Majority of Canadians continue to oppose new immigration: poll

A majority of Canadians feel that the country does not need new immigrants and people are divided over whether newcomers should have to give up their customs, according to a new national poll.

The survey, conducted by Leger for the Association for Canadian Studies found that 60 per cent of respondents disagreed that “Canada needs new immigrants,” with the highest levels of opposition found in Alberta (65 per cent), Ontario (63 per cent) and Quebec (61 per cent), followed by Manitoba and Saskatchewan (60 per cent), the Atlantic provinces (56 per cent) and British Columbia (48 per cent).

The poll found Canadian immigrants were slightly more supportive than non-immigrants of opening the country to future waves of newcomers. Just over half (52 per cent) of immigrants agreed that “Canada needs new immigrants,” while 37 per cent of non-immigrants felt the same. Still, 48 per cent of Canadian immigrants disagreed that the country needs more immigration.

Jack Jedwab, the chief executive Association for Canadian Studies, told National Post in an email that he was “surprised” by the findings, which came “in the midst of one of the biggest debates over immigration in Canada in the past 25 years.” Jedwab pointed to a Statistics Canada report released last week that shows the country’s population growth has virtually plateaued and that new arrivals are needed, despite the public’s growing weariness.

“Canada needs immigration despite many feeling otherwise,” he wrote. Jedwab placed some of the blame for anti-immigration sentiment on the government for failing to communicate effectively with the public on this issue. “Our politicians need to offer a reminder about the importance of immigration and redirect the debate to how many are needed in line with the country’s capacity.”

The youngest (aged 18 to 24) and oldest (65 years and older) respondents were the most supportive of welcoming new immigrants, at 46 per cent. Anti-immigration sentiment was highest among “working age” cohorts, Jedwab said, which “may be attributable to the perception of competition in the workplace, something that requires more validation than is the case currently.” He also explained that besides economic factors, “concern around security issues … can’t be neglected” when seeking to understand the growing skepticism toward immigration.

Respondents were also closely split on the question of whether Canadian newcomers should culturally assimilate, with 51 per cent agreeing immigrants “should give up their customs and traditions and adopt those of the majority.”

Respondents in Quebec were most likely (60 per cent) to support the statement, followed by Alberta (55 per cent), the Atlantic provinces (49 per cent), Ontario (48 per cent), British Columbia (47 per cent), and Manitoba and Saskatchewan (46 per cent).

Jedwab pointed out that, on the other hand, the overwhelming majority of Canadians (85 per cent) believe “it is important to pass on customs and traditions to future generations.”

“There is a lot of confusion around this issue as half of Canadians are saying on the one hand that immigrants should give up their customs and traditions and become more like the majority, while the vast majority of Canadians are saying that it is important to transmit our customs and traditions to future generations,” Jedwab wrote.

“In other words, it’s okay for ‘us’ to preserve customs and traditions but not for newcomers to do so. The conversation around newcomer integration needs to be better defined than is currently the case,” he wrote. “Clearly, the discourse around integration and assimilation in Canada appears to reflect less the pride in our mosaic that we used to hear more frequently.”

Despite Canada’s reputation as a multicultural mosaic, the poll found that Americans — historically known more for their reputation as a cultural melting pot — were actually less supportive of cultural assimilation than Canadians. Nearly three-quarters (71 per cent) of Americans disagreed that immigrants “should give up their customs and traditions” compared with just under half of Canadians (49 per cent).

“The vision of Canada as a mosaic is being displaced or realigned based on binary or ‘dualistic’ ways of describing the country,” Jedwab concluded.

The online poll of 1,627 Canadians was conducted between Aug. 29 and 31. A margin of error cannot be associated with a non-probability sample in a panel survey for comparison purposes. A probability sample would have a margin of error of plus or minus 2.52 per cent, 19 times out of 20.

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