Shifting Borders: Canadian Attitudes Towards Immigration

Shifting Borders: Canadian Attitudes Towards Immigration is a joint research project between the Broadbent Institute and the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Canada. The survey was conducted in the field by Viewpoints Research.

About the Author

Clement Nocos is the Director of Policy and Engagement at the Broadbent Institute.

The author would also like to thank the following for their instrumental support in this analysis.

Jordan Leichnitz, Canada Program Manager, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung
Natalie Pilla, Research Manager, Viewpoints Research

About the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung

About the Broadbent Institute

Key Findings

Canada’s long-standing consensus on immigration, with decades of relatively open immigration policy, has built a multicultural society, with Canadians coming to the country from around the world. But in recent years, opinions on Canada’s immigration policy have shifted.

The consensus appears to be under threat. While Canadians still view immigration more positively than negatively, the ground is shifting under our feet. Understanding the nature of Canadians’ changing attitudes, the nuances behind them, and the causes behind the shift is critical to reversing the trend and bolstering confidence in Canada’s immigration system.  

Canadians are more likely to view immigration positively than negatively, but opinion is divided. 45% of Canadians believe immigration has had a positive impact on Canada, while 32% believe the impact has been negative. 22% of Canadians were neutral.

Opinion on immigration is shifting rapidly. Over the past year, 38% of Canadians have felt that their opinion on immigration has shifted towards preferring less immigration. Still, 45% of Canadians feel their opinions on immigration over the past year have not changed.

Views on the benefits and drawbacks of immigration are divided. Most Canadians believe that immigration has contributed to pressure on the housing market (69%) and social programs like healthcare and education (64%). However, 50% also say that immigration helps to grow Canada’s workforce and keep our social programs sustainable.

Housing and healthcare strain are dominant concerns – and immigration is seen by many as exacerbating shortages of housing and healthcare workers. However, a sizable portion of respondents sees immigrants as unfairly scapegoated.

Canadians support immigration policies that prioritize high-skill, in-demand sectors  such as healthcare and construction. There is skepticism about the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, and concern that it harms both Canadians and foreign workers.

There’s clear support for immigration’s contributions to culture and the economy. Canadians value cultural and social diversity, and the skills that immigrants bring help fill labour shortages in key industries.

Canadians remain open to arguments that immigration is important for the economy and to enrich Canada’s cultural and social diversity. Canadians are also open to the argument that certain immigration programs need reform, especially if they contribute to housing and healthcare crises.

Introduction

Opinions on Canada’s long-standing approach to immigration policy appear to be changing. Canada’s cultural diversity, created by immigration policies that brought people from all over the world to Canada, has long been celebrated. But in recent years, Canada’s approach to immigration has been the subject of  social and political tensions. Alongside — and perhaps thanks to — growing economic pressures, opposition to immigration is returning after decades of growing public acceptance and support.

The 1976 Immigration Act established the economic objectives of Canada’s immigration policy, in an environment where European immigration was slowing while demand for labour rose.  The new policy under the Pierre Trudeau government  opened up the immigration system, allowing for family reunification to complement the points system assessing contribution to Canadian economic activity, and defining the refugee classification meeting international obligations.

Canada’s immigration policy was followed by multicultural policy, embedded in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms by 1982, and the 1988 Canadian Multicultural Act. These complementary sets of legislation are unique to Canada. They have promoted economic growth through increased labour supply, facilitated by fairly strong human rights guarantees for newcomers of diverse backgrounds.

These fundamental pieces of legislation have contributed to the shape and size of Canadian society and the economy we have today. In 2021, immigrants comprised 23% of the Canadian population, while  27% was considered members of racialized communities. ¹ Canadians overall have been much more receptive to immigrants than other similar countries.

Chart 1 – Comparison of National Attitudes towards Immigration ²

However, in recent decades Canada’s immigration system has grown to focus more and more on temporary, cheap labour, rather than regular permanent immigration pathways. 

Backlogs on the processing of immigration applications for permanent resident status, along with stringent requirements for economic class immigrant selection, led to acute labour shortages in some industries. With Canada experiencing relatively low unemployment through the 2010s, demand for Temporary Foreign Workers (TFWs) grew and employers began to build their business models around this migration pathway. According to economist Richard Gilbert: ³

“The Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) was created in 2002 with the introduction of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA). It established the TFWP and indentured labour as a permanent feature of the Canadian labour market. The federal government recruits TFWs to work for a prespecified period of time, after which they are replaced by other people. In the same year, the federal Liberal government introduced the Low Skill Pilot Project, which allowed companies to bring in TFWs to  perform unskilled labour. Previously, the immigration system was focused on high skilled management and professional occupations.”

The TFWP was further restructured under the Stephen Harper government with an additional “International Mobility Program” (IMP) that allows foreign nationals to enter Canada with a work permit where no Labour Market Impact Assessment (needed for the TWFP) is required. With no incentive or regulations for employers to find domestic workers to fill vacancies (i.e. through higher wages, providing benefits, etc.) the use of TFWs grew and the program has become the faster and preferred way for employers to use immigration to Canada to meet long-term labour shortages. 

Successive governments have done little to reform this program, despite mounting human rights abuses through the program, wage depression, and declining public support for immigration – due, in part, to a rapid increase in immigration through this program.

Chart 2 – A Dramatic Increase in Temporary Foreign Workers over the Last Decade ⁴

Between 2011 and 2021, IMP migrants and international students increased dramatically, as employers, declining to raise wages to hire domestic workers, sought out migrants to fill in low-wage. The post-2008 financial crisis also saw the deepening of other economic crises such as the rise in the financialization of housing, and cuts to funding for social services such as healthcare.  These economic issues were exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.  Rather than addressing the real culprits of these economic failures, such profiteering in housing, lagging healthcare funding, and poor economic performance, some policy and influential opinion makers attempted to shift blame from empowered economic actors and chose newcomers as scapegoats for these issues. Demands from certain business sectors, such as the service industry, called for a loosening of TFWP rules to access cheap labour, using the post-COVID recovery as the reason. ⁵

Though symptomatic of economic deficiencies that have led to the labour shortages and business practices that have led to the growth of the TFWP, newcomers themselves have taken the brunt of the blame, reversing trends in public opinion towards Canada’s celebrated immigration policies.

Chart 3 – Trends in Public Opinion on Canada’s Immigration Policy⁶

While immigration in Canada was built to patch up holes in the economy, Canada is currently experiencing a shift in views over how well this approach is working. Inflation, the cost-of-living crisis, housing shortages, strain on public services, and the external threat presented by the United States government in 2025 have created a sense of overall economic uncertainty for Canadians. 

However, an additional factor fuelling concern about both immigration and jobs is the loosening of Temporary Foreign Worker Program rules at the behest of big business, which has fueled a blowback over the rest of Canada’s immigration policy. 

There are legitimate concerns and worries that are tied up in the issue of immigration, but Canadians generally remain welcoming to newcomers, especially those with specialized skills who can work in high-demand sectors. Investigating these divergent  trends could inform policymakers about ways to address  the decline in public support for immigration, and ways to craft policy to address the issue and reverse the trend.

Methodology

This survey was conducted by Viewpoints Research with respondents who live across Canada.

The survey included weighting to ensure responses reflect the actual distribution of the population by age, gender and region using Statistics Canada Census 2021 data. It was conducted online using a web survey with 1000 responses participating between March 5th to 13th, 2025. The margin of error for an equivalent random sample of the same size is +/- 3%. Numbers presented have been rounded up, and sums presented used raw before rounding.

To see the complete list of survey questions, please contact info@viewpoints.ca.

Divisions on Immigration?

Overall, sentiment on immigration skews positive, but opinion is divided. While more Canadians are likely to view immigration as having a positive impact than a negative one, nearly a quarter of Canadians today feel neutral about immigration.

Younger Canadian adults up to age 39, having grown up with Canada’s immigration and multiculturalism policies since their implementation through the 1980s, view immigration positively at significantly higher rates compared to older Canadians. Those with higher educational attainment have a much more positive perception than those with a high school level of education.

Despite narratives that immigrants have a negative effect on jobs and wages, union members are much more aware of the positive impact of immigration than non-union members. Not surprisingly, those born abroad and those familiar with immigration have a more positive view of immigration. Furthermore, Canadians who intend to vote for the Liberal Party of Canada or the NDP are much more likely to express positive views towards the impact of immigration, versus those who intend to vote for the Conservative Party or Green Party. Those who are unsure of their vote intention are more likely to be ambivalent to the impact of immigration policy.

However, these divisions and the fact that fairly large segments of the population feel neutral about  the impact of immigration indicate an important shift in public attitudes towards Canada’s immigration system.

There has been a significant shift in favour of reducing immigration over the last year (38%), though nearly half of Canadians (45%) have maintained their opinions and a smaller  proportion (13%) have shifted towards supporting higher immigraton. Higher levels of immigration are more likely to be supported by younger generations, the highly educated, recent immigrants, and those familiar with immigration. Those with lower educational attainment and those unfamiliar with immigration are more likely to support less immigration.

With respect to federal vote intention, those intending to vote NDP are more likely to have unchanged views on immigration policy, while those who intend to vote for the Liberal Party are more likely to have changed their views to favour more immigration. Among half of those intending to vote Conservative, views have changed to allow less immigration. Among all vote intentions, there is a notable shift of roughly one-third, with the exception of Conservative voters, to the view that Canada should allow less immigration.

Overall, Canadians have indicated a shift in support towards an immigration system that allows for fewer newcomers than the system does today. However, deeper analysis provides more details on the rather positive view overall towards immigration that superficially appears to contradict this trend. Recognizing Canada’s economic weakness and the need for immigration to improve these economic indicators helps to explain this inconsistency in attitudes towards Canada’s immigration policies.

Immigration as Both Problem and Solution

Chart 4 – Economic Perspectives on Canada’s Immigration Policy

As indicated in the Broadbent Institute’s 2024 report, Dreams and Realities on the Home Front: Canadians’ Call for Government Action on Housing Affordability, ⁷ attitudes towards immigration are currently  impacted by the housing affordability crisis. Most Canadians (69%) agree with the idea that more immigrants increase demand and create more competition for Canada’s unaffordable housing supply. Most also agree (70%) that pausing some types of immigration is necessary until more housing supply is added and the family doctor shortage is resolved.

At the same time, most Canadians (66%) are cognizant of the fact that immigration of skilled professionals is needed to address shortages of  healthcare professionals and of the skilled workers needed to build housing. 

According to advocacy groups, for instance, thousands of internationally trained immigrant doctors already residing in Canada pass exams and meet requirements, but are unable to practice medicine due to a lack of medical residency placements. ⁸ Recognizing this labour misallocation, Canadians remain supportive of immigrants needed for highly skilled work where there are shortages of workers. Almost half of Canadians (45%) have the view that immigrants and refugees are being unfairly scapegoated for Canada’s housing and health problems.

Lastly, while most Canadians (64%) see immigration as putting a strain on social programs, half (50%) also see immigration as necessary for keeping healthcare, education and other social services sustainable.

Attitudes towards the relationship between economic conditions and immigration are also divergent. Those 60 years old and older are significantly much more likely to support putting a pause on immigration until we can build more housing and hire more doctors. Meanwhile, younger people (ages 18-29), those having immigrant family or who have experienced immigration, and those with graduate and professional degrees are significantly more likely to recognize immigrants and refugees are being scapegoated for the housing crisis. Non-union members are also significantly more likely to disagree with the idea that immigrants are inappropriately scapegoated for the housing crisis.

Taken together, Canadians have a nuanced view of immigration.  They see the roots of economic dysfunctions made worse by the expansion of the TFWP. 

They see the need for immigration to support our social services and fill gaps in high-skilled labour, but see the need for change to immigration policy while these gaps remain unfilled and services are strained. 

Some do see immigrants as being unfairly scapegoated, such as those that come as temporary foreign workers, and believe that we should continue to welcome newcomers while fixing housing and healthcare shortfalls. However there is a wide desire for change from today’s immigration policies alongside a desire for solutions to fix the economic problems associated with immigration.

Labour: Exploitation, Necessity and Wages

Chart 5 – Labour Perspectives on Canada’s Immigration Policy

When it comes to jobs, Canadians recognize the need for immigration to ensure Canada’s economic sustainability. Canadians are acutely aware of the exploitation taking place through the Temporary Foreign Worker Program and agree that its continuation is unjust (61%). At the same time, Most Canadians (58%) agree with the view that immigration is necessary to fill labour shortages in key industries, such as healthcare and home construction, as  distinct from some of the industries that are staffed through the TFWP. 

A little over half (53%) of Canadians agree that immigration pushes wages lower and creates more competition for jobs, but interestingly, 1 in 5 (21%) of Canadians disagree with this statement.

As many immigrants are streamed into low-paying work that Canadian workers traditionally avoid given relatively stable demand in higher-paid sectors of the economy, Canadians may observe a race-to-the-bottom on wages that largely affects foreign workers. The residual effect of this wage suppression may be felt in the struggles Canadian workers face in calling for increased wages as they catch up to the rapid inflationary episodes after the COVID-19 economic shock. Workers in general have a significantly more sympathetic view of immigration policy, suggesting that they do not view immigration and wage gains as a zero sum game.

Significantly, unionized workers (67%) are much more likely to see immigrants as important for filling labour shortages in key industries, compared to Canadians who do not belong to a union (55%). Unionized workers (60%) are also much more likely to see the value of immigration in growing Canada’s workforce to keep social programs sustainable than non-unionized Canadians (46%).

While union workers follow other trends in opinion on wage suppression and ending the Temporary Foreign Workers Program, they do see the necessity of immigration more than other groups of Canadians. Given this nuance, any appeal to labour unions on the issue of immigration should consider the majority view among members that immigration is necessary, and focus on the economic issues lending to injustice and inefficiencies in the Canadian labour market’s allocation of workers and skills.

Global Leadership and Multiculturalism at Home

Chart 6 – Views on Canada’s Immigration Policy and Global Leadership, Business, and Multiculturalism

Despite changing opinions on immigration policy, Canadians are still generally positive on how Canada’s immigration and multicultural policy have contributed to Canada’s economy and global leadership. More than half of Canadians (52%) agree that immigration has contributed positively to business activity as well as Canada’s global influence and international reputation (52%). On the contribution of immigration to Canada’s multiculturalism, while most Canadians (62%) do agree that cultural diversity can be a  challenging issue, a similar proportion (62%) also believe that immigration enriches cultural and social diversity.

Among Canadians, there are also slight social divisions aligned with positive and negative views of Canada’s immigration policy with regards to global leadership and multiculturalism. There is strong agreement that immigration has contributed positively to Canada’s global leadership, business, and cultural enrichment among younger people, highly educated respondents, union members, and among those familiar with immigration. Interestingly, there is some nuance to consider in attitudes towards immigration and multicultural integration among newcomers.\

While there is general agreement on the view that “immigration creates challenges when people don’t integrate or have different cultures,” there are also some significant correlations in support for this statement among those familiar with immigration. Interestingly, this may be indicative of the integration challenges newcomers face in coming to Canada, and a self-awareness of those challenges faced.

Lastly, despite general agreement over immigration’s contribution to Canada’s global leadership and multiculturalism, there is more ambivalence towards Canada’s global leadership role and immigration policy regarding refugees. Only 35% of Canadians agree that, amid global crises, that it is “important that Canada accepts as many refugees as possible.” While economic contributions are highly regarded in Canada’s immigration policy, humanitarian purposes are not prioritized. This is further reflected in the priority preferences for immigrants among Canadians.

Economic Priorities in Canada’s Immigration Policy

Chart 7 – How much priority should governments place on different types of immigrants when making decisions around immigration policy?

Among respondents, there is a very strong preference for immigrants who possess skills that are highly in demand, like healthcare, engineering and technology Nearly half of Canadians (47%) would prioritize workers with high-skill economic contributions. Family reunification is a second priority for Canadians, but falls far short as a first priority (20%) compared to highly-skilled workers. Refugees (17%) are also less of a priority, despite positive reflections on immigration’s role in Canada’s global influence.

Least prioritized for Canadians are temporary foreign workers, business investors, and international students. Given the social issues exacerbated by employers seeking to exploit the Temporary Foreign Workers Program to access low-wage labour, it is unsurprising that respondents do not see this immigration stream as a priority.

 Taken together, these findings indicate that Canadians support immigration. However, they want Canada’s immigration system to fulfill the economic objectives it was designed for: “to support the development of a strong and prosperous Canadian economy, in which the benefits of immigration are shared across all regions of Canada.” ⁹

Party Preferences and Immigration Views

What is clear is that Canadians want to prioritize highly-skilled immigration, something that Canada’s immigration policy used to prioritize, to fill in the gaps in our economic sectors and social services. As demonstrated in Table 1, there are demographic and political fault lines on whether immigration has had a positive impact on Canada. As this research was conducted on the eve of the 2025 federal election, it is notable that  correlations can also be found in political party preferences and views on immigration, even where there is strong agreement among Canadians.

On a number of perspectives related to immigration policy where there is strong agreement among Canadians, there are political divides. The view that “immigration supports economic growth by filling labour shortages in key industries,” is widely supported by NDP and Liberal vote intentions. However, over a quarter of Conservative voters (26%) are neutral on this view, and are much more likely to disagree with this view than other voters. There are also similar trends reflected in the view that “immigration enriches cultural and social diversity”: NDP and Liberal voters strongly agree with this idea, while most who intend to vote Conservative are neutral or disagree with the statements.

Where Conservative voters do find more alignment with other parties is on the proposal that “we need to pause some types of immigration” until housing and healthcare crises are fixed. However, Conservative voters agree with this statement much more strongly when compared to other voters. Conservative voters also much more strongly agree compared to other voters with the notion that Temporary Foreign Workers are being exploited in the service sector while exacerbating the housing crisis, and that this type of temporary immigration program should end.

Canadians still largely agree that immigration has helped Canada’s economy and enriched cultural diversity, and any pitch for immigration policy change to NDP and Liberal voters needs to support closing labour gaps in sectors such as healthcare and the housing sector. Further steps to reform the Temporary Foreign Workers Program due to its abuse by employers may also find support among Conservative voters as well. 

Conclusion

The findings of this report complicate the narrative that Canada is becoming uniformly less welcoming to immigrants, while immigrants are feeling the same economic pressures that ordinary Canadian citizens are also facing. Familiarity with the immigrant experience tends to correlate with more support for immigrants themselves, as well as informed criticism of Canada’s current immigration system for its role in exacerbating social and economic inequality. The labour market shortages that immigration is supposed to fix are not being addressed by the current immigration system, which focuses on increasing Temporary Foreign Workers, while leaving economic pathways for migrants with needed skills in fields like care work backlogged. ¹⁰ Today, the share of temporary foreign workers among all new economic migrants has risen from 8% in 2000 to 49% in 2022. ¹¹

Given these issues, Canadians should understand that reform to the immigration system does not mean completely closing Canada off from migrants.Immigration is still celebrated as a part of Canada’s multicultural society while acknowledging its challenges, and Canadians continue to support welcoming highly-skilled immigrants to fulfill acute labour shortages. 

In addition to housing decommodification, restoring and maintaining healthcare workforce levels, and pushing back against wage suppression, policymakers should reform the TFWP to ensure Canadian jobs are filled through the permanent immigration system. According to Gilbert, this policy reform should aim to stimulate economic growth, create employment and generate tax revenue that sustains our social services, and generate public investment through a workforce able to take on tough challenges like building infrastructure and expanding our healthcare system. ¹²

Through the leadership of labour unions alongside migrant rights advocates, Canadians desire a fix to the contradictions of the immigration system. Hurried immigration changes by the Liberal government came late in 2024 after a report by the UN special rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery called out the TFWP for abuses. ¹³ Rather than listen exclusively to service industry business interests on their demands for TFWs,¹⁴ the next federal government must consult with labour, priority economic sectors, and migrants rights activists for a real path forward on immigration that respects human rights while fixing Canada’s labour market gaps and inefficiencies. Changing Canada’s TFW programming and creating pathways to regularization would also help to move this economic framework of the immigration system towards a broader human rights framework that ensures equality and justice for all that choose to make Canada their home.

References

1. Statistics Canada. 2023. (table). Census Profile. 2021 Census of Population. Statistics Canada Catalogue no. 98-316-X2021001. Ottawa. Released November 15, 2023. Available online. ↩︎
2.  Haerpfer, C., Inglehart, R., Moreno, A., Welzel, C., Kizilova, K., Diez-Medrano J., M. Lagos, P. Norris, E. Ponarin & B. Puranen (eds.). 2022. World Values Survey: Round Seven – Country-Pooled Datafile Version 6.0. Madrid, Spain & Vienna, Austria: JD Systems Institute & WVSA Secretariat. Available online. ↩︎
3. Richard Gilbert. 2022. The Political Economy of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) and the International Mobility Program (IMP) in Canada: Modern Slavery, Construction Cycles and National Output (2000-2020). Available online. ↩︎
4.  Statistics Canada. 2024. Temporary Foreign Workers in Canada. Research to Insights. Statistics Canada Catalogue no.11-631-X. Ottawa. Released November 27, 2024. Available online. ↩︎
5. Paula Duhatschek. 24 June 2024. ‘From fast food to construction, employers turn more and more to temporary foreign workers,’ CBC News. Available online. ↩︎
6. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. January 2024. IRCC, Deputy Minister, Transition Binder, 2024 – Public Opinion Research on Canadians’ Attitudes Towards Immigration. Available online. ↩︎
7. Clement Nocos. 27 March 2024. ‘Dreams and Realities on the Home Front: Canadians’ Call for Government Action on Housing Affordability.’ Broadbent Institute. Available online. ↩︎
8. Waqas Chughtai & Vanessa Lee. 17 January 2025. ‘Canada has a doctor shortage, but thousands of foreign-trained physicians already here still face barriers.’ CBC News. Available online. ↩︎
9. Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (S.C. 2001, c. 27) ↩︎
10. Public Service Alliance of Canada. 20 January 2025. ‘Canada’s immigration backlog in jeopardy after government cuts thousands of frontline staff; workers left in limbo.’ News Release. Available online. ↩︎
11. Statistics Canada. 28 November 2024. Temporary foreign workers in Canada, explained. Statscan Plus. Available online. ↩︎
12. Richard Gilbert, 2022. ↩︎
13. Nick Murray. ‘UN report on Canada’s temporary foreign workers details the many ways they’ve been abused.’ CBC News. Available online. ↩︎
14. Duhatschek. 24 June 2024. CBC News. ↩︎