Majority of Canadians worried that immigration levels remain “too high” despite government’s pledge to cutback new arrivals

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Despite the federal government’s pledge to decrease immigration targets in the coming years, most Canadians still feel too many newcomers are arriving, a new national poll has found.

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A majority (58 per cent) of Canadians polled in a survey conducted by Leger for the Association of Canadian Studies (ACS) still feel there are “too many” immigrants, compared with just three per cent who say there are “too few.” Slightly less than a third of respondents (29 per cent) say Canada’s immigration levels are about right.

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The belief was widely held across the country, with majorities in Alberta (61 per cent), Ontario (59 per cent), Quebec (58 per cent) and British Columbia (56 per cent) agreeing that immigration levels remained too high. Frustration with large-scale immigration was also shared among all age groups surveyed. Just over half (52 per cent) of 18 to 34 year olds and nearly two-thirds (63 per cent) of 35 to 54 year olds were concerned by the level of immigration. Notably, almost half (49 per cent) of Canadian newcomers felt the same, though 38 per cent felt immigration levels were about right.

However, mounting opposition to immigration has not undercut the view among respondents that Canada remains a “nation of immigrants.” Almost three-quarters (70 per cent) agreed with the statement, while just 18 per cent opposed the sentiment.

“It is a paradox,” said Jack Jedwab, president and CEO of the Association for Canadian Studies and Metropolis Institute.

“In some ways, it is explained in part by the fact that many Canadians born outside of Canada don’t see themselves as immigrants and will say something like: ‘I’m not an immigrant. I’ve been here ten years.’”

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Jedwab is overseeing the Metropolis Canada Conference, a convention focused on “resetting Canada’s immigration plan and program for a new era,” which is taking place in Toronto from Thursday to Saturday.

Last October, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that annual immigration targets between 2025-2027 would be dropped from 500,000 to 395,000. “In the tumultuous times, as we emerged from the pandemic, between addressing labour needs and maintaining population growth, we didn’t get the balance quite right,” Trudeau told reporters at the time. The government also reduced the number of temporary foreign workers and international students.

Jedwab viewed Trudeau’s reversal of the Liberal’s long-standing immigration policy possibly easing “some of the tension that underlies the pushback we’ve seen,” he wrote National Post.

A similar poll conducted last September, before Trudeau’s announcement, found nearly two-thirds (65 per cent) of respondents viewed immigration numbers as too high and only 22 per cent thought they were “about the right number.”

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However, Jedwab added, the policy change “may have validated the concerns that drove the sentiment in the first place.”

Many Canadians think immigration is tightly linked to economic considerations. A majority of respondents (53 per cent) see newcomers as “important to Canada’s future economic growth.” Many also believe immigrants make important contributions in sports (43 per cent) and are vital to Canada’s future population growth (43 per cent). Respondents viewed skilled or economic migrants more favourably (73 per cent) compared to refugees (50 per cent).

Jedwab said the Metropolis conference will be a timely sounding board, “the largest annual gathering of … policymakers, researchers and those providing services to newcomers” in Canada.

“This year’s edition of the conference is especially important as the changes the government made to immigration levels has had a profound impact on the immigrant serving sector and the conference will focus on concrete steps that need to be taken to adjust to the changing circumstances,” he said.

The online survey was conducted by Leger among 1,548 respondents in Canada between March 1 and 2. A margin of error cannot be associated with a non-probability sample in a panel survey for comparison purposes. A probability sample of a similar number of respondents would have a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 per cent, 19 times out of 20.

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