A poll commissioned by CBC News has revealed that over 80% of newcomers to Canada believe that the country’s immigration system is bringing in too many people without proper planning.
In November, Pollara Strategic Insights conducted a survey involving 1,507 individuals to learn about their experiences of immigrating to Canada.
One key finding was that four-in-five newcomers believe the Canadian government has accepted “too many immigrants and international students with no planning for adequate housing, infrastructure, or having sufficient job opportunities.”
International student Shabnoor Abdullateef, a physician who immigrated to Canada from Iran in 2022, agrees about the lack of planning.
“There was absolutely no thinking behind this,” Abdullateef told CBC.
While Abdullateef feels safer and freer in Canada than in Iran, she pointed out that international students are welcomed primarily based on their ability to pay fees, with little consideration for their access to housing or healthcare.
A recent Leger poll conducted in November for the Association for Canadian Studies revealled that 65% of Canadians share this view.
The Pollara survey found that racialized newcomers, such as Abdullateef, were 10 percentage points more likely to agree with this view compared to white newcomers.
Hundreds of thousands of immigrants arrive in Canada every year.
In the first nine months of 2024, Canada accepted 662,000 permanent and temporary residents, contributing almost entirely to the country’s population growth (97%) during that period.
Over the same period in 2015, Statistics Canada reported that international migration accounted for less than three-quarters of the population growth, which amounted to 179,000 people (or 71%).
Despite the challenges they encounter with the immigration system, most newcomers to Canada reported overall happiness.
Seventy-nine percent of survey respondents expressed satisfaction with their quality of life, while approximately three-quarters were pleased with access to education and a good work-life balance.
However, two-thirds of the respondents expressed dissatisfaction with the cost of living, while approximately half were dissatisfied with Canada’s healthcare system.
Fourteen percent of working newcomers surveyed were unemployed in November, which is double the national average.
The inability to transfer foreign work experience seems to be the primary reason behind this difference.
A quarter of respondents said that their previous work experience was not acknowledged during their job search.
Additionally, one-sixth of respondents mentioned that their academic degree or credentials were not recognized in Canada.
It was revealled that 44% of newcomers in the workforce are either unemployed or employed in a field that is different from their academic credentials and work experience.
Canada has the highest levels of education among its workforce, yet it lags behind in terms of productivity.
A recent study by the C.D. Howe Institute showed that university educated immigrants are three times more likely to be unemployed compared to Canadian-born workers.
The Pollara survey found that finding a job is particularly challenging for individuals from countries in the Middle East, Africa, South Asia, and South America.
One-quarter of newcomers surveyed in Alberta immigrated to a different province originally, and the majority of them relocated because of job opportunities in Alberta.
Alberta has consistently maintained its position as the fastest-growing province for the past five consecutive quarters, with an increase of over 185,000 individuals in the last year alone.
Thirteen percent of survey respondents have relocated to a different province, while thirty-nine percent are open to the idea of moving provinces.
A significant portion of newcomers, 42%, would relocate to another country if presented with the opportunity.