ISA Global

Despite the pandemic, the majority of Canadians remain enthusiastic about important features of immigration, according to a new Environics Institute poll.

Between September 7 and September 23, 2021, the Environics Institute conducted telephone interviews with 2,000 Canadians to examine if their attitudes on immigration and refugees had changed over the previous year.

Canadians’ attitudes about immigration and refugees have remained “largely stable” over the previous 12 months, according to the findings of the public opinion research institute’s Fall 2021 Focus Canada poll.

“A clear majority favors current immigration levels, sees immigrants as beneficial to the Canadian economy, and believes they are critical to the country’s demographic growth,” the poll found.

The study is released as Canada emerges from the current COVID-19 pandemic crisis phase. Immigration issues have been pushed to the background throughout this time, but they are starting to reappear. As a result, one of the goals of this study was to learn how the obstacles and stressors of the previous year affected “Canadians’ capacity for openness to others.”

The majority of people disagreed with the statement that Canada has an excessive amount of immigration.

Two-thirds of Canadians (65%) disagree that the country’s immigration levels are too high. This figure is almost identical to that of the previous Focus Canada survey, which was performed in September 2020.

This sentiment has weakened by 7 to 8 percentage points among Atlantic Canadians, Manitobans, and Saskatchewanians during the last year. In Quebec, opinions have remained basically constant from a year ago, while they have increased by 3 points among Albertans.

Since 2020, the attitudes of first-generation Canadians (those born outside of Canada) have shifted significantly, with a nine-point increase in the number of respondents in this category agreeing with the statement. This share has already risen to 36%, compared to 27% for those born in Canada.

Supporters of Canada’s main federal political parties differed in their sentiments toward immigration numbers.

Three-quarters of Liberal Party supporters (75%) feel that present immigration levels are appropriate. The figure is 81 percent among New Democratic Party followers.

Just over half of Conservative Party of Canada supporters (54%) believe that current immigration levels are sufficient. At 70%, supporters of the Bloc Québécois are more likely than last year to accept current immigration levels.

Starting this year, Canada’s goal under the 2021-2023 Immigration Levels Plan is to welcome at least 401,000 new immigrants.

The majority of Canadians feel that immigration is required to boost the population.

Moreover half of those polled (57%) agree that Canada needs more immigration to grow its population, while 37% disagree and 6% have no clear opinion on the subject.

These figures are nearly identical to those from 2020, but they “represent a tidal change in viewpoint from the 1980s and 1990s, when most Canadians firmly rejected the idea,” according to the poll.

A huge majority of people believe that immigration is beneficial to the economy.

The vast majority of Canadians (80%) believe that immigration has a beneficial economic impact. According to the survey, that number is down four points from a year ago and represents a reversal from an upward trend that began in 2018.

Furthermore, 76 percent believe the government should encourage more entrepreneurs to move to the country and start new firms, with roughly 39 percent strongly agreeing.

“Support for government efforts to attract more immigrant entrepreneurs is evident across the country,” the report states, “with an agreement with the statement most prevalent in Atlantic Canada (79%) and Ontario (81%) as well as among first-generation Canadians (82%) and Liberal Party supporters (85%) in each case, and close to half saying they strongly agree with the statement.”

Even in the face of a global epidemic that has wrecked economies and aroused nationalist sentiments in many other countries around the world, the general trend of openness to immigrants and refugees among Canadians remains.

Many Canadians continue to equate multiculturalism, inclusivity, and newcomer acceptance with their country’s uniqueness. These principles take precedence over characteristics like liberty, democracy, and land ownership. According to the survey, just a small percentage of Canadians consider immigration to be a serious issue in the country today.