Immigration Arrivals

A total of 252,124 people immigrated to Canada in 2009, with the majority settling in the provinces of Ontario (42%), Quebec (20%) and British Columbia (16%). Economic immigrants accounted for 61% of the total, followed by family class immigrants, who accounted for 26% of total immigrants to Canada. In 2009, immigration to Canada increased 1.9% from the previous year, with the total number of immigrants well within the planned range as set by Citizenship and Immigration Canada. The percentage of immigrants from each region as a proportion of total immigrants to Canada has remained relatively stable over the past five years. Asia Pacific, as in previous years, is the largest immigrant source for Canada. The proportion of immigrants from Asia Pacific has fluctuated around 50% in the past five years.

Source: Based on original data from Citizenship and Immigration Canada, RDM, Facts and Figures 2009, 14 June 2010.

Immigration to Canada from the Asia Pacific region has been a relatively recent phenomenon. Prior to the 1960s, China and India were the only countries in the region which represented a significant source of immigrants. With the liberalization of Canadian immigration policy, the 1970s saw the first significant waves of immigration from Asia from such sources as Hong Kong, South Korea, Philippines and Taiwan. Regional unrest also brought immigrants from Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam - many coming to Canada as refugee claimants. Immigration from Asia Pacific continued to rise during the1980s, with expanding numbers from other countries in the region, including Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. The largest source of immigrants from the region in the 2000s so far has been China, followed by India, the traditional sources in the Asia Pacific. Has immigration steadily declined from any source countries during the past 45 years? Only Australia stands out.

Source:Statistics Canada, 2006 Census of Population, Statistics Canada catalogue no. 97-557-XCB2006007. 22 June 2009.

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Top Asian Countries

In recent years more than half of all immigrants from the top Asian source countries have entered Canada under the economic immigrants class. Refugees have steadily declined since 2005, accounting for just 3% of immigrants from the top Asian source countries in 2009. Family immigration has remained relatively stable, hovering around 26-34%, peaking at 34.6% in 2006. It is interesting to note the changes in composition, for specific countries, over the past five years. Vietnamese migration to Canada has undergone a shift with a greater proportion of Vietnamese entering Canada under the economic immigrant class (an increase of 16 percentage points) and a smaller proportion of Vietnamese coming in under the family class (a decrease of 15 percentage points). Taiwanese immigration has also experienced a shift, with the proportion of economic immigrants entering Canada decreasing five percentage points and the proportion of family class immigrants increasing five percentage points.

Source: Based on original data from Citizenship and Immigration Canada, Permanent Residents by Source Country and Category 2009, 14 June 2010.

Notes: 1. The ‘Other’ category is comprised of all other immigrants who do not qualify in any of the other three categories.
2. Due to privacy considerations, some cells in this table have been suppressed and replaced with the notation ”–”. 

All Categories

For the 12th consecutive year, China was the leading source country of immigrants to Canada. In 2009, immigrants from China accounted for 11% of new immigrants to Canada and 25% of Canada’s Asian source countries. Immigration from India – Canada’s second largest source country since 1995, except for 2009 – increased by 6% from the previous year’s level. The Philippines bumped India to become the second largest source of immigrants to Canada in 2009 with a 14% increase over 2008. Hong Kong, the number one Asian immigration source from 1987-1997, has declined steadily and now represents only 0.8% of immigrants from this grouping, and ranks 13th in Asian immigration to Canada.

Source: Based on original data from Citizenship and Immigration Canada, Permanent Residents by Source Country and Category 2009, 14 June 2010. 

Note: “Other Asia” includes Australia, Cambodia, Fiji, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, New Zealand, Singapore and Thailand.

Family

Canadian citizens and permanent residents over 18 years of age may sponsor family members wishing to immigrate to Canada. Sponsors must agree to support the family member and accompanying dependents for their first 3 to 10 years in Canada – the length of time depends upon the immigrant’s age and relationship to the sponsor. In 2009, 28% of immigrants from the top immigration source countries in the Asia Pacific came under family class, an increase of 0.1% or about 35 persons from the previous year. India, the largest source country for this category, represents 36% of Asian family-class immigrants to Canada.

Source: Based on original data from Citizenship and Immigration Canada, Permanent Residents by Source Country and Category 2009, 14 June 2010. 

Economic Immigrants

Economic immigrants are people selected for their skills and ability to contribute to Canada’s economy, including skilled workers, business immigrants, provincial and territorial nominees and live-in caregivers. In 2002, the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act was introduced to replace the Immigration Act of 1976. The new act introduced a more flexible selection criteria with more emphasis on applicants’ education and skills rather than on their intended occupation. This selection criteria, or the “point” system, focuses on education, knowledge of English and/or French, experience, age, arranged occupation in Canada and adaptability.

In 2009, 60% of all immigrants from the top Asian source countries were economic immigrants, a decrease of 1 percentage point from 2008. Economic immigrants comprise over half of immigrants from Bangladesh, China, India, Philippines, South Korea and Taiwan, representing 59%, 67%, 51%, 84%, 83% and 83% of immigrants respectively.

Source:  Based on original data from Citizenship and Immigration Canada, Permanent Residents by Source Country and Category 2009, 14 June 2010. 

Refugees

Canada accepts between 20,000 and 30,000 Convention refugees and other displaced persons each year. In 2009, 22,844 refugees became permanent residents with government-assisted refugees and inland determination refugees accounting for over half of total refugees. In 2009, Sri Lanka was the largest source of refugee applicants from Asia followed by China. Together, both countries accounted for over 66% of refugee immigrants from Asia.

Source: Based on original data from Citizenship and Immigration Canada, Permanent Residents by Source Country and Category 2009, 14 June 2010. 

Note: Due to privacy considerations, some cells in this table have been suppressed and replaced with the notation “–”. 

Other Categories

The “other” category consists of immigrants who do not qualify in any of the three categories above. In 2009, 10,634 immigrants from the “other” category became permanent residents. About two-thirds, approximately 69%, of these immigrants are other humanitarian and compassionate cases outside the family class and/or public policy.

Source: Based on original data from Citizenship and Immigration Canada, Permanent Residents by Source Country and Category 2009, 14 June 2010.

Notes: 1) Due to privacy considerations, some cells in this table have been suppressed and replaced with the notation ”–”. 

2) Immigration figures for each country listed in the above tables refer to permanent residents by source country.