Recent Immigrants in Metropolitan Areas: Canada—A Comparative Profile Based on the 2001 Census

Part G: Diversity Across Canada

Place of Residence in Canada

This section of the report compares the characteristics and circumstances of recent immigrants in six areas of residence in Canada based on the size and location of the recent immigrant population. The six areas include Canada’s three largest immigrant destinations—Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal—each with more than 250,000 recent immigrants; the five second-tier immigrant destinations of Edmonton, Calgary, Winnipeg, Hamilton, and Ottawa grouped together—each with 40,000 to 100,000 recent immigrants; the five third-tier immigrant destinations of Victoria, Saskatoon, Regina, Québec, and Halifax grouped together—each with 5,000 to 15,000 recent immigrants; and the rest of Canada.

Recent immigrants live in large metropolitan centres

The geographic distributions of the immigrant and Canadian-born populations are markedly different. Most immigrants live in the large cities, and their concentration in the large centres has been increasing. More than 60% of immigrants and 70% of recent immigrants live in Canada’s three largest cities—Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. Nearly 80% of immigrants live in the thirteen urban areas for which profiles of recent immigrants have been produced as companion documents to this Canada-wide profile. Less than one-half of the Canadian-born live in these thirteen cities, and only just over one-quarter of persons born in Canada live in the three largest metropolitan areas of the country.

Figure G-1: Immigrants by period of immigration and Canadian-born—place of residence, Canada, 2001 (percentage distribution)

Immigrants who landed during the 15 years before the 2001 Census are more concentrated in the three largest cities than immigrants who landed earlier. Considering recent immigrants only, Vancouver’s share is still increasing, while the shares of Toronto and Montreal are stable. The share of the five third-tier immigrant-receiving centres has recovered somewhat recently.

When reviewing this section, readers may want to bear in mind the different nature of the geographic areas being compared. The rest of Canada includes medium-sized and smaller cities and also rural regions and small towns. It is not very urban, and certainly not metropolitan in character. There are significant differences in labour force participation, education and income levels between metropolitan centres, urban areas and rural and small-town Canada. Some of the differences between immigrants and the Canadian-born for Canada as a whole, as presented in this document, are to an extent a reflection of the different environments in which they live.

One-fifth of population in Toronto, Vancouver, one-fiftieth in rest of Canada

In Toronto and Vancouver, recent immigrants make up more than one-fifth of the population (23% and 21%, respectively). In Montreal their share is 9%, in the five second-tier cities taken together 8%, and in the five third-tier cities and the rest of Canada it is about 2.5%. In some urban areas in Ontario that are included in the rest of Canada (Kitchener, London, Windsor), recent immigrants account for 7% to 8% of the population, a share nearly as large as that of Montreal. This means that very few recent immigrants make their home in smaller cities and in rural and small-town Canada.

Figure G-2: Immigrants by period of immigration and Canadian-born—share of population, by place of residence, Canada, 2001 (percentage distribution)

Characteristics of recent immigrants

Mix of immigration categories varies by place of residence

The economic category of immigrants has been the most numerous throughout the fifteen years ending in 2000. This was particularly so in the most recent five years, when nearly three out of five new immigrants entered through this class. Skilled workers and their families made up the lion’s share of the economic category throughout. The number of immigrants entering through the family class has fallen back sharply after surging in the first half of the 1990s. The number of refugees also declined significantly in the second half of the 1990s, after increasing in the first half. As a proportion of all immigrants, however, refugees reached a peak of 18% in the second half of the 1980s.

These proportions are not exactly replicated in the six geographic areas. Vancouver, for instance, draws relatively more economic immigrants and fewer refugees. The same applies to Montreal during the late 1980s and early 1990s, but more recently, refugees make up a relatively large share of new immigrants destined to that city. Refugees tend to disperse more than economic immigrants. They tend to initially go to second-tier and third-tier cities and the rest of Canada and not to Toronto and Vancouver to the same extent as other immigrants.

The table describes the intended destination of immigrants at arrival, and not the immigrant populations. Some immigrants move after arrival, often to larger urban areas. Some leave the country.

Source: Citizenship and Immigration Canada, Facts and Figures 2002 (data set).

Note: The 2001 Census did not ask immigrants about the immigration categories through which they were admitted to Canada. The information in Table G-3 was obtained from records at Citizenship and Immigration Canada and pertains to the time of landing. Immigration categories are described in the Glossary.

Age distribution of Canadian-born reflects recent immigrant share

As shown in Part B, the age structures of the recent immigrant and Canadian-born populations are markedly different. Whereas the proportion of children under 15 years of age is much lower among recent immigrants, the adult population tends to be younger than the Canadian-born, with between 40% and 50% of recent immigrants being between the ages of 24 and 45 years.

There are larger differences between geographic areas in the age structure of the Canadian-born than that of recent immigrants. To an extent, this reflects the fact that older persons born in Canada are more likely to live outside the major centres than younger persons.

However, the share of children under 15 years of age among the Canadian-born also reflects the presence of immigrants. Children born to immigrant parents after landing in Canada are counted among the Canadian-born and the larger the share of recent immigrants, the larger the share of children among the Canadian-born is likely to be. Toronto, where almost one quarter of the population consists of people who immigrated after 1985, has the highest proportion of children among the Canadian-born of the six parts of Canada. Vancouver, with the second-highest population share of recent immigrants, has the second-highest share of children among the Canadian-born. In the third-tier cities and the rest of Canada, where recent immigrants account for only 2% to 3% of the population, children make up a much smaller share of the Canadian-born population as there are fewer children of immigrants.

Relative level of education of recent immigrants varies by area

As shown above in Part B, immigrant men are more likely to have a post-secondary diploma or degree than Canadian-born men, while the incidence of these qualifications is about the same among immigrant women and their Canadian-born counterparts. This is graphically represented in Figure G-3. Among both men and women, very recent immigrants stand out with a very high share of persons with post-secondary qualifications.

However, this is not how recent immigrants and the Canadian-born compare in Toronto. Post-secondary qualifications are more common among Canadian-born men and women in Toronto than in Canada as a whole, while immigrants in Toronto are slightly less likely to have such qualifications than immigrants generally. As a result, the share of immigrants with a post-secondary education is smaller than that of the Canadian-born in Toronto, while in Canada as a whole it is larger. Only very recent immigrants make a stronger showing in Toronto.

Immigrants and the Canadian-born have different dispersal patterns with respect to level of education. With regard to the Canadian-born, the incidence of completed post-secondary studies (the column on the left of each panel) is high in the cities and low in the rest of Canada, which is predominantly rural and small-town in character. But for immigrants, there is not the same difference between urban and rural Canada. The highest rate of post-secondary qualifications is found among immigrants in third-tier cities. In these cities, as well as in the rest of Canada, the average education level of immigrants, so measured, is higher than that of the Canadian-born, which is not the case in the larger cities.

Turning now to the lower end of the educational attainment spectrum (Figure G-4), immigrants are as likely as the Canadian-born to not have completed a high school education, with immigrant women being more likely than their Canadian-born counterparts to be without a high school diploma, and immigrant men less likely. Again we see pronounced geographic sorting of the Canadian-born, with rates of about 20% or less in the cities and a rate of around 30% in the rest of Canada. Immigrants do not disperse in the same way. The share of immigrants without a high school diploma does not vary much among the cities and the rest of Canada, with the exception of the third-tier cities where the incidence is lowest. The five cities in this group have drawn immigrants with very high educational credentials, and this may have something to do with the fact that four of the five cities are provincial capitals with a large public service and major educational institutions. This geographic pattern continues with the very recent immigrants, even though the educational attainment of the latest immigrants is much higher than that of those who came before them.

Figure G-3: Immigrants by period of immigration and Canadian-born—25 to 64 years of age, with post-secondary diploma or degree-place of residence, by gender, Canada, 2001 (percentage)

Figure G-4: Immigrants by period of immigration and Canadian-born, 25 to 64 years of age, with no high school diploma—place of residence, by gender, Canada, 2001 (percentage)

Marriage to Canadian-born far more common in rest of Canada

Among recent immigrant families, the proportion consisting of spouses who are both recent immigrants, with or without children, varies significantly among the five geographic areas. It is highest in Toronto and Vancouver, and lowest outside the thirteen cities. The proportion of families consisting of a recent immigrant married to a Canadian-born person shows an opposite and even greater variation. It is only 9% in Toronto. In the third-tier cities and in the rest of Canada, outside the thirteen urban centres, one-quarter of recent immigrant families have one spouse born in Canada. In contrast, the proportion of families consisting of a recent immigrant married to an earlier immigrant is fairly constant across different areas, ranging from 12% to 14%.

Many marital unions of recent immigrants were probably made before immigration. Many such couples have settled in the metropolitan centres. In these centres with their large recent immigrant populations, recent immigrants may well be more likely to marry other recent immigrants when they do so after arrival.

In contrast, couples consisting of a recent immigrant and a Canadian-born are likely to settle in areas selected by the Canadian-born partner rather than in areas favoured by immigrants generally. More than one half of Canadians lives outside the thirteen urban centres, a choice of location probably shared by many Canadian-born persons who are married to immigrants.

Participation in the economy

Large gap in labour force participation in Vancouver

The rate of labour force participation varies among the six geographic areas, and more so for women than for men. Labour force participation of the Canadian-born population in Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal and the ten cities is at or above the national average, and in the rest of the country it is below the national average. The very recent immigrants have the lowest participation rate in Vancouver, and the highest rates in Toronto and the second-tier cities, and, depending on the gender, either third-tier cities or the rest of Canada.

The gap in labour force participation between very recent immigrants and the Canadian-born is smallest in the rest of Canada and largest in Vancouver. The gap in labour force participation is very small for new immigrant men in the rest of Canada, and there appears to be virtually no adjustment period. For women, too, the gap in the rate of labour force participation is smaller in the rest of Canada than in any other part of the country.

In combination with the unemployment rates presented next, this suggests that immigrants who live outside the thirteen urban centres have immigrated because there were jobs for them in those locations. Immigrants who do not have jobs tend to go to the urban centres, especially the three largest cities. Vancouver offered the greatest challenge for recent immigrants looking for work, in comparison to the Canadian-born.

Figure G-5: Immigrants by period of immigration and Canadian-born—15 to 64 years of age-labour force participation rates, by place of residence and gender, Canada, 2001

Unemployment highest in Montreal

For the Canadian-born, unemployment rates are lower in the metropolitan and urban centres than in the rest of Canada. By contrast, the unemployment rate among recent immigrants is about the same in the rest of Canada as in the country as a whole. Recent immigrants, whether they landed during the 1986-1995 period or later, are more likely to experience unemployment in Montreal than in other parts of the country.

Unemployment rates clearly are lower for earlier than for very recent immigrants in all areas of the country, with immigrants who landed during the 1986-1995 period being in an intermediate situation. This pattern is evident in all areas shown in the table. This suggests that with time, very recent immigrants, wherever they may have settled, will adjust to the Canadian labour market and ultimately have about the same risk of becoming unemployed as persons born in Canada, or a lower risk.

Figure G-6: Immigrants by period of immigration and Canadian-born—15 to 64 years of age—unemployment rates, by place of residence and gender, Canada, 2001

Income and housing

Relative income level of recent immigrants varies by place of residence

The average incomes of the Canadian-born and of immigrants are about the same, both for women and for men. This is the average income, for the year 2000, of all persons 15 years of age and over, including those who reported no income.

But within this overall near-equality there are vary large differences among immigrants by period of immigration. Immigrants who landed before 1986 have average incomes some 15% higher than the Canadian-born, in part a result of the fact that on average they are older than the Canadian-born, while the income of very recent immigrants is about two-thirds of that of the Canadian-born.

Average income is higher in the cities than in the rest of Canada, and it is generally highest in the largest cities, except for Montreal. The differences among the six parts of the country in the level of income of the Canadian-born are quite large, and while earlier immigrants also have different average incomes depending on where they live, the differences are smaller.

Relative to the income of the Canadian-born, the average incomes of recent and very recent immigrants are highest outside the three metropolitan centres. Especially in the rest of Canada, recently immigrated men and women have relatively high incomes, and they appear to catch up quickly. This pattern also applies to earlier immigrants, and thus to immigrants generally. The average income of immigrants in Toronto is 77% of that of the Canadian-born in that city, and in Vancouver, Montreal and the five second-tier cities the average income of immigrants is well below parity. Although incomes for the Canadian-born are lower in Montreal than in Toronto or Vancouver, it is significant that immigrant incomes in Montreal are generally higher, relative to the Canadian-born population, than in either Toronto or Vancouver. The average income of very recent immigrants is only about one-half of that of the Canadian-born. In the other five cities and the rest of Canada, however, immigrant incomes exceed those of the Canadian-born, and even very recent immigrants have relatively high incomes.

Low incidence of low income outside thirteen urban centres

The proportion of recent immigrants with income below the median is close to the national average in Toronto, and above the national average in Vancouver and Montreal. In contrast, in the other cities and the rest of the country, it is below the national average. With regard to the Canadian-born, the largest proportion is found outside the urban centres. With respect to this measure of income distribution, the relative position of recent immigrants is most favourable in the rest of Canada.

Note: Median income is defined in the Glossary.

Figure G-7: Immigrants by period of immigration and Canadian-born—family or individual income below one-half of the median, by place of residence, Canada, 2000 (percentage)

Higher rates of crowding in Toronto

The incidence of crowded housing—more persons than rooms in the dwelling—among recent immigrants, which is many times higher than among the Canadian-born, is highest in Toronto, and lowest outside the thirteen urban centres.

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