Advertisement 1

ANALYSIS: How London got 'on the map' for immigration amid boom

More than one in five residents in the London region is an immigrant, with the number of newcomers with permanent status in the area growing by more than 70 per cent during the latest census period, data released Wednesday shows.

Article content

More than one in five residents in the London region is an immigrant, with the number of newcomers with permanent status in the area growing by more than 70 per cent during the latest census period, data released Wednesday shows.

A total of 20,490 recent immigrants to the London region, which includes Strathroy, St. Thomas and parts of Middlesex and Elgin counties, became permanent residents of Canada between the last census in 2016 and May, 2021, Statistics Canada said. The recent immigrant category includes people who arrived to Canada with permanent-resident or landed-immigrant status, or people already living here who achieved that status.

Advertisement 2
Story continues below
Article content
Article content

That compares to the 11,955 newcomers who became permanent residents between 2011 and 2016.

“This is up considerably, and suggestive that the city has been quite successful in attracting international migrants,” said Don Kerr, a demographer at Western University’s King’s University College.

Combining established immigrants and newcomers, 21.6 per cent of London area residents are immigrants with permanent status, up from 17.4 in 2016.

However, the total number of immigrants in the region is higher, given Statistics Canada figures don’t include immigrants such as refugees or people with student visas or work permits who aren’t considered permanent, Kerr said.

The number of immigrants without permanent status also is up, more than doubling from 8,170 in 2016 to 19,560 in 2021.

The numbers for London are significant considering that immigration levels across the country also plunged in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.

They also helped propelled London to become the fastest-growing community in Ontario over the same census period, growing by 10 per cent between 2016 and 2021.

Advertisement 3
Story continues below
Article content

“I think what it speaks to is the idea that London is increasingly on the map as a destination for newcomers to Canada,” said Michael Haan, a demographer at Western University.

“We’re now getting almost the number of immigrants that we should for the size of city that we are.”

Haan, who described London’s immigration growth as significant, said his expectation would be for numbers to continue to grow in the coming years.

“Once you start to become a destination for newcomers, people talk, so you start to see patterns of chain migration,” he said. “So, I think that really speaks well for the future of London, because what it suggests is that our uptick is likely to continue.”

Nationally, a little more than 1.3 million immigrants settled permanently in Canada between 2016 and 2021.

As a result, the percentage of the population who were born outside the country is now 23 per cent – or more than 8.3 million people – the largest share of the population since the Confederation, Statistics Canada said.

The big jump in the number of immigrants in Canada comes as no surprise given the federal government’s ambitious immigration targets, which include welcoming more than 431,000 immigrants this year, up from 260,000 annually before 2016, said Kareem El-Assal,  director of policy at CanadaVisa.com.

Advertisement 4
Story continues below
Article content

“If I were to guess, based on (the federal government’s) current policy, we’re going to see a continued increase in our immigration levels,” he said.

“And the government will likely justify the increases on the grounds that Canada is dealing with historic labour shortages that are currently seeing us experience about one million job vacancies across the country.”

Those vacancies are one of the reasons Canada’s largest cities have begun seeing a decline in the number of newcomers settling there.

Though Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal continue to be the main destination for newcomers, their share of recent immigrants fell to 53.4 per cent in 2021 from 56 per cent in 2016.

“Historically, the advantages (these cities) had were that they had large immigrant populations and their strong job opportunities,” El-Assal said.

“We’re now experiencing labour shortages across the country; no community is being spared so, as a result, immigrants are being drawn to these employment opportunities wherever they can find them.”

As of late September, there were more than 19,000 unfilled jobs in the London region and close to 40,000 across Southwestern Ontario.

El-Assal said smaller communities such as London, which also have seen home and rent prices rise significantly, have become more attractive to immigrants due to their relative affordability compared to bigger urban centres.

“Large cities like Toronto continue to deal with housing affordability challenges and overall housing shortages, and newcomers are becoming attuned to this,” he said.

“They are identifying opportunities in other parts of the province to build their new life in Canada.”

jjuha@postmedia.com

Twitter.com/JuhaatLFPress

Article content
Comments
You must be logged in to join the discussion or read more comments.
Join the Conversation

Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion. Please keep comments relevant and respectful. Comments may take up to an hour to appear on the site. You will receive an email if there is a reply to your comment, an update to a thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information.

Latest National Stories
    This Week in Flyers