The Canadian dream is turning into a survival battle for many immigrants due to high living costs and housing shortages; meanwhile, the increasing number of immigrants has also forced newcomers to Canada to return to their home countries.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has turned immigration into a primary weapon to alleviate Canada’s significant challenges of an aging population and slowing growth, simultaneously aiding in driving economic expansion. This has led to the fastest population growth in over six decades this year, as per Statistics Canada.
However, now, the reversal of that trend is gradually gaining momentum. Official data shows that in the first six months of 2023, about 42,000 people left Canada, in addition to 93,818 departures in 2022 and 85,927 emigrants in 2021.
According to a recent report by the Canadian Citizenship Institute (ICC), the rate of immigrants leaving Canada reached its highest level in two decades in 2019. While these numbers decreased during the pandemic lockdowns, Statistics Canada data indicates that these numbers are once again on the rise.
Although it is only a small portion of the 263,000 people arriving in the country during the same period, the steady increase in migration waves has raised alarms for some observers.
For a country partly relying on immigrants, the growing trend of people leaving Canada poses a risk of weakening one of the distinctive policies of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government, which has granted permanent residency to a record 2.5 million people in just 8 years.
In a September report, the Royal Bank of Canada stated that, on average, it takes about 60% of a household’s income to cover the costs of homeownership in Canada. This figure rises to about 98% in Vancouver and 80% in Toronto.
