December 16, 2024 — Views on immigration in Canada have changed dramatically, from embracing and welcoming newcomers to wanting immigration to be paused or even stopped altogether.
Telephone interviews by Focus Canada, a public opinion research group, indicated that nearly six in ten (58 percent) of Canadians believe the country has accepted too many immigrants. This is up 31 percent since 2022, marking the largest shift on immigration views the country has seen.
This change on immigration attitude is accompanied by Canadian concerns towards housing, the economy, and population growth, specifically inflation, rising cost of living, gas prices, interest rates, unemployment, and unaffordable housing.
In response to this negative attitude towards immigrants, Canada’s Minister of Immigration Marc Miller, recently announced changes to immigration targets for 2025 onwards, from the original 500,000 down to 395,000 in 2025, 380,000 in 2026, and 365,000 in 2027.
These new immigration targets mainly affect temporary foreign workers and international students. The goal is to reduce temporary residents to 5 percent in 2026 from the current 6.2 percent (being 2.5 million people). This means about a 480,000 decrease in the number of temporary residents.
In the 2021 Statistics Canada census, there were 924,850 non-permanent residents in Canada holding asylum claims, work permits or student permits. Filipinos were 3.6 percent of this group, or approximately 33,000 people. Based on these projections, there will likely be a lower number of Filipinos entering Canada as temporary foreign workers or as international students in the coming years.
The 2024 Statistics Canada projections estimate Filipinos are 12 percent of new permanent residents totaling 35,391. This represents a 15 percent decrease since 2015 when Filipinos made up 30 percent of new permanent residents.
Despite the negative immigration attitudes of 58 percent of Canadians, Statistics Canada has a positive image of Canadian Filipinos describing them as “among the hardest working people in Canada.” Nearly 80 percent of Canadian Filipinos older than 15 were working or job searching in 2022, being the highest labour force participation compared to the national average of 65.4 percent.
John (Jack) L. Peters joins Canadian Filipino Net as community relations officer. He is interested in researching politics and issues relevant to the Filipino community. He received his bachelor's degree in International Relations at the University of British Columbia in 2023. He was born to Filipino and Canadian parents. He taught English in Japan for a year at a public junior high and elementary school in Kumamoto City. He can be reached at
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