in World News Canadians’ immigration concerns quadrupled in two years: study
By Isaac Lamoureux, True North Wire
A new study has found that immigration concerns among Canadians have more than quadrupled over the last two years.
The Angus Reid Institute study released on Wednesday asked Canadians about the country’s various issues and challenges and which ones concerned them most.
In Sept. 2022, only 5% of Canadians listed immigration and refugees as a top concern. The most recent version of the study, conducted online between Aug. 29 and Sep. 3, 2024 with 1,420 Canadian adults, found that 21% of Canadians are now worried about the issue, an increase of 4.2 times from two years ago.
Growing concerns around immigration means the issue is tied with climate change for fourth place. Eclipsing these two are worries about housing affordability, healthcare, and cost of living/inflation, top concerns for 32%, 45%, and 57% of respondents, respectively.
“While the number of Canadians galvanized over the cost of living and inflation is beginning to decrease, their attention is fixating on an issue that was once only glancingly thought of: immigration,” reads the study.
Concerns with housing affordability rose from 27% to 32% between Sep. 2022 and Nov. 2023. It has since remained unchanged.
True North previously reported that housing affordability reached an all-time low in Apr. 2024.
“[Concern surrounding housing affordability] perhaps presents a ripple effect from Canada’s booming population driven by immigrants, both temporary and permanent,” reads the study.
True North previously reported that after accounting for permanent residents, temporary foreign workers, international students, and illegal immigrants, Canada’s annual newcomer intake rises to approximately 2.2 million people.