Statistics Canada reports this morning that immigrants to Canada are much more likely to become citizens than immigrants to most other countries, including the United States. Moreover, immigrants to Canada are becoming citizens at a much faster rate than earlier generations of immigrants to Canada.
Yesterday, the government said that, in 2004, Canada admitted 235,508 permanent residents. Permanent residency is the first step towards obtaining citizenship.
Statscan looked at the number of people living in Canada in 2001 who were born outside the country and found that 84 per cent of “eligible immigrants” were, in fact, Canadian citizens.
By contrast:
- Australia – 74 per cent of eligible immigrants had become Australians
- UK – 50 per cent of eligible immigrants had become British
- US – 40 per cent of eligible immigrants had become American
“This trend may be a result of the countries of origin,” Statscan says. “Newcomers entering Canada in the last decade were more likely to have been born in Asian nations such as China, India or the Philippines. Those who came before the 1960s tended to be from European nations such as the United Kingdom and Italy.
“Newly eligible immigrants from Africa or Asia are more likely to become Canadian citizens than those from Europe and the United States.
“Immigrants born in the United States were the least likely to hold Canadian citizenship. Even among US-born immigrants who had spent more than 30 years in Canada, 32% were not citizens.”