Executive summary
Archived Content
Information identified as archived is provided for reference, research or recordkeeping purposes. It is not subject to the Government of Canada Web Standards and has not been altered or updated since it was archived. Please "contact us" to request a format other than those available.
To date, much of the research on immigrant outcomes in Canada has focused on labour market and income characteristics in the years after landing. A recurring message is that immigrants who landed in the 1990s and 2000s are not faring as well as those who landed in earlier decades. One question this raises is whether there is a gap between immigrants' expectations of life in Canada and their subsequent experiences of it. In this paper, the Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Canada (LSIC) is used to examine how immigrants in the 2000-2001 landing cohort subjectively assess their life in Canada. More specifically, to what extent are they personally satisfied with their life in Canada? How does life in Canada measure up to their expectations? If given the opportunity, would they make the same decision to come Canada again? Responses to these questions are examined across a broad range of demographic, social and economic characteristics.
Most LSIC respondents have positive assessments. Four years after landing, almost three-quarters are satisfied or very satisfied with their life in Canada. One-fifth say they are neither satisfied nor dissatisfied, while 7% say they are dissatisfied or very dissatisfied. In terms of expectations, 43% say that life in Canada is somewhat better or much better than they expected it would be, 33% say it is about what they had expected, and 24% say it is somewhat worse or much worse than they had expected. Finally, four years after landing, 87% of LSIC respondents say that if they had to make the decision again, they would still come to Canada.
In spite of the fact that there was a considerable attrition from the LSIC sample over the four-year period of the survey, there is no evidence that it was the most dissatisfied immigrants who left the sample.
A broad range of demographic, economic and social characteristics are associated with subjective assessments. Positive assessments are most prevalent among immigrants aged 15 to 34, and are less prevalent among those aged 35 to 54. Positive assessments are negatively correlated with educational attainment: university graduates are significantly less likely than others to say they are satisfied with their life in Canada, or that their expectations of life in Canada have been met. Across immigration admission categories, positive assessments are more prevalent among family-class immigrants and refugees than among principal applicants in the skilled worker category. The likelihood of expressing positive assessments of life in Canada is strongly correlated with self-assessed health status and self-assessed capacity to cope with everyday tasks.
Many aspects of the settlement process are correlated with assessments of life in Canada. Immigrants who encountered problems accessing housing, health care or education/training are less likely to be satisfied with life in Canada than those who did not encounter problems. They are also less likely to say their expectations have been met or exceeded. Those who felt they had to change their values or behaviours to adapt to life in Canada, and who found such changes difficult to make, are less likely than others to be satisfied with their life in Canada or to say they would make the same immigration decision again. There is also a strong monotonic correlation between perceived discrimination and subjective assessments, with immigrants who say they sometimes, or often, experience discrimination or unfair treatment, are least likely to express positive assessments of their life in Canada. In terms of social capital, positive ties with neighbours, contact with friends and participation in religious services are all associated with positive assessments.
Personal income is correlated with two of the three outcome measures—satisfaction and expectations. Compared with individuals who have no personal income, those with incomes of $40,000 or more are significantly more likely to be satisfied with life in Canada and to say life in Canada is somewhat better or much better than expected. Among the 80% of LSIC respondents with personal incomes below $40,000, assessments of Canada do not vary significantly across income groups. The same patterns are evident when household income is considered.
- Date modified: