Story 7 – Immigration and Asylum Seekers

by Angus Reid | December 27, 2018 7:30 pm

Against the backdrop of more frequent, and increasingly fraught conversations about policy regarding immigration and migration to Canada, an analysis of current and historical public opinion data by the Angus Reid Institute found that half of Canadians would prefer to see the federal government’s current immigration targets of 310,000 new permanent residents for 2018 decreased.

Over the course of four decades, the number of Canadians saying immigration is either at the right level or should be increased has remained above fifty per cent, even as immigration levels have consistently risen, beginning under the Mulroney government in the 1980’s. Over the same period of time, the number saying immigration levels should be decreased has fluctuated within the 40 to 50 per cent range, suggesting the issue has been a source of division for more than 40 years.

The most recent data revealed that the number of people saying there should be fewer immigrants to Canada had risen from one-third (36%) in 2014 to half (49%).

Alongside the immigration issue, the phenomenon of refugees seeking asylum in Canada generated significant debate in the country in 2018. Two-thirds of Canadians saw this issue as a ‘crisis’ in August, and the total number of irregular crossings for the year has continued to outpace[1] totals from 2017.

Read the full reports here:

Immigration in Canada: Does recent change in forty year opinion trend signal a blip or a breaking point?[2]

Two-thirds call irregular border crossings a ‘crisis,’ more trust Scheer to handle issue than Trudeau[3]

Endnotes:
  1. continued to outpace: https://globalnews.ca/news/4568328/canada-irregular-border-crossings-2018/
  2. Immigration in Canada: Does recent change in forty year opinion trend signal a blip or a breaking point?: https://angusreid.org/canadian-immigration-trend-data/
  3. Two-thirds call irregular border crossings a ‘crisis,’ more trust Scheer to handle issue than Trudeau: https://angusreid.org/safe-third-country-asylum-seekers/

Source URL: https://angusreid.org/story-7-immigration-levels-too-high/