Canadian immigration pattern fosters linguistic and cultural diversity. Moreover, this implies that Canada is experiencing a culturally diverse range of immigrants from all kinds of backgrounds. Initially, the nation was predominated by European immigration. According to historical data, around 40 years ago, Canadian immigrants were mostly born in Europe. This percentage is nearly 61.6 percent. Additionally, 12.1 percent of immigrants belonged to the Middle East and Asia by birth. However, history has changed the course of immigration now.
According to the Census data 2021, around 62 percent of new immigrants between 2016 and 2021 were either born in Asia or the Middle East. Conversely, European countries reported only 10.1 percent of recent immigration to Canada.
As far as new immigrants are concerned, India turned out to be the top country, accounting for 18.6 percent. On the other hand, the Philippines held the second position with 11.4 percent of Canadian immigrants. China was in the third rank with 8.9 percent; meanwhile, Syria held the fourth rank with 4.8 percent. Apart from these top five countries, the rest were from Pakistan, with only 2.7 percent of newcomers arriving in Canada. Also, Iran turned out to be the birthplace of 1.9 percent of recent immigrants.
Besides the Middle East and Asian countries, the rest of the four spots among the top ten countries belonged to the following countries:
- Nigeria is at 5th rank with 3 percent.
- The United States held the sixth rank with 3 percent.
- France held the eighth rank with 2 percent.
- The United Kingdom ranked 10th position with 1.7 percent.
Canadian immigration pattern and its impact
The recent immigration pattern is way different than the previous one. Now, the immigration trend is switching to a more diverse one. Furthermore, it indicates that various types of immigrants coming from varied backgrounds all over the world imply that culture and linguistics are becoming increasingly diverse.
With the current immigration pattern, Canada continues to align with its objective of welcoming individuals from all across the globe. Cultural diversity is on the rise in Canada, and it is evident from the 2021 Census data, which reported the existence of 450 different mother tongues. Moreover, the non-official languages are 8.4 percent of Tagalog, 7.9 percent of Mandarin, 10.3 percent of Arabic, and 6.4 percent of Punjabi. Apart from French and English, the remaining languages were considered mother tongues among the new immigrants. Generally, these were spoken individually or clubbed with other languages.
The data also reveals that the diversity in terms of birth countries among immigrants to Canada significantly contributes to Canada’s linguistic diversity.
Consequently, recent immigrants from different countries also result in ethnocultural differences alongside linguistic diversity. Overall, the range of these diverse birth countries from where the immigrants appear to be arriving in Canada is only increasing each day. This diversity reflects itself in the food, music, and clothing prevalent within the country.
