Look around a classroom in Brampton, Surrey or Winnipeg and you will find families from dozens of countries. In the 2021 census, about 23 percent of people in Canada, nearly one in four, were immigrants (people who were born elsewhere and became permanent residents), the highest share since Confederation. In Lesson 1 you saw that Canada now grows almost entirely through immigration. This lesson asks who comes, how they are chosen, where they come from, why they move, and how and why the federal government changed immigration levels so sharply after 2023.
The categories of permanent immigration
A permanent resident has the right to live and work anywhere in Canada and can later apply to become a citizen. Each year the federal government sets a target for new permanent residents in its Immigration Levels Plan, divided into three main categories. A fourth, smaller group is admitted for humanitarian and compassionate reasons.
| Category | Who it is for | How people qualify | Admitted in 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Economic | Skilled workers, provincial nominees, caregivers, business immigrants, and their families | Points for age, education, English or French ability and work experience (the Express Entry system); provinces nominate people to fill local needs; Quebec selects its own economic immigrants | 281 615 (58.2%) |
| Family | Spouses, partners, dependent children, parents and grandparents of citizens and permanent residents | A family member in Canada sponsors them and promises financial support | 105 990 (21.9%) |
| Refugees and protected persons | People fleeing persecution, war or violence | Resettled from abroad (government-assisted or privately sponsored by Canadian groups), or found to be refugees after claiming asylum in Canada | 76 685 (15.9%) |
| Humanitarian and other | Special cases | Humanitarian and compassionate grounds and public policies | 19 355 (4.0%) |
Where newcomers come from, and where they settle
For most of Canada's history, immigration policy favoured people from Britain, the United States and Europe and kept many others out (the Chinese Immigration Act of 1923 is one example you may meet in history class). In 1967 Canada introduced a points system that judged applicants on education, skills and language instead of race or nationality. Since then the main sources have shifted to Asia, Africa, the Caribbean and Latin America. In 2024 India was by far the largest source of new permanent residents, followed by the Philippines, with China also among the top sources. The largest groups of refugees came from Eritrea, Afghanistan and Syria (IRCC).
| Province | Share of new permanent residents, 2024 | Share of Canada's population, 2021 census |
|---|---|---|
| Ontario | 42.6% | about 38.5% |
| Alberta | 13.7% | about 11.5% |
| British Columbia | 13.1% | about 13.5% |
| Quebec | 12.3% | about 23.0% |
| Manitoba | 5.1% | about 3.6% |
| Saskatchewan | 4.8% | about 3.0% |
Ontario, Alberta and the Prairies attract more than their share of newcomers, while Quebec takes fewer, because Quebec sets its own, lower immigration levels to protect the French language. Outside Quebec, the federal government has a target for French-speaking immigrants to support francophone communities: in 2024, 7.2 percent of permanent residents admitted outside Quebec were French-speaking, above the 6 percent target (IRCC).
Why people move: push and pull factors
- War, conflict and violence
- Persecution because of ethnicity, beliefs, political opinions, gender or sexual orientation
- Few jobs, low wages, poverty
- Natural disasters and climate impacts such as drought
- Poor schools or health care
- Jobs and higher wages
- Safety, rights and political stability
- Family and community already there
- Universities and colleges
- Health care and public services
Between the two places lie intervening obstacles: the cost of the move, distance, immigration rules and wait times, language, getting foreign education and job credentials recognized, and leaving family behind. Geographers also separate voluntary migration (choosing to move for work or family) from forced migration (refugees who have no safe choice but to leave). Most migration involves a mix of push and pull factors. Immigration rules are one of the biggest intervening obstacles of all, and Canada's rules changed sharply after 2023, as the table below shows.
| Year | Permanent resident target or result | Temporary resident policy |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Target 485 000; 483 640 admitted | First cap on study permit applications (January 2024); temporary residents peaked near 3 million in late 2024 |
| 2025 | Target lowered to 395 000 | Study permit cap lowered further; goal set to cut temporary residents to 5% of the population by the end of 2026 |
| 2026–2028 | Target 380 000 a year, with the economic share rising from about 59% to about 64% | New temporary arrivals cut to 385 000 in 2026 (230 000 workers and 155 000 students), then 370 000 a year; goal of less than 5% temporary residents by the end of 2027 |
Why the change? Population grew faster than the supply of housing, health care and other services in many cities, and the government said it wanted growth to be more manageable. Views differ. Many businesses, farms, colleges and universities warned that the cuts would worsen labour shortages and hurt budgets that depended on international students' fees; some economists and many residents worried about housing costs and crowded services; settlement agencies and newcomers pointed to people left in uncertainty when their permits ran out. A geographer's job is to weigh this evidence from several perspectives: economic, social, political and environmental.