The shocking numbers behind Canada’s immigration system

By Candice Malcolm

When most Canadians talk about the country’s immigration system and the number of people coming here, we are told that Canada welcomes roughly half a million people each year.

Most people, according to polls, believe that number is too high. Somewhere between half and three-quarters of all Canadians tell pollsters they would like the number to be lower.

But the “half a million” figure that is often thrown around is wildly misleading.

Canada welcomes 500,000 newcomers each year as permanent residents – the equivalence of U.S. green card holders.  

On top of that, we also admit another approximately 660,000 as temporary foreign workers, 900,000 international students and, in 2023, Canada saw an explosion of illegal immigration, with 143,870 people illegally entering the country and requesting political asylum.

For context, during the Stephen Harper years, Canada dealt with 10,000 to 25,000 illegal migrants each year. Under Trudeau, that number has exploded tenfold. 

When you add these immigration streams together, the total number of annual newcomers arriving in Canada balloons to about 2.2 million people per year.

No wonder our infrastructure is crumbling. No wonder housing shortages are so acute. No wonder there are viral videos showing dozens, if not hundreds, of migrants lining up for minimum wage job fairs in the service industry.

Canada’s immigration system is being overrun and mismanaged.

It’s hard to overstate how drastically out of step this is with Canada’s traditional approach to immigration.