In January 2022, Canadian immigration kicked off with a bang, with a record-breaking number of new permanent residents.
According to estimates from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), 35,260 new permanent residents arrived in Canada in January. That may not seem like much when compared to the 47,585 new permanent residents in November of last year or the 43,905 in November of this year. In contrast to December of the previous year, the January number is down over 19.7%.
When comparing January of this year to the same month in previous years, however, it becomes clear how much higher current immigration numbers are. Year on year, the number of new permanent residents to Canada increased by more than 42.7 per cent in January this year, compared to 24,700 in January last year, and by about the same rate in the first year of the pandemic in 2020.
The excellent performance in January of this year is more than a blip, a return to normal after the pandemic, which slowed international travel to a trickle at first. In January of this year, the number of new permanent residents was more than 89.1% more than the 18,645 new permanent residents in January of the previous year, before the coronavirus was ever-present and causing Covid-19 anywhere on the planet.
During the first month of this year, there were 49.7% more new permanent residents than the 23,550 who arrived in the same month last year, over 61.1 per cent more than the 21,890 who arrived in January 2017, and 29.2% more than the 27,280 who arrived in January 2016.
Only 12,915 new permanent residents arrived in Canada in the first month of 2015. That means the country welcomed nearly three times as many new permanent residents in January this year as it did in the same month seven years ago — 2.7 times as many.
Despite the global pandemic of COVID-19, Canada admitted 405,330 new immigrants last year, and Ottawa aims to increase that number this year, both for humanitarian reasons and to assist companies to cope with labour shortages. Between 2022 and 2024, Canada plans to welcome around 1.3 million newcomers.
“Immigration has helped shape Canada into the country it is today. From farming and fishing to manufacturing, healthcare and the transportation sector, Canada relies on immigrants,” said Immigration Minister Sean Fraser earlier this year.
“We are focused on economic recovery, and immigration is the key to getting there. Setting bold new immigration targets, as outlined in the 2022-2024 Levels Plan, will further help bring the immeasurable contribution of immigrants to our communities and across all sectors of the economy.”
According to the immigration minister’s proposal, Canada will welcome 431,645 permanent residents this year, 447,055 the next year, and 451,000 in 2024.
Canada was supposed to welcome 411,000 new permanent residents in 2022 and 421,000 in 2023 under the previous immigration levels plan, which was unveiled in late 2020. In recent years, Canada has embraced increasingly ambitious immigration goals. The previous plan established objectives of 351,000 new permanent residents in 2021 and 361,000 in 2022, prior to the coronavirus epidemic, which drastically impacted immigration in 2020.
In everything from agriculture and fisheries to corporate management and the IT sector, Ottawa touts rising immigration numbers as the solution to overcoming labour shortages and expanding the Canadian economy.
“Canada is among the world’s top destinations for talent, and immigration is a driving force behind the boom in our tech sector,” tweeted Fraser earlier this week.
“Bringing skilled workers to Canada helps businesses grow, and creates good jobs across the country.”
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