New summit of temporary immigrants in Quebec

At a time when Prime Minister François Legault wants to cut temporary immigration in half in Quebec, it continues to progress to reach another peak.

According to Statistics Canada data, released Wednesday, non-permanent residents, also called temporary immigrants, increased from 560,174 to 1^er quarter, to 597,140, ​​an increase of 6.6%.

This growth is even stronger in Quebec than in Canada as a whole, or than in Ontario.

Still according to Statistics Canada, the number of non-permanent residents increased by 5% across the country in the last quarter, going from 2.6 million to 2.8 million. In Ontario, it jumped 3.8%, from 1.2 million to 1.25 million.

There are three categories of non-permanent residents: asylum seekers, temporary foreign workers and foreign students.

The strongest increase, in Quebec, is found among work permit holders.

Over the past three months, 21,376 temporary foreign workers have been added to the territory, almost twice as many as the number of new asylum seekers, which is 13,228.

Quebec’s share in welcoming asylum seekers is 38% compared to 49% for Ontario, which welcomed 16,997 in 2^e quarter.

Furthermore, the number of foreign students has barely changed. Only 500 students from elsewhere were added, in Quebec.

These data do not make it possible to distinguish between workers admitted under the temporary foreign worker program, managed by the Quebec government, and those who came under programs controlled by the federal government.

Quebec experienced a 6% increase in non-permanent residents in 1^er quarter 2024. Much stronger increases were recorded in 2023, particularly in 3^e and at 4^e quarter, with 12%.