Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 2.1
Immigrant landings in Canada by destination and class of entry, 1980-2001
Toronto
CMA*
% of
Canada
Montreal
CMA*
% of
Canada
Vancouver
CMA*
% of
Canada
Population,
2001
4,682,897
15.1
3,426,350
11.0
1,986,965
6.4
All immigrants
1,594,199
40.5
552,019
14.0
559,407
14.2
Convention
Refugees
108,347
35.8
56,110
18.5
21,243
7.0
Family Class
337,903
24.2
167,412
12.0
180,719
13.0
Independent
(Skilled) Class
490,996
45.2
171,249
15.8
149,657
13.8
Business Class
77,610
23.6
76,953
23.4
92,835
28.2
* Census Metropolitan Area
Source
: Government of Canada,
Longitudinal Immigration Database
(LIDS)
Table 2.1 confirms the big city, particularly Toronto, domination of immigrant
destinations. Over the 1980-2001 period, close to 70 percent of all
immigrants identified their destination at landing to be one of Canada's
three largest metropolitan areas; over 40 percent specified Toronto. This
proportion of arrivals was more than double the three cities' share of just
under a third of the national population in 2001. Looking in more detail at
four major immigration classes accounting for 80 percent of all immigrants
to Canada over this period, the variable role of the large metropolitan areas
is evident (Table 2.1).
17
Each city is over-represented in all four of the prin-
cipal classes relative to their share of the national population, though least
of all in family class arrivals that locate through pre-existing social networks
scattered across the country. Convention refugees
18
are over-represented in
Toronto and Montreal and under-represented in Vancouver relative to their
overall immigrant profiles. Economic migrants are the most concentrated
of the groups, with three out of four identifying destinations in the three
metropolitan areas. Toronto dominates the flow of the independent class
of skilled workers, receiving 45 percent of those landing in Canada over
this period.
Among business immigrants, 75 percent chose the three most cosmo-
politan cities for settlement (Table 2.1), with almost 93,000 or 28.2 percent
settling in Vancouver, the smallest of the top three cities with only 6.4 per-
cent of the national population. With subsequent secondary migration after
landing Vancouver's share exceeded one-third of all business immigrants,
for by 1995 British Columbia had experienced a net gain of close to 30
percent through domestic migration from other provinces of tax-filers in the
business streams arriving between 1980 and 1995 (CIC 2000). Ontario
