The latest Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) data reveals monthly immigration to Canada fell by 12.4 per cent in November but was then still poised to close the year with a record-breaking number of new permanent residents arriving to the country.
After rebounding by 4.3 per cent to hit 33,570 new permanent residents in October, Canada’s monthly immigration fell to 29,430 new permanent residents in November, leaving Canada with a total of 434,360 new permanent residents for the year as of the end of that month.
Based on the trend in the first 11 months of that year, Canada was then poised to have welcomed 473,847 new permanent residents by the end of 2023, or 8.3 per cent more than the 437,590 it welcomed in 2022.
That projected level of immigration would also be 1.9 per cent higher than Canada’s target of 465,000 new permanent residents for 2023.
Under the 2024-2026 Immigration Levels Plan, Canada is now planning to welcome 485,000 new permanent residents in 2024, another 500,000 in 2025 and then hold the line on immigration in 2026 with another 500,000 newcomers.
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That’s a total of 1.485 million immigrants to Canada over those three years.
Given the likely growth of the Canadian population during those upcoming three years, the 2026 target for immigration to Canada actually represents a slight drop in the rate of immigration to the country, the first such decline in the immigration rate in years.
Ontario, the country’s most populous province, remained the most popular destination for newcomers in November with 191,570 of them choosing to immigrate there during the first 11 months of 2023.
The central Canadian province was the destination of choice for 44.1 per cent of all immigrants to Canada in the first 11 months of last year.
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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 just under half, 49.6 per cent, of all new permanent residents coming to Ontario in the first 11 months of last year.
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Those programs helped 95,040 new permanent residents arrive in Ontario in the first 11 months of 2023.
Another 52,265 new permanent residents arrived in Ontario through family sponsorships and 35,030 came to that province through Canada’s refugee and protected persons programs in the first 11 months of that year.
The other provinces and territories attracted the following number of new permanent residents each during that period:
- Newfoundland and Labrador – 5,040
- Prince Edward Island – 3,215
- Nova Scotia – 10,490
- New Brunswick – 10,225
- Quebec – 50,190
- Manitoba – 22,760
- Saskatchewan – 23,345
- Alberta – 52,185
- British Columbia – 64,200
- Yukon – 770
- Northwest Territories – 285
- Nunavut – 50
Despite the Quebec government’s repeated insistence that it will cap immigration at 50,000 new permanent residents this year, the francophone province was on track at the end of November to welcome 54,752 new permanent residents based on the trend set in the first 11 months of 2023.