In Depth
Immigration
Canada's newcomers: Immigration patterns
Last Updated December 4, 2007
CBC News
The Top 10 countries of origin for immigrants to Canada between 2001 and 2006:
- China - 155,105
- India - 129,140
- Philippines - 77,880
- Pakistan - 57,630
- United States - 38,770
- South Korea - 35,450
- Romania - 28,080
- Iran - 27,600
- United Kingdom - 25,655
- Colombia - 25,310
- United Kingdom
- Italy
- U.S.
- Germany
- Portugal
- Netherlands
- India
- Poland
- China
- Countries of the former Yugoslavia
Between 2001 and 2006, Canada admitted 1.1 million immigrants. For the first time in 75 years, one in five Canadian residents were born outside the country. Canada's per-capita immigration rate is roughly double that of the United States.
Where do they go? In 2006, new immigrants lived in:
- Ontario: 52.3 per cent
- Quebec: 17.5 per cent
- British Columbia: 16.0 per cent
- Alberta: 9.3 per cent
- Manitoba: 2.8 per cent
- Other provinces and territories: 2.1 per cent
Between 2001 and 2006, 68.9 per cent of immigrants ended up in Canada's largest cities: Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal.
- 447,900 chose to settle in Toronto.
- 165,300 chose to settle in Montreal.
- 151,700 chose to settle in Vancouver.
Those headed to Toronto tend to come from India and China.
Immigrants to Montreal tend to come from Asia and the Middle East, specifically China, Lebanon and Pakistan.
Immigrants to Vancouver tend to come from China and India.
ChildrenOne in five immigrants between 2001 and 2006 were schoolchildren aged 14 and under. Here's how it breaks down in the metropolitan areas:
- Toronto: of the 789,400 children between the age of five and 16 in the Metropolitan Toronto area, 10.5 per cent of them were recent immigrants.
- Montreal: of the 526,200 children between the age of 5 and 16 in the Montreal area, one in 10 were born outside of the country.
- Vancouver: of the 296,800 children between the age of 5 and 16 in the Vancouver area, 9.3 per cent were new to Canada.
Three-quarters of immigrants arriving in Canada during the 1990s were visible minorities.
On the flip side, three out of every 10 individuals who were visible minorities were born in Canada. Visible minorities who are most likely to be Canadian-born:
- Japanese (65 per cent)
- Blacks (45 per cent)
- Chinese (25 per cent)
- Arabs and West Indians (21 per cent)
- Latin Americans (20 per cent)
- Koreans (17 per cent)
Chinese are the most populous visible minority in Canada numbering one million. South Asians come in at number 2 with 917,000 people.
While the 2001 census, the most recent ethnicity figures, reported Canada had people from 200 cultural backgrounds, 39 per cent of the total population reported their ethnic heritage as "Canadian."
Canadian was the most frequently reported origin (alone or in combination with other origins) in almost all provinces in 2001. The exceptions were Saskatchewan, where German was the most frequently reported origin; British Columbia, where English was the most frequent origin; North American Indian in the Northwest Territories; and Inuit in Nunavut.
Top non-official languages spoken at home:- Chinese*
- Italian
- German
- Punjabi
- Spanish
- Arabic
- Tagalog (Filipino)
- Portuguese
- Polish
- Urdu
*reported as Chinese, Cantonese, Mandarin, Hakka, Taiwanese, Chaochow (Teochow), Fukien and Shanghainese
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