2017, around 47,600 people applied through the PNP. Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and British Columbia are popular provinces among the immigrants. Another program is the Atlantic Immigration Pilot that has supported the increase of immigration levels in some Canadian provinces. It was launched in 2017 to improve the hiring process in four Atlantic provinces. The AIP is now helping the Atlantic provinces such as New Brunswick and Nova Scotia to retain new immigrants. Further, the increase in higher regional immigration can also be attributed to the higher immigration target set by the Government of Canada. The IRCC is committed to welcoming nearly 1.2 million immigrants in the coming years.