Canadian public opinion about immigration and refugees

The year 2020 has been unprecedented in Canada and worldwide, starting with a global pandemic the likes of which have not been seen in 100 years, causing the greatest economic slowdown since the Great Depression. Millions of Canadians found themselves suddenly out of work, at risk from a deadly virus, and restricted to their homes for months. In such times of national crisis, it is easy to assume that Canadians will draw inward and protective, and become more wary of outsiders such as new immigrants who might show up to take precious jobs from those already here and introduce new health risks. In recent years Canada has developed the reputation as a beacon of acceptance of migrants and multi-ethnic diversity, and Canadians have increasingly embraced this vision of their country. Has the pandemic and its impacts diminished the public’s openness to newcomers?

In fact, surprisingly, Canadians have become more open, not less so. Over the past year, the Canadian public has become more accepting and supportive of immigrants and refugees, continuing a trend dating back several years but to levels not recorded in more than four decades of Focus Canada surveys. Strong and increasing majorities of Canadians express comfort with current immigration levels, see immigrants as good for the Canadian economy and not threats to other people’s jobs, and believe that immigration is essential to building the country’s population. And for the first time in the Focus research dating back four decades, a plurality of Canadians rejects the ideas that too many refugees are not legitimate, and that too many immigrants are not adopting Canadian values. By a five-to-one margin, the public believes immigration makes Canada a better country, not a worse one, and they are most likely to say this is because it makes for a more diverse multicultural place to live.

Survey Details

This survey was conducted in partnership with the Faculty of Social Sciences’ IMPACT Project at the University of Ottawa and Century Initiative. This survey is based on telephone interviews conducted (via land line and cellphones) with 2,000 Canadians between September 8 and 23, 2020. A sample of this size drawn from the population produces results accurate to within plus or minus 2.2 percentage points in 19 out of 20 samples.