After decades of being concentrated in cities, international migration has recently found its way to the countryside, according to an analysis by the Conference Board of Canada (CBC). In five years, the immigrant population has jumped by 25% in Quebec, which excludes Montreal and Quebec.
Nearly 100,000 new people with names and accents from elsewhere settled outside of Quebec’s two largest cities between 2016 and 2021, according to the study published this year and whose title in English could be translated as “Where go ? Mapping the Settlement of Immigrants and Temporary Residents in Canada.” If we also exclude Longueuil and Laval from the definition of “region”, that’s 68,000 people in five years who found a welcoming place in the region, an increase of 32% between the two censuses.
These newcomers are spread throughout the territory. The increase in the immigrant population is observed in 81 of the 98 regional county municipalities (MRCs) analyzed.
“Several factors explain this trend,” notes in an interview with THE Duty Alice Craft, associate researcher on the CBC’s “immigration” team. “There have been changes during the pandemic. People want to live outside of cities where they have experienced a lot of restrictions. […] There have also been changes in the availability and affordability of housing — these are key factors. »
The need for labor also explains the appeal of the countryside. Employers across the country have begun recruiting from abroad, supported by governments’ immigration regionalization policies, notes the CBC researcher. Despite everything, the appetite for new workers still remains significant. “There is a predictable annual deficit of 18,000 immigrants in the regions [québécoises] », analyzed the Canadian Federation of Independent Business last year.
“We conducted the study to help the municipal level and rural communities better plan [l’intégration des immigrants] “, says Alice Craft. “If we have temporary residents on a closed work permit or an open work permit, that will change the planning needs. […] The growth of the immigrant population in the suburbs can also have an impact on municipal services. »
The share of temporary workers
The increasingly important role of temporary residents in Quebec also explains this change of direction. Their population doubled between 2016 and 2021 in the territory, outside of Montreal and Quebec, according to data from the study made public on the last day of February.
Almost all MRCs are affected by the arrival of these immigrants with precarious status. The number of MRCs with fewer than 100 temporary residents decreased from 63 to 32 in five years, out of the 98 analyzed in total. Only three MRCs (Minganie, Rocher-Percé and Mékinac) still had no temporary residents in 2021, compared to around ten in 2016. “Quebec experienced one of the highest growth” in the number of temporary residents in Canada, specifies the Conference Board study.
This rush to the countryside is not voluntary in all cases. Some people with “temporary” status depend on a closed work permit forcing them to work for a particular employer. They therefore do not choose their destination region in the same way as permanent immigrants.
Large cities nevertheless continue to attract the majority of immigrants. Many urban areas have also welcomed more temporary residents in recent years, including the metropolitan areas of Montreal, Longueuil, Quebec, Gatineau and Laval.
Everything indicates that this regionalization of immigration has continued between 2021 and today. The number of temporary foreign workers in Quebec has increased year after year since the last Canadian census.
This report is supported by the Local Journalism Initiative, funded by the Government of Canada.