Public Views on Immigration

Executive Summary
Submitted to: Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC)
September 2016
PWGSC Contract #: B8815-170150/001/CY
POR Registration #: POR – 025-16
Contract Award Date: 20/07/2016
Supplier: EKOS Research Associates
For more information: por-rop@cic.gc.ca
Ce rapport est aussi disponible en français.

Background

• Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada’s (IRCC’s) mission is to work with its partners to build a stronger Canada by developing and implementing policies, programs and services that facilitate the arrival of persons and their integration to Canada in a way that maximizes their contribution to the country while protecting the health, safety and security of Canadians; and enhance the values and promote the rights and responsibilities of Canadian citizenship. Building a stronger Canada also involves advancing global migration policies in a way that supports Canada’s immigration and humanitarian objectives.
• IRCC takes an approach to immigration that responds to the needs of communities in all parts of the country by creating opportunities for individuals to come to Canada to make an economic, social, cultural, and civic contribution while also realizing their full potential, with a view to becoming citizens. The Department also supports global humanitarian efforts to assist those in need of protection. IRCC, along with its partners, realizes this vision through appropriate policies, programs, and services. 

Objectives

• IRCC conducts an ongoing research program to help the Department develop a better understanding of Canadian attitudes toward the issues surrounding citizenship and immigration.
• The research objectives of this study included the following:
  • Explore perceptions of immigration and Canada;
  • Measure perceptions of the numbers of immigrants coming to Canada;
  • Impact of immigration on Canada;
  • Canada's immigration system and priorities;
  • The settlement and integration of immigrants; and
  • Priorities for the Government of Canada.
• The information gained through this public opinion research can be extrapolated to the wider population of Canadians and will be shared throughout the Department to assist it when establishing priorities, developing policies and communications products and strategies, and planning programs and services.

Methodology

• The methodology for this research involved a national Random Digit Dial (RDD) telephone survey of 1,598 Canadians. A sample of this size yields a margin of error +/- 2.45%, 19 times out of 20
• The target audience for the survey consisted of individuals aged 18 years and over selected randomly from the Canadian general population, including immigrants, as well as an oversample of members of the Canada’s Indigenous peoples.
• The data were weighted according to region, age, gender and membership in the Indigenous community (using Statistics Canada 2011 Census data) in order to reflect the actual proportions of these variables in the Canadian adult population.
• The following table outlines the unweighted sample, the weighted sample, and the margin of error for each of the subgroups presented in this report:

Region

Immigration status

Membership in the Indigenous peoples community

• The interviews were 13 minutes in length and conducted in respondents’ official language of choice.
• A full methodology report including all information about the execution of the fieldwork that is needed to replicate the research initiative is provided under a separate cover:
  • sample size, sampling procedures and dates of research fieldwork;
  • weighting procedures, the confidence interval and the margin of error;
  • the response rate and method of calculation; and
  • the research instruments in English and French.
• The total contract value of this project was $62,903.15 (including HST).

A note on significance tests

• An asterisk (*) denotes a demographic sub-group where the results were statistically significantly different from the average of the other demographic sub-groups in that category, meaning, the difference is not due to chance.

Summary of key findings

• Survey results reveal that half of Canadians (52%) feel that the right number of immigrants are coming to Canada while 23% feel there are too many immigrants coming to Canada and 16% feel there are too few

• However, when told that 260,000 new immigrants come to Canada each year, the proportion who think there are too many immigrants increases from 23% to 32%
• The plurality of Canadians feel that economic immigrants should be given highest priority (37%), however economic immigrants are only slightly ahead of family members (30%) and refugees (29%)
• Half of Canadians (51%) support increasing the number of economic immigrants coming to Canada
• Results reveal strong support for the idea that Canada has a history of welcoming immigrants (82%), and two-thirds feel that immigration contributes to the economy and is necessary to sustain our economic growth. However only a minority (47%) feel Canada has the capacity to welcome more immigrants than it is currently accepting

• When asked about the impact of immigration, most feel it is positive for the country (72%) and their province (67%), but as the options become more localized support decreases (only 59% feel immigration has a positive impact on their city, and only 52% feel it has a positive impact on their neighbourhood)
• Views are mixed in terms of the number of refugees coming to Canada: four in ten feel the right number of refugees are coming to Canada, but a sizeable proportion feel there are too many (30%) or too few (19%)
• Moreover, while seven in ten feel that accepting refugees is part of Canada's humanitarian tradition, and that Canada has a responsibility to do its part in accepting refugees, fewer than half feel that refugees have a positive impact on the economy or that Canada has a responsibility to help asylum seekers
• Generally speaking, residents of Quebec and Atlantic Canada, as well as those born outside Canada, express more positive views on immigration and refugees. Those in Alberta and Manitoba/Saskatchewan, as well as those born in Canada, express less positive views on immigration and refugees.

I hereby certify as Senior Officer of EKOS Research Associates Inc. that the deliverables fully comply with the Government of Canada political neutrality requirements outlined in the Communications Policy of the Government of Canada and Procedures for Planning and Contracting Public Opinion Research. Specifically, the deliverables do not include information on electoral voting intentions, political party preferences, standings with the electorate or ratings of the performance of a political party or its leaders.
Derek Jansen
Vice President
EKOS Research