Population Movement Into and Out of Canada's Immigrant Gateway Cities:
A Comparative Study of Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver
by Feng Hou and Larry Bourne
Business and Labour Market Analysis Division
Analytical Studies Branch Research Paper Series, No. 229
Also, "The migration-immigration link in Canada's gateway cities: A comparative study of Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver." Environment and Planning. A 38 (8): 1505–1525.
Context
Immigrants who arrived in Canada in the 1990s were much more likely
to settle in the "gateway" centres of Toronto, Vancouver,
and Montreal than those who came in earlier decades. The internal migration
flows of the native-born and earlier immigrants impinge on the uneven
geographical distribution of population growth and influence spatial
disparities in the socio-demographic composition of the country's
population.
Objective(s)
This study examines trends in the internal migration of the Canadian-born
and long-term immigrants into and out of Canada's three largest
census metropolitan areas. Specifically, we ask the following questions:
(1) Have the Canadian-born and long-term immigrants become more likely
to move away from and less likely to move into the three major immigrant
gateway cities in the last two decades? (2) Do these trends vary with
education level, language and visible minority status? (3) To what extent
is the level of in-flows of recent immigrants into the three metropolitan
areas associated with the trends in out- and in-migration?
Findings
The results show that the three cities received fewer working-age internal
migrants, both among the Canadian-born and long-term immigrants during
the 1990s than in the 1980s. Toronto and Montreal also sent out fewer
migrants in the later decade, although out-migration increased among
the Canadian-born in Vancouver.
During the 1990s, both Toronto and Vancouver experienced a net loss
of Canadian-born migrants among the less well-educated and non-visible
minorities, but a net gain among those with university education. Montreal
had a net loss of the Canadian-born and long-term immigrants, mostly
among Anglophones.
Growth in the immigrant population tended to be correlated with the
increased out-migration rate among the less well-educated Canadian-born
population in Toronto and Vancouver. In contrast, there was not a significant
association between immigration growth and the decline in in-migration
rates.
Data source(s)
1981-2001 Census.
View
the full publication.
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