Canadians are increasingly worried about immigration and its role in creating “economic strain,” according to a new survey conducted by the Canadian Museum for Human Rights.
Among other things, the survey found that many Canadians believe too much attention is given to newcomers and refugees, and that asylum seekers receive too many benefits.
The survey was conducted two weeks after Ottawa announced major changes to expected immigration numbers. On Sunday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also said in an online video that issues with the immigration system should have been addressed sooner.
The survey heard from 2,500 Canadians in both 2023 and 2024. It found that this year a majority (56%) said they believed refugees and asylum seekers were receiving “too many benefits”. The report says this will be a “significant increase” from the 49% who said the same in 2023.
The survey also reported a “significant decline” in the number of Canadians who think immigration makes the country better, from 52% in 2023 to 44% this year.
The 2024 survey also found that 41% of Canadians believe there is “too much focus on new entrant rights.”
“Among responses to open-ended questions, sentiment correlating immigration with Canada’s economic strain increased significantly from 2023 to 2024,” the report said.
Isha Khan, CEO of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, told CBC News that “perceptions” of immigration are changing and the issue requires further research.
“That’s something we really need to dig into,” Khan said. “We need to understand where these perceptions are coming from and how they impact how we work together.”
Immigration is only one part of the investigation. Prospects for human rights in 2024.
Just 11 percent of respondents cited access to affordable housing as their top human rights issue, while nearly 60 percent said the right to housing had weakened over the past decade.
The report found that two out of three respondents said they felt optimistic about Canada’s protection of human rights, particularly Indigenous rights and gender equality. Only one in three felt the same way about human rights abroad.
The report’s findings on immigration were released after Prime Minister Trudeau released a nearly seven-minute online briefing video in which he said the federal government could have acted sooner to rein in the immigration program. He said he blamed the “bad guys” who took advantage of the system.
Watch | Prime Minister Trudeau talks about bad actors and why Canada will change its immigration system
Prime Minister Trudeau released the video to explain the recent decline in the number of permanent residents allowed into Canada and changes to the temporary foreign worker program.
Over the next two years, the number of permanent residents is expected to fall by about 20% to 365,000 by 2027.
In response to Trudeau’s video, the Immigrant Rights Network condemned the prime minister.
“His comments that paint immigrants as disposable and blame them for systemic crises perpetuate harmful myths and distract from policy failures,” Saeed Hassan, a spokesperson for the group, said in a statement. “I’m deflecting it,” he said.
“The Immigrant Rights Network strongly condemns this rhetoric that obscures the important role immigrants play in building Canada’s economy and communities, and calls for permanent residency for all immigrants to protect their rights.”
The network said Trudeau’s video and his past statements on immigration distract from the real causes of the housing crisis: corporate landlords and local governments who don’t remove rent controls and invest in public housing. Ta.
Hassan told CBC News that months of comments from Liberal politicians about immigration have led to an increase in negative sentiment toward immigration.
