Supplier Name: Phoenix SPI
Contract Number: CW2269250
Contract Value: $138,128.28 (including applicable taxes)
Award Date: 2023-01-19
Delivery Date: 2023-03-31
Registration Number: POR #118-22
For more information, please contact IRCC at:
IRCC.COMMPOR-ROPCOMM.IRCC@cic.gc.ca
Ce rapport est aussi disponible en français.
This public opinion research report presents the results of a 15-minute telephone survey of 3,400 Canadians conducted by Phoenix SPI on behalf of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada between January 31 and March 17, 2023.
Cette publication est aussi disponible en français sous le titre : 2022-23 Étude de suivi annuelle d’IRCC.
This publication may be reproduced for non-commercial purposes only. Prior written permission must be obtained from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. For more information on this report, please contact Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada at IRCC.COMMPOR-ROPCOMM.IRCC@cic.gc.ca or at:
Communications Branch
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada
Jean Edmonds Tower South
365 Laurier Ave W
Ottawa ON K1A 1L1
Catalogue number: CI4-183/1-2023E-PDF
International Standard Book Number (ISBN): 978-0-660-49548-4
Related Publication(Registration Number: POR # 118-22):
Catalogue number: C4-183/1-2023F-PDF
ISBN: 978-0-660-49549-1
© His Majesty the King in Right of Canada, as represented by the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, 2023
I hereby certify as a Senior Officer of Phoenix SPI 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 contain any reference to electoral voting intentions, political party preferences, standings with the electorate, or ratings of the performance of a political party or its leader.
Alethea Woods, President, Phoenix SPI
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) commissioned Phoenix Strategic Perspectives (Phoenix SPI) to conduct a telephone survey of Canadians to assess the public’s perceptions of immigration and related issues. Phoenix SPI is pleased to present this report to IRCC.
IRCC is the department of the Government of Canada with responsibility for matters dealing with immigration to Canada, refugees, and Canadian citizenship. IRCC conducts an ongoing research program to help the Department develop a better understanding of Canadian attitudes toward the issues surrounding citizenship and immigration. As part of this research program, IRCC has been conducting annual telephone tracking surveys since 1996.
The Annual Tracking Survey provides the Department with comparable tracking data about public attitudes toward immigration and related issues, which is of key importance to IRCC’s policies, programs, and services. The specific objectives of this year’s survey are to assess Canadians’ perceptions of the following:
By gauging Canadian attitudes about key elements of the Department’s mandate, this research supported IRCC by:
A 15-minute random digit dialling (RDD) telephone survey was conducted with a sample of 3,400 Canadians, 18 years of age or older, between January 31 and March 17, 2023. An overlapping dual-frame (cellphone and landline) probability sample was used to minimize coverage error: 65 percent of the sample frame was cellphone numbers and 35 percent was landline telephone numbers. The sample frame was geographically disproportionate to improve the accuracy of specific regional results. Based on a sample of this size, the overall results can be considered accurate within ±1.7%, 19 times out of 20 (adjusted to reflect the geographically disproportionate sampling). The margins of error are greater for results pertaining to subgroups of the total sample. The full technical specifications can be found in the Appendix: 1. Technical Specifications.
Canadians were asked their opinions on current immigration levels and their perspectives about the effects immigration has on Canada. Below are the compiled results.
Approximately half of surveyed Canadians (52%) feel that the right number of immigrants are coming to Canada. Those who do not were evenly split between those who said there are too many immigrants coming to Canada (22%) and those who said there are too few immigrants coming to Canada (22%).
| Too many | About the right number | Too few | Don’t know | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Do you feel that there are too many, too few or about the right number of immigrants coming to Canada? | 22% | 52% | 22% | 4% |
| Currently, Canada plans to admit 465,000 immigrants in 2023. Do you feel that this would be… | 35% | 51% | 10% | 4% |
| 465,000 immigrants is roughly 1% of Canada’s current population. Knowing this, do you feel that this would be… | 27% | 50% | 20% | 2% |
When told that Canada plans to admit 465,000 immigrants in 2023, opinions shifted slightly. While half (51%) said that this is about the right number, approximately one-third (35%) of Canadians felt that this would be too many immigrants (up from the 22% who said that current immigration levels are too high when not provided with the actual number). Ten percent said that 465,000 immigrants is too few to admit to Canada (down from the 22% who said that there are too few immigrants coming to Canada when not provided with the actual number).
Opinions shifted again when respondents were told that 465,000 immigrants accounts for roughly one percent of Canada’s total population. Fewer surveyed Canadians felt that 465,000 immigrants is too many (27% compared to 35% when the additional context was not provided) and more said it is too few (20% compared to 10%) when they learned that 465,000 immigrants is about one percent of the country’s current population.
Canadians were asked about their feelings regarding the number of immigrants coming to their town or city as well as to their province or territory.
At the local level, more than four in 10 (45%) surveyed Canadians said that about the right number of immigrants are coming to their town or city, while 27% said there are too few and 20% said too many people are immigrating to their town or city (8% did not know).
When asked about their province or territory, almost as many Canadians (43%) said about the right number of immigrants are coming while 20% said there are too few (compared to 27% who felt this way about their town or city) and 26% said too many (compared to 20% when the focus was on their town or city) people immigrating to their province or territory. Ten percent did not know.
| Too many | About the right number | Too few | Don't know | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Do you feel that there are too many, too few, or about the right number of immigrants coming to your city or town? | 20% | 45% | 27% | 8% |
| Do you feel that there are too many, too few or about the right number of immigrants coming to your province or territory? | 26% | 43% | 20% | 10% |
Canadians were asked about the effects of immigration from different perspectives, ranging from Canada as a whole to them personally. Overall, the majority of Canadians said that immigration is having a somewhat or very positive effect.
Seven in 10 Canadians said that immigration is having a somewhat (36%) or very (35%) positive effect on Canada. Similar proportions said that immigration to the country is having a somewhat or very positive effect on their province or territory (66%) and on their city or town (64%). In both areas, respondents were more likely to say the effect is somewhat rather than very positive.
Looking at the impact on their neighbourhood, almost six in 10 Canadians said that immigration is having a somewhat (32%) or very (27%) positive effect. At the personal level, just over six in 10 respondents said that immigration to Canada is having a somewhat (30%) or very (32%) positive effect on them personally. Those who did not assess the impact on their neighbourhood or on themselves positively were more likely to hold neutral views (26%) than to say the effects are negative (11%).
Relatively few respondents (from 11% to 15%) feel that immigration is having a negative effect in any of these areas.
| Very positive | Somewhat positive | Neither | Somewhat negative | Very negative | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canada | 35% | 36% | 12% | 9% | 5% |
| Your Province/Territory | 29% | 37% | 15% | 10% | 5% |
| Your city/town | 28% | 36% | 19% | 9% | 5% |
| Your neighbourhood | 27% | 32% | 26% | 7% | 4% |
| You personally | 32% | 30% | 26% | 7% | 4% |
Canadians were asked to rate their level of agreement with a series of statements about immigration and economic growth using a 10-point scale, where 1 means ‘strongly disagree’ and 10 means ‘strongly agree’.
In response, more than seven in 10 respondents agreed (scores of 7 to 10) that immigration is necessary to sustain economic growth in the face of Canada’s aging population (73%) and that it is important for new immigrants to be encouraged to settle outside of Canada’s largest municipalities (72%). Following this, 69% agreed that Canada’s competitiveness depends on recruiting immigrants to meet the country’s evolving labour needs and exactly two-thirds (66%) agreed that immigration is necessary to fill skill and labour gaps in local economies. Those who did not express agreement with these statements were more likely to place themselves at the neutral point of the scale (scores of 5 to 6) than to disagree (scores of 1 to 4).
The one area where there was less consensus was prioritizing unemployed Canadians. Four in 10 (40%) Canadians agreed that Canada should focus on helping unemployed Canadians rather than looking for skilled immigrants for the workforce. Conversely, nearly three in 10 (28%) disagreed with this statement (the rest, 30%, were neutral).
| Agree (7-10) | Neutral (5-6) | Disagree (1-4) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| “Immigration is necessary if Canada is to sustain its economic growth in the face of an aging population.” | 73% | 16% | 10% |
| “It is important that Canada encourages new immigrants to settle in areas outside of Canada’s largest municipalities.” | 72% | 17% | 9% |
| “Canada’s competitiveness depends on our ability to recruit immigrants who meet our country's evolving labour needs.” | 69% | 18% | 12% |
| “Immigration is necessary to help fill skill and labour shortages in my local economy.” | 66% | 19% | 13% |
| “Canada should focus on helping unemployed Canadians rather than looking for skilled immigrants for our workforce.” | 40% | 30% | 28% |
Canadians were asked to rate their level of agreement with a series of statements about immigration and society using a 10-point scale, where 1 means ‘strongly disagree’ and 10 means ‘strongly agree’.
Almost eight in 10 Canadians are proud of Canada’s reputation as an open and welcoming society (78%) and believe that most immigrants come to Canada to contribute to society (77%). In addition, seven in 10 (70%) believe that accepting immigrants from different cultures makes Canadian culture stronger and few (21%) agree that immigration is causing Canada to change in ways that they don’t like.
When asked if immigrants need to do more to integrate into Canadian society, Canadians’ views were more divided: 47% agreed that immigrants need to do more and 51% were neutral or disagreed. Views were split when asked if immigration has placed too much pressure on public services in Canada: 35% agreed that immigration has put too much pressure on public services, 27% were neutral, and 35% disagreed that immigration has placed pressure on public services.
| Agree (7-10) | Neutral (5-6) | Disagree (1-4) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| “I am proud of Canada's reputation as an open and welcoming society.” | 78% | 13% | 8% |
| “Most immigrants who come here want to contribute to society.” | 77% | 15% | 7% |
| “Accepting immigrants from many different cultures makes Canadian culture stronger.” | 70% | 16% | 13% |
| “Immigrants need to do more to integrate into Canadian society.” | 47% | 27% | 24% |
| “Immigration has placed too much pressure on public services in Canada.” | 35% | 27% | 35% |
| “Immigration is causing Canada to change in ways that I don't like.” | 21% | 18% | 60% |
Canadians were asked their opinions on refugees and their perspectives about the effects refugees have on Canada. Below are the compiled results.
Approximately four in 10 Canadians (43%) feel that about the right number of refugees are coming to Canada. Conversely, 21% feel there are too many refugees and 24% said there are too few coming into Canada (11% did not know).
Looking specifically at refugees selected to be resettled to Canada from abroad, opinions shifted slightly. Fifteen percent of Canadians (down from 21% when the focus was refugees in general) said there are too many refugees while 29% said there are too few refugees resettling in Canada (up from 24% when the focus was refugees in general). The plurality (44%) felt that Canada is resettling the right number of refugees selected to be resettled from abroad (11% did not know).
When asked about people who come to Canada and claim asylum, the plurality, again, felt that Canada is receiving the right number of claimants (41%). Fourteen percent did not know enough to respond, and the rest were split between those who said that there are too many people coming to Canada and claiming asylum (21%) and those who said there are too few asylum claimants (23%).
| Too many | About the right number | Too few | Don't know | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Do you feel that there are too many, too few or about the right number of refugees coming to Canada? | 21% | 43% | 24% | 11% |
| Refugees selected to be resettled to Canada from abroad | 15% | 44% | 29% | 11% |
| People who come to Canada and claim asylum | 21% | 41% | 23% | 14% |
Canadians were asked to rate their level of agreement with a series of statements about refugees using a 10-point scale, where 1 means ‘strongly disagree’ and 10 means ‘strongly agree’.
Nearly eight in 10 (78%) Canadians agreed (scores of 7 to 10) that accepting refugees is part of Canada’s humanitarian tradition. Seven in 10 agreed that Canada has a responsibility to do its part in accepting refugees (73%) and that most refugees who come to Canada want to contribute to society (70%). Very few (from 7% to 10%) disagreed (scores of 1 to 4) with these statements.
Two-thirds (66%) disagreed with the view that refugees take jobs away from other Canadians and almost as many (57%) disagreed that accepting refugees poses a risk to safety and security of Canadians. In addition, almost six in 10 (57%) agreed that refugees have a positive impact on Canada’s economy.
When asked if accepting refugees places too much pressure on public services in Canada, almost four in 10 (38%) Canadians disagreed that this is the case. One-third (32%) agreed, while the rest (27%) were neutral.
Views were split when asked if the federal government should focus on helping Canadians rather than welcoming refugees: 34% of Canadians disagreed with this statement, 32% agreed, and a further 32% were neutral.
| Agree (7-10) | Neutral (5-6) | Disagree (1-4) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| “Accepting refugees is part of Canada's humanitarian tradition.” | 78% | 14% | 7% |
| “Canada has a responsibility to do its part in accepting refugees.” | 73% | 16% | 10% |
| “Most refugees who come here want to contribute to society.” | 70% | 19% | 8% |
| “Refugees have a positive impact on Canada’s economy.” | 57% | 26% | 14% |
| “The federal government should focus on helping Canadians rather than welcoming refugees.” | 32% | 32% | 34% |
| “Accepting refugees places too much pressure on public services in Canada.” | 32% | 27% | 38% |
| “Accepting refugees poses a risk to the safety and security of Canadians.” | 19% | 22% | 57% |
| “Refugees take away jobs from other Canadians.” | 14% | 19% | 66% |
Canadians were asked about the effects of accepting refugees on Canada and on their town or city. Two-thirds (67%) feel that the effects of refugees coming to Canada is somewhat (42%) or very (25%) positive. When asked about their town or city, fewer, but still a majority (57%) of Canadians, said that the effects are somewhat (36%) or very (21%) positive.
| Very positive | Somewhat positive | Neither | Somewhat negative | Very negative | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canada | 25% | 42% | 19% | 10% | 2% |
| Your city/town | 21% | 36% | 27% | 9% | 3% |
More than half of surveyed Canadians (56%) support the Government of Canada bringing a number of Afghan refugees to Canada. Relatively few (15%) oppose this, with another one-quarter (26%) of Canadians remaining neutral.
| Support (7-10) | 56% |
|---|---|
| Neutral (5-6) | 26% |
| Oppose (1-4) | 15% |
The following specifications applied to this research:
The following table presents the sample distribution and the associated margins of error for each province and/or region (at the 95% confidence level):
| No. of Interviews | Margin of Error | |
|---|---|---|
| Total | 3,400 | ±1.7% |
| Atlantic Canada | 400 | ±4.9% |
| Newfoundland and Labrador | 100 | ±9.8% |
| Nova Scotia | 100 | ±9.8% |
| Prince Edward Island | 100 | ±9.8% |
| New Brunswick | 100 | ±9.8% |
| Quebec | 700 | ±3.7% |
| Ontario | 1,150 | ±2.9% |
| Manitoba | 150 | ±8.0% |
| Saskatchewan | 150 | ±8.0% |
| Alberta | 340 | ±5.3% |
| British Columbia | 410 | ±4.8% |
| Territories | 100 | ±9.8% |
The sample was stratified by region, with quotas used to ensure appropriate representation. During the fieldwork, the regional sampling was managed to ensure that each successive quartile of responses contained roughly the same proportion of responses per region.
The tables below provide the unweighted and weighted distributions of the telephone sample for key socio-demographic characteristics. Weights were applied to the survey sample to ensure that the final data reflects the adult population of Canada by region, age, and gender according to Statistics Canada’s 2021 census data.
| Unweighted Total | Weighted Total | |
|---|---|---|
| British Columbia | 410 | 472 |
| Alberta | 340 | 377 |
| Saskatchewan | 150 | 99 |
| Manitoba | 150 | 119 |
| Ontario | 1,150 | 1,313 |
| Quebec | 700 | 782 |
| New Brunswick | 100 | 73 |
| Prince Edward Island | 100 | 14 |
| Nova Scotia | 100 | 92 |
| Newfoundland and Labrador | 100 | 49 |
| Territories | 100 | 10 |
| Unweighted Total | Weighted Total | |
|---|---|---|
| 18-24 | 199 | 343 |
| 25-34 | 411 | 564 |
| 35-44 | 489 | 561 |
| 45-54 | 543 | 534 |
| 55-64 | 643 | 596 |
| 65+ | 1115 | 802 |
| Unweighted Total | Weighted Total | |
|---|---|---|
| Woman | 1,678 | 1,679 |
| Man | 1,692 | 1,687 |
| Unweighted Total | Weighted Total | |
|---|---|---|
| High school diploma or less | 809 | 801 |
| College, CEGEP, Registered Apprenticeship or Trades | 930 | 917 |
| University | 1,629 | 1,648 |
| Unweighted Total | Weighted Total | |
|---|---|---|
| Under $20,000 | 192 | 202 |
| $20,000 to $39,999 | 403 | 389 |
| $40,000 to $59,999 | 458 | 446 |
| $60,000 to $79,999 | 381 | 383 |
| $80,000 to $99,999 | 367 | 356 |
| $100,000 to under $149,999 | 502 | 522 |
| $150,000 or more | 638 | 652 |
| Unweighted Total | Weighted Total | |
|---|---|---|
| Born outside Canada | 823 | 928 |
| Born in Canada | 2,570 | 2,464 |
The following table presents information about the final call dispositions for this survey and calculation of the response rate:
| Total | Landline | Cell | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total Numbers Attempted | 254,209 | 56,703 | 197,506 |
| Out-of-scope - Invalid | 175,675 | 37,664 | 138,011 |
| Unresolved (U) | 30,537 | 5,097 | 25,440 |
| No answer/Answering machine | 30,537 | 5,097 | 25,440 |
| In-scope - Non-responding (IS) | 44,342 | 12,688 | 31,654 |
| Language barrier | 814 | 227 | 587 |
| Incapable of completing (ill/deceased) | 254 | 130 | 124 |
| Callback (Respondent not available) | 2,687 | 402 | 2,285 |
| Refusal | 39,438 | 11,670 | 27,768 |
| Termination | 1,149 | 259 | 890 |
| In-scope - Responding units (R) | 3,655 | 1,254 | 2,401 |
| Completed Interview | 3,400 | 1,190 | 2,210 |
| Not Qualified – Age | 119 | 11 | 108 |
| Quota full | 136 | 53 | 83 |
The overall response rate was 5% (7% for the landline sample and 4% for the cell phone sample). Using the numbers from the final call dispositions table, the survey response rate is calculated as follows: [R=R/(U+IS+R)]. This means that the response rate is calculated as the number of responding units [R] divided by the number of unresolved [U] numbers plus in-scope [IS] non-responding households and individuals plus responding units [R].
A non-response analysis was conducted to assess the potential for non-response bias. Survey non-response can bias results when there are systematic differences between survey respondents and non-respondents. As displayed in the tables above (see ‘Weighting’), the survey sample differs from the population in terms of age (as is often the case with telephone surveys of the general population). Canadians under 55 were under-represented in the survey sample and those aged 55 and older were over-represented in the survey sample. Weights were applied to adjust for the discrepancy between the survey sample and the population.
English and French quantitative instruments are provided under separate cover.
Coverage error occurs when not all segments of the target population are included in the sample frame. If only landlines were included in the sample frame for this survey, Canadians who only have a cell phone would not have an opportunity to participate in the survey. The survey results, therefore, would only reflect the views of Canadians who have a landline in their household. 1