Tuesday, October 12,
1999 Vancouver residents most negative
toward immigrants: study
Prejudice
increases in direct parallel to the numbers of immigrants
Rick Ouston
The Vancouver
Sun
 Nick Didlick, The Vancouver
Sun
Migrants such as these peering
out from the rear deck of the Coast Guard ship Tanu as it
arrives in Port Hardy could expect a cool reception from
Vancouver residents, according to a government
study.
| VANCOUVER -
Vancouver residents are much more likely to feel negative towards
current immigration levels than the country as a whole, an internal
Citizenship and Immigration Canada study has found.
But before anyone brands West Coast residents less welcoming than
average Canadians, the author of the study notes that Toronto
residents are not far behind Vancouver in their opposition to
immigrants.
And those most in favour of current immigration levels live in
places where few immigrants ever go.
The study, by consultant Douglas L. Palmer of Elgin, Ont., and
completed in July of this year, looked at 20 years of polls
commissioned by the CIC on immigration attitudes.
An internal report, it was not released until immigration lawyer
Richard Kurland, vice-chairman of the Canadian Bar Association
branch on immigration, obtained it under freedom of information
laws.
The study says prejudice and racism seems to increase in direct
parallel to the numbers of immigrants.
While more data is needed, "there is some suggestion ... that
greater flow rates are associated with greater prejudice against
immigrants and perhaps more so during periods of economic
recession," Mr. Palmer said.
Negative feelings toward immigrants do not correlate with
unemployment rates, the author says. More studies are needed to
determine the reasons.
While many Canadians feel that individual immigrants make good
friends, neighbours and co-workers because they feel they tend to be
more educated, intelligent, motivated and interesting, they may also
feel that the rate of immigration is too high because the economy or
social infrastructure cannot handle that large an addition to the
size of the population, the study found.
On the other hand, some people may be relatively bigoted, which
can make them feel that the level of immigration is too high,
perhaps in spite of perceptions that immigration is good for the
economy, it found.
"So, when we see a survey result saying that X% of Canadians feel
that there are too many immigrants coming to Canada, we do not know
to what extent that opposition is motivated by prejudice and to what
extent it is driven by unprejudiced perceptions of negative policy
effects."
Immigrants tend to gravitate toward metropolitan Toronto and
Vancouver at a far greater clip than anywhere else in the country.
When the ratio of immigrant to current resident is factored in, the
numbers show a disproportionate imbalance.
Vancouver and Toronto, together "account for just over a fifth of
existing residents but are the destination of over three-fifths of
new immigrants," says a study of 30 years of immigration opinion
polling by Douglas L. Palmer, PhD, for the CIC.
Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal are the preferred destination for
most immigrants, followed by major metropolitan centres in Alberta
and Ontario and then by rural Ontario and B.C., with the rest of the
country home to one-third of the population but just one-twelfth of
new immigrants, the study showed.
Put another way, the rate of flow to Vancouver and Toronto is 11
times as great than those going to the least popular third of the
country.
"The rate of current immigration relative to the size of
Canadian-born residents is 18 times higher than for the other
(one-third of the country) category and six times that for the five
other major immigrant receiving regions," the study found.
Across Canada, an average of about 43% of all people reported
between 1996 and the end of last year that immigration had a
positive effect, including about 44% in B.C.
But 47% of British Columbians said they believed too many
immigrants come to Canada, compared to 37% in Manitoba and
Saskatchewan and 39% in the Atlantic provinces and Quebec.
In B.C., 25% of respondents said immigrants had a negative effect
during that time, compared to just 14% for Atlantic Canada, Manitoba
and Saskatchewan, 19% for Quebec and 18% for Alberta. In Ontario,
20% of respondents suggested a negative effect, with 44% reporting a
positive effect.
Immigration also weighs much heavier on the minds of Vancouver
residents than the rest of the country.
Asked what was at the top of their list of concerns, 12% of
Vancouver residents cited immigration during an October, 1998, Angus
Reid poll.
That was before the current controversy over boatloads of Chinese
migrants being caught off the B.C. coast.
The rest of the country averaged two to three per cent, with
rural B.C. coming in second-highest at four per cent.
The study examined polls and surveys conducted by Environics,
Angus Reid, Ekos Research, Insight Research and Gallup Canada, with
sample sizes ranging from more than 1,000 to just less than 2,400.
RELATED SITES:
(Each link opens a new window)
Citizenship and Immigration Canada
The brand-new white paper on immigration policy
Statistics Canada: Immigration and
Citizenship
Statistics from the 1996 national census that look at where
Canadians came from.
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