The latest Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) data reveals immigration to Canada fell for the third consecutive month in August but is still on track to close the year with record-breaking numbers of new permanent residents.
In August, the country welcomed only 34,925 new permanent residents, down 14.1 per cent or 5,750 new permanent residents, from the 40,675 in July.
During the first eight months of this year, Canada saw the arrival of 338,905 new permanent residents, putting the country on track to welcome 508,357 new permanent residents by the end of this year provided the level of immigration so far continues through to the end of 2023.
In its 2023-2025 Immigration Levels Plan, Ottawa has set its immigration target for 2023 at 465,000 new permanent residents. The country is also to welcome 485,000 new permanent residents in 2024 and another 500,000 in 2025.
That’s a total of 1.45 million immigrants to Canada over those three years.
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The latest figures from the IRCC show the country is on track to greatly exceed not only this year’s targeted level of immigration but also the levels for each of the next two years.
In the past three months, though, monthly immigration levels to Canada have been trending downwards.
Since rebounding to 45,990 new permanent residents in May from April’s lacklustre performance of 29,540 new arrivals, monthly immigration has been falling, first to 42,330 new permanent residents in June, then 40,675 new permanent residents in July and then only 34,925 in August.
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That means the monthly rate of immigration to Canada has fallen by a smidgeon more than 24 per cent since May.
After starting this year strong, with monthly immigration in January this year up 43.7 per cent over the level for the same month last year, the monthly immigration level had fallen by August this to be almost exactly the same as that for the same month last year.
In August last year, Canada welcomed 34,145 new permanent residents.
Ontario Attracted The Most Immigrants To Canada In First Eight Months Of This Year
Ontario, the country’s most populous province, remained the most popular destination for newcomers with 148,970 of them choosing to immigrate there during the first eight months of this year.
The central Canadian province was the destination of choice for 43.9 per cent of all immigrants to Canada in the first eight months of this year.
Economic programs, including the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP), Agri-Food Immigration Pilot (AFIP), Canadian Experience Class (CEC), Caregiver programs, Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot (RNIP), Federal Skilled Trades (FST) and Federal Skilled Worker (FSW) programs, the Start-Up Visa (SUV) and Self-Employed Persons (SEP) programs, and the Temporary Resident to Permanent Resident Pathway accounted for slightly more than half, 50.8 per cent, of all new permanent residents coming to Ontario in the first seven months of this year.
Those programs helped 75,755 new permanent residents arrive in Ontario in the first eight months of this year.
Another 40,530 new permanent residents arrived in Ontario through family sponsorships and 26,005 came to that province through Canada’s refugee and protected persons programs in the first eight months of the year.
The other provinces and territories attracted the following number of new permanent residents each during that period:
- Newfoundland and Labrador – 3,880
- Prince Edward Island – 2,630
- Nova Scotia – 8,375
- New Brunswick – 7,400
- Quebec – 38,010
- Manitoba – 18,490
- Saskatchewan – 18,235
- Alberta – 39,825
- British Columbia – 52,115
- Yukon – 665
- Northwest Territories – 250
- Nunavut – 40
Despite the Quebec government’s repeated insistence that it will cap immigration at 50,000 new permanent residents this year, the francophone province is currently on track to welcome 57,015 new permanent residents based on the trend set in the first eight months of this year.