2006 Issue 2

2005 Immigration Overview

Once a quarter, an in-depth analysis of one of the key immigrant movements (permanent residents, foreign workers, foreign students and new citizens) appears in The Monitor. This quarter, the analysis focuses on permanent residents.

A total of 262,236 people immigrated to Canada in 2005, an 11% increase over the previous year. Sixty percent of immigrants were in the economic class and significant increases were noted for business immigrants and provincial nominees. The Provincial Nominee Program continued to boost immigration to a number of provinces that traditionally attract small immigration flows. For example, Manitoba ’s Provincial Nominee Program helped boost immigration to the province to over 8,000 immigrants in 2005, the highest recorded level in the most recent 15-year period. Nevertheless, more than half of all immigrants were destined to Ontario.

Thirty-eight percent of arriving immigrants between 25 and 64 years of age had a bachelor’s degree as their highest level of education. At this level, there were an almost equal number of men and women immigrants. At the two extremes of the educational levels, however, women were overrepresented at the lower end and under-represented at the higher end.

There has been a noticeable trend toward increasing skill levels among immigrants since 1990. Among immigrants 15 years of age or older whose skill level could be classified, 55% were professionals (skill level A) compared to only 17% in 1990. Together, the two lowest skill levels (intermediate and clerical, and elemental and labour) accounted for only 10% of immigrants in 2005 compared to 37% in 1990.

The leading mother tongue of 2005 newcomers was Mandarin, followed by English and Arabic. French was well down the list of most common mother tongue at ninth place. However, greater numbers of immigrants are declaring an ability to speak French so that now, roughly 13% of immigrants have some knowledge of French on arrival in Canada, up from nine percent in 2000.

Countries of Origin

For the eighth consecutive year, China and India were, respectively, the first and second leading countries of origin for new immigrants to Canada. In 2005, China accounted for 16% of immigrants (42,291) and India, for 13% (33,146). The Philippines (17,525) and Pakistan (13,576) were the third and fourth source countries, accounting for seven percent and five percent of immigrants respectively. The United States followed, with 9,262 immigrants or close to four percent of the national total (for the complete figures, see table 2)

Landing Class

Economic Class

Sixty percent of immigrants (156,310) in 2005 were in the economic class – 61,614 principal applicants and 94,696 spouses and dependants (see table 1). Among the different categories of economic immigrants, male immigrants predominated in the skilled worker principal applicant class (72% of the annual flow) while females predominated only among live-in caregivers, with 71% of the annual flow.

The three leading source countries in this class matched those for all immigrants: China, India and the Philippines. China contributed 20% of the economic class immigrants, somewhat more than its 16% for all immigrants. India and the Philippines contributed 12% and nine percent, respectively. Pakistan and France rounded out the top five countries of origin for the economic class (see table 2)

Economic class immigration accounted for a large proportion of some country movements. For example, France stands out with 90% of its immigrants in this class, and Romania and the Republic of Korea with 87% and 83%, respectively. Only two of the top five source countries exceed the national average of 60% for economic immigrants. China at 72% and the Philippines at 79% far exceed overall source country averages. Notable exceptions among leading source countries were the United States, with only 41% economic immigrants, and Pakistan, with 56%.

Provincial Nominee Program

In recent years, CIC signed and renewed a number of federal-provincial agreements that give the provinces the right to nominate immigrants specifically destined for settlement in their jurisdiction. The number of provincial nominees increased by 29% in 2005 and, as a result, the total for the whole country reached 8,047. Manitoba has so far used its federal-provincial agreement to the greatest advantage, accounting for 57% of Canada’s provincial nominees, with 4,619 in 2005. A number of other provinces also significantly increased their intake of provincial nominees in 2005, including Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Saskatchewan and Alberta.

The top five countries of origin for provincial nominees were the Philippines (1,332), Germany (1,286), South Korea (852), the United Kingdom (618) and China (444). In terms of top occupations, the leading group for principal applicants consisted of skilled welders at six percent and truck drivers at four percent. An interesting characteristic of the occupations of the Provincial Nominee Program was the wide range of intended occupations at all skill levels and in different economic sectors.

Note: Due to privacy considerations, some cells in the tables have been suppressed and replaced with a dash. As a result, components may not add up to the total indicated. Cells containing less than five cases have been suppressed.

Family Class

The family class accounted for 24% of all immigrants coming to Canada in 2005 (see table 1). This included spouses and partners, parents and grandparents and other dependants, including children. Family class immigrants were more likely to be female, accounting for 62% of spouses, and 55% of parents and grandparents, children and dependants.

India accounted for 20% of family class immigrants, followed by China at 14%. Other important source countries were the United States, the Philippines and Pakistan. The United States stands out among the leading sources of family class immigration: 45% of all immigrants from the United States were in the family class and the vast majority of these (89%) were sponsored spouses and partners. Sponsored parents, grandparents, children and dependants made up a very small proportion of the total.

Refugee Class

Refugees accounted for 14% of immigrants in 2005, with a total of 35,768 people (see table 1). The five leading source countries for refugees were Colombia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and Sri Lanka. Of note, some of these countries have high proportions of immigrants coming as refugees – roughly 90% from Afghanistan and 75% from Colombia.

Since the year 2000, noticeable changes have occurred in the leading countries of origin for immigrants in the refugee class. Colombia now ranks as the top source country and Turkey ranked as the sixth leading source country for refugees in 2005 and both were well down the list of leading source countries in 2000. Others that were prominent in 2000, such as the former Yugoslavia (first), have dropped from the top 10. These changes illustrate the rapidity with which countries can rise and fall as leading sources of refugees to Canada.

The leading source countries for all refugees broadly reflect two separate streams of refugees. The first includes refugees landed in Canada (refugee claimants who have received a positive determination at the Immigration and Refugee Board) and their dependants landed from abroad. Together, they accounted for 70% of all refugees landed in 2005. The leading source countries for this group were Pakistan, China, Sri Lanka, Colombia and Zimbabwe. The second major stream, consisting of government-assisted refugees (GARs) and privately sponsored refugees (PSRs), accounted for the remaining 30% of refugees. A large number of refugees in these groups came directly to Canada from refugee camps. The leading source countries for GARs and PSRs were Afghanistan, Colombia, Sudan and Ethiopia.

Levels of Education

Among immigrants between 25 and 64 years of age, some noticeable differences could be observed between men and women in 2005. Women were overrepresented at the lower levels of education and underrepresented at the higher levels. They were 1.6 times more likely than men to have the lowest level of education (0–9 years of schooling), while men were more than twice as likely to have a doctoral degree. Despite these differences, an almost equal number of men and women had a bachelor’s degree. Gender parity at this level of education is significant because almost 40% of immigrants in this age group recorded a bachelor’s degree as their highest level of education.

Skill Levels

There was a noticeable trend toward increasing skill levels among immigrants over the most recent 15-year period. Among the immigrants 15 years of age or older whose skill level could be classified, 67% were in management or professions at skill level A (the highest skill level). In 1990, only 26% of immigrants were at this skill level. Fewer immigrants were classified at the next skill level (B: skilled and technical), with only 23% in 2005 compared to 37% in 1990. Together, the two lowest skill levels (C: interm-ediate and clerical, and D: elemental and labour) accounted for 11% of immigrants last year, compared to 37% in 1990.

The number of new workers—that is, immigrants whose skill level could not be determined—constituted 50% of immigrants who declared an intention to work.

Roughly one-half of all immigrants (48%, or 124,503) did not intend to work at time of landing. While this might seem like a large number, an investigation of this population shows that the majority of them were either children under the age of 15 (57,603), students 15 years of age or older (27,445) or retirees (3,601).

Other non-workers (35,854) were overwhelmingly female, at 94% of the total. A third of these women declared no knowledge of English or French on landing, and a high proportion (64%) of all female non-workers were between the ages of 25 and 44.

Mother Tongue and Official Languages

Mother Tongue

The language profile of immigrants has changed dramatically over the past 25 years, in line with source country shifts. In 2005, over 37,000 new immigrants (14%) reported Mandarin as their mother tongue. This share has remained relatively steady since 2000. English was the second leading mother tongue, with close to 23,000 speakers (nine percent). The number of native-English speakers has been declining over the last 25 years, although the 2005 level was not an historical low for the period. The next three most common languages were (in descending order) Arabic, Spanish and Punjabi. Like Mandarin, all three languages have been on the rise in the past 25 years.

French

The other language that will be of interest to readers is French. French ranked as the ninth leading mother tongue of new immigrants to Canada in 2005 and included nearly 7,500 immigrants, or three percent of the total.

Many more immigrants than those whose mother tongue was French declared an ability to speak French, however. In total, 12,065 immigrants declared a knowledge of French and another 22,995 reported a knowledge of both French and English, bringing the total number of French-speaking immigrants in 2005 to 35,060 (13%). This represented an increase in the proportion of immigrants who can speak French compared to recent years. In 2003, 12% of all immigrants reported a knowledge of French while in 2000, the percentage was nine. It is worth noting that most of the increase occurred among immigrants who speak both official languages rather than those who speak French exclusively.

Neither English nor French

A final area of note is the number of immigrants who arrived in Canada without any knowledge of French or English. Just over 94,000 new immigrants (36%) declared no knowledge of either official language on landing. This proportion was the lowest recorded in the last 25 years. It is worth noting that 40% of these individuals (38,027) were children less than 15 years of age.

Destinations

Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia

Ontario was the destination of 54% of immigrants (140,533) in 2005, down 5% from the peak of 59% recorded in 2001. The share now going to Ontario reflects trends recorded throughout the 1990s. Quebec took in 17% of immigrants (43,308), a slightly smaller percentage compared to the 1990 landings (19%). Flows to Quebec in the mid-1990s dipped to 13% of all immigrants and have returned to close to early 1990s levels over the past two years. British Columbia ’s proportion of immigrants (44,767) stood at 17% in 2005, compared to 13% in 1990. While B.C. immigration levels rose as high as 23% in 1996, the level has stabilized between 15% and 17% since 2001.

Atlantic Canada

All Atlantic provinces, except Newfoundland and Labrador, reached higher levels of immigration in 2005 and landings reflected the flows of provincial nominees (see table 3). In Prince Edward Island, almost two in three immigrants were provincial nominees and in New Brunswick, it was two in five. The program figured less prominently in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador, where it accounted for one in six immigrants in each province.

The Prairies

Alberta was the reported destination of seven percent of new immigrants (19,399) in 2005. This level is slightly higher than the level recorded in 1990, but slightly lower as a share of national immigration. Saskatchewan took in a little less than one percent of immigrants (2,106) in 2005. While this also represented a slightly smaller share than 1990, Saskatchewan boosted immigration levels through its provincial nominee program, which accounted for almost one in four immigrants to the province in 2005. Finally, Manitoba accounted for about three percent of Canada ’s immigrants (8,097), a high for the 1990–2005 period and the first time that the annual intake exceeded 8,000 immigrants. A little more than half of Manitoba ’s immigrants came as provincial nominees.

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