The world wants to Immigrate to Canada if they could: Survey

A survey commissioned by the Historica-Dominion Institute along with the Aurea Foundation and Munk School of Global Affairs has found the more than half of the adults in the 24 top international economies would pack up and move to Canada if they could.

Canada is known worldwide as a country that is positive and tolerant of newcomers. Of those surveyed, 53 per cent said they would immigrate to Canada.

“Largely, it’s because we welcome immigrants,” said the president of the Historica-Dominion Institute, “We do not have anti-immigration parties in Canada. Almost every European country has one, (but) we do not have a skinhead movement in Canada. So that speaks well of Canada and may point to our greatest success of the last 25 years, which is the manner in which we have continued to welcome immigrants.

How does the international community view Canada? The survey found that 79 per cent of respondents thought Canadians have one of the best qualities of life in the world, 79 per cent said Canada is accepting of people with different backgrounds, 86 per cent said that Canada is a country that respects rights and freedoms 72 per cent believed that Canada is a country that is welcoming to immigrants.

Interestingly, 10 other countries like Russia, France and China say that Canadians are tolerant of various racial and cultural backgrounds than Canadians themselves. But 94 per cent of Canadians also feel that Canada is welcoming to immigrants.

As immigration lawyers, we have always known about the desirability of Canada as an immigration destination. On a daily basis, we fight hard to help people achieve their dreams of making Canada their new home.  Unfortunately immigration regulations have trended toward enforcement over the last number of years making it more and more difficult to qualify for Canadian immigration.