8 Entering immigrants' perspectives on life in Canada, and social outcomes

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Given the, at times, difficult economic outcomes described above, it is important to understand immigrants' perceptions of life in Canada. Have their expectations been met in social and economic areas? What do they like and dislike about living in Canada?

Such questions were answered by using the Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Canada (LSIC), which followed the entering immigrant cohort of 2000 for four years. There was some attrition in this survey, with a loss of about 4,300 of the original 12,000 respondents after four years. Some of this attrition is no doubt related to emigration of immigrants, since up to one third of immigrants leave Canada in the year following entry (Aydemir and Robinson 2006). Part of the attrition will also be related to non-response and training problems.

8.1 What new immigrants like and dislike about Canada

Four years after arriving in Canada, LSIC respondents indicated that freedom, rights, safety and security, and prospects for the future were among the things they liked most, while lack of employment opportunities was one of the things that they disliked most (Maheux and Schellenberg 2007). Many immigrants identified the social and political environment in Canada as what they liked most about this country.

Those individuals who said that they planned to settle permanently in Canada were asked about their reasons for staying. Over half of these respondents (55%) said they planned to stay because of the 'quality of life' in Canada, while 39% planned to stay because of the positive future for their family here. Educational opportunities were important for many.

Fewer new immigrants pointed to the importance of economic factors as a reason for staying. While some new immigrants expressed dissatisfaction with their economic experiences in Canada, most provided positive assessments about the quality oflife here.

LSIC respondents were asked if their level of material well-being—such as home, car and disposable income—was better, about the same or worse than it had been prior to coming to Canada. Family-class immigrants had more favourable assessments of these relative outcomes than their economic-class colleagues. This is consistent with other studies that showed that outcomes deteriorated more for the economic than family class following 2000. Among skilled economic immigrants, 35% said their level of material well-being was better than it had been prior to arrival, 31% said it was about the same and 34% said that it was worse. In contrast, among family-class immigrants, 58% said their material well-being was better than it had been before coming here.

LSIC respondents were also asked about the quality of life in Canada—such as safety, freedom and pollution—compared with their situation before coming here. Responses to this question were more positive than those regarding material well-being. Indeed, 84% to 92% of immigrants in each admission class said that their quality of life was better in Canada than it had been prior to coming here.

When asked a general question about the challenges they faced in Canada, the largest share of new immigrants said that finding a job had been the most difficult. The immigrants believed there were a number of factors at play here that included a lack of Canadian work experience, language barriers, credential recognition and lack of social networks.

8.2 Assessment of life in Canada

Among immigrants remaining in the survey after four years, about two thirds reported a fairly positive congruence between their expectations of life in Canada and their experiences here.¹¹ There is a low or declining degree of congruence between the expectations and experiences of about one third of the remaining new immigrants.

Once again, economic immigrants were more likely than others (mainly the family class) to feel that their expectations had not been met. The economic immigrants may have had higher expectations than others regarding their employment prospects in Canada, and opportunities elsewhere.

During each of the three LSIC interviews, respondents were asked "If you had to make the decision again, would you come to Canada?" About three quarters of new immigrants said 'yes' to this question each of the three times they were asked it. Another 12% said 'no,' but by the third interview felt that they had made the right decision in coming here. Altogether, 84% were positive about their decision to have come to Canada.

The generally positive views that new immigrants have regarding their decision to come to Canada are also reflected in their plans to become Canadian citizens. In order to become a Canadian citizen, landed immigrants must reside in Canada for at least three years. By the time they were interviewed four years after landing, over 70% of the new immigrants had already completed or had initiated the citizenship process. Another 22% said that they intended to become Canadian citizens but had not yet started the process.

8.3 Canadians' perception of immigration

The results above provide a picture of immigrants' perception of life in Canada, but what of the views of Canadians regarding immigration? Levels have been high, economic assimilation issues are well known, and the face of the three largest cities has changed significantly as a result of immigration.

Overall, the opinions of Canadians toward immigration remain positive. Citizenship and Immigration tracks Canadians' views on an annual basis. In 2007, it found that about two thirds of Canadians agree that "immigration has a very positive or somewhat positive effect on Canada" (Citizenship and Immigration 2007). When asked if the fabric of Canadian society was being threatened by the influx of visible-minority immigrants, about two thirds disagreed. They were also asked whether Canada should focus on the social assimilation of immigrants (encourage minority groups to be more like most Canadians), or the more multicultural policy of welcoming and accepting diversity (encourage Canadians to accept minority groups and their culture and language): overall, 58% felt the former policy should have the highest priority, while 38% felt the latter.

In general, Canadians' opinions in 2007 have been somewhat more positive toward immigration than they had been in 2004, the first year of the tracking survey.

Canadians' views of immigration remain positive, with about two thirds of the population reporting such a positive outlook. Immigrants' views of their decision to come to Canada are also positive. While immigrants entering in 2000 were not happy about their economic outcomes, most of the two thirds who remained in the sample after four years were fairly positive about their decision to come to Canada and to have remained here.

¹¹ More specifically, 21% of them said that their expectations of life in Canada have consistently been exceeded, and another 16% said that their expectations have consistently been met. In addition, another 29% reported that life in Canada was initially worse than or about what they had expected, but that their situation improved over the first four years. In this respect, their assessment was positive. Combining these groups, the expectations of 37% of new immigrants who remained in Canada had been met or exceeded, and an additional 29% found expectations had been improved upon when they remained in Canada.