An Overview of Immigrants and Refugees in Canada

Definitions: How Canada classifies immigrants and refugees

The following definitions, summarized from Citizenship and Immigration Canada publications, provide an overview for health professionals and others working with immigrant and refugee families.3 Refer to the Citizenship and Immigration Canada website for official definitions and greater detail.

Permanent residents

Permanent residents have been granted permanent resident status in Canada.  They:

• must live in Canada for at least 2 years within a 5-year period or risk losing their status.
• have all the rights guaranteed under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
• do not have the right to vote in elections.
• may apply for citizenship after living in Canada for 3 years. Applicants must have a basic knowledge of English or French and be able to pass a citizenship exam.

The different categories of permanent resident are summarized below.

Family class

These permanent residents are sponsored by a Canadian citizen or permanent resident living in Canada and include:

• Spouses and partners—common-law or conjugal (a ‘fiancé’ is no longer included in this category)
• Parents
• Grandparents
• ‘Other’ family members include dependent children; children younger than age 18 whom a sponsor will adopt in Canada; brothers, sisters, nephews, nieces or grandchildren who are orphaned and younger than age 18; another relative if the sponsor has no relative such as those already listed.

Economic immigrants

These permanent residents are selected for their skills and ability to contribute to Canada’s economy. There are several subcategories of economic immigrant, including skilled workers, business immigrants, provincial or territorial nominees, live-in caregivers and the ‘Canadian experience class’.  Refer to the Citizenship and Immigration Canada website for more information on subcategories.

Government-assisted refugees (GARs)

GARs are permanent residents who are selected abroad for resettlement in Canada, either as 'Convention refugees' as defined under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, or as members of the ‘Convention refugees abroad class’. They receive resettlement assistance from the federal government.

Privately sponsored refugees

Sponsored refugees are permanent residents selected abroad for resettlement in Canada. They may fall within the ‘Convention refugees abroad class’, the ‘source country class’ or the ‘country of asylum class’ and are sponsored by organizations, individuals or groups of individuals. They receive no government sponsorship. 

Refugees landed in Canada

These permanent residents have had their refugee claims accepted and have subsequently applied for and been granted permanent resident status in Canada. These people are otherwise known as “Protected persons in Canada”.

Refugee dependents

Refugee dependents are also permanent residents. They are family members of a refugee landed in Canada who were either living abroad or in Canada at the time of application.

Other immigrants

Permanent residents in the ‘other immigrant’ category include:

• Post-determination refugee claimants in Canada
• Persons with deferred removal orders
• Retirees (no longer designated under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act)
• Temporary resident permit holders
• Humanitarian and compassionate cases
• Sponsored humanitarian and compassionate cases outside the family class
• People granted permanent resident status based on public policy considerations.

Temporary residents

Temporary residents are:

• Foreign nationals living lawfully in Canada on a temporary basis under a work permit, study permit, temporary resident permit or a visitor record. 
• Individuals seeking asylum upon or after their arrival in Canada and living here pending the outcome of their claim.

The multiple categories of temporary resident—including foreign workers, foreign students, the humanitarian population including refugee claimants, and others—are summarized below. 

Refugee claimants

Refugee claimants are temporary residents who request refugee protection upon or after arrival in Canada. A refugee claimant receives Canada’s protection when found to be a Convention refugee, or when found to be a person needing protection based on risk to life, risk of cruel and unusual treatment or punishment, or in danger of torture as defined in the Convention Against Torture. A refugee claimant whose claim is accepted can make an application in Canada for permanent residence. This application may include family members in Canada and abroad.

Foreign students

These temporary residents are in Canada principally to study in the observed calendar year. Foreign students have been issued a study permit. Under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, a study permit is not needed for any program of study that takes 6 months or less.

Temporary foreign workers

Foreign workers are temporary residents who are in Canada principally for professional or work-related reasons in the observed calendar year. This includes those working as live-in caregivers. Foreign workers have been issued a document that allows them to work in Canada.

Other humanitarian cases

Foreign nationals other than refugee claimants may be allowed to remain in Canada on humanitarian or compassionate grounds under special circumstances. These humanitarian cases include a small number of individuals who have never filed a refugee claim but who are processed under special programs established to handle exceptional cases.

Other terms related to immigrants and refugees

Citizenship and Immigration Canada provides an extensive glossary of terms related to permanent and temporary residents. Here are some of the most commonly used terms:

• A ‘convention’ refugee is defined under the United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (1951) and its 1967 protocol.
• A designated country of origin (DCO) is defined as one that does not normally produce refugees but does respect human rights and offers state protection to its citizens4 (e.g., Mexico, Hungary and the Czech Republic). An expedited process is employed for processing refugee claimants from DCOs.
• A guardianship protocol is a mechanism for protecting minors who are alone (without a parent or guardian) during the refugee resettlement process. The protocol specifies procedures for visa and settlement officers to follow that protect children from abuse and exploitation.5
• The Interim Federal Health Program provides limited temporary coverage of health care costs for protected persons who are not yet eligible for provincial or territorial health insurance plans, and for cases where a claim for health coverage cannot be made under private health insurance. These protected persons include resettled refugees, refugee claimants, certain persons detained under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, and other specified groups. Coverage is paid for by Citizenship and Immigration Canada.6
• Live-in caregiver: Live-in caregivers supply care to children, sick or elderly people or persons with a disability. They live in the private home where the care is provided. Live-in caregivers can apply for permanent residency status after 2 years of employment.
• Resettled refugees: Refugees selected abroad for resettlement in Canada, such as government-assisted refugees or privately sponsored refugees.
• Stateless individuals: A stateless person is not recognized as a national (citizen) by any country under its domestic law. 

Immigration highlights and statistics

• Canada has one of the highest rates of immigration in the world.
• Today, most of the people who are new to Canada come from parts of Asia. This is a shift from previous years.
• Most immigrants live in large urban centres in Canada (the Greater Toronto Area, Montreal and Vancouver), but some do move to smaller cities and rural areas.
• Recent immigrants are helping to change Canada’s religious landscape.
• On average, recent immigrants have a higher level of education than Canadian-born citizens.
• The average age of the immigrant population is younger than that of Canadian-born citizens.

Immigration patterns

Permanent residents

Between 2002 and 2010, there were increasingly more economic immigrants and fewer family reunification immigrants. This trend reversed slightly in 2011 and 2012.

About 20% of permanent residents in 2012 were younger than 15 years of age.

Settlement locations

Countries of origin

The most common countries of origin for new immigrants vary from year to year.  In recent years, increasing numbers of new permanent residents were born in Asia, particularly the Philippines, South-East Asia and South Asia.  By comparison, the top three countries of birth of recent immigrants in 1981 were the United Kingdom, Vietnam and the United States.7  For more information on where newcomers to Canada are coming from, refer to the Citizenship and Immigration Canada website.

Selected resources

• Citizenship and Immigration Canada. Canada Facts and figures: Immigration overview – Permanent and temporary residents 2012. August 2013: 3. Available at:  http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/statistics/menu-fact.asp (downloaded March 13, 2014)
• Citizenship and Immigration Canada. Annual report to Parliament on immigration, 2013.  
• Citizenship and Immigration Canada. Recent immigrants in metropolitan areas: Canada—A comparative profile based on the 2001 Census. Part B: Who are the recent immigrants? April 2005.

References

1. Citizenship and Immigration Canada. Canada Facts and figures: Immigration overview – Permanent and temporary residents 2012. August 2013: 3. Available at: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/statistics/menu-fact.asp (downloaded March 13, 2014)
2. Citizenship and Immigration Canada. Canada Facts and figures: Immigration overview – Permanent and temporary residents 2012. Canada - Temporary residents present on December 1st by gender and yearly status, 1988-2012. Available at: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/statistics/facts2012/temporary/02.asp. (accessed March 13, 2014)
3. Citizenship and Immigration Canada. Canada Facts and figures: Immigration overview – Permanent and temporary residents 2012. Glossary of terms and concepts. August 2013: 116 Available at: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/statistics/facts2012/glossary.asp (accessed March 13, 2014)
4. Citizenship and Immigration Canada. Designated countries of origin. Available at: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/refugees/reform-safe.asp. (accessed March 13, 2014)
5. Citizenship and Immigration Canada. Dependent minors – Guardianship protocol. Available at: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/refugees/outside/guardianship.asp. (accessed March 13, 2014).
6. Citizenship and Immigration Canada. Interim Federal Health Benefit: Summary of benefits. Available at: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/refugees/outside/summary-ifhp.asp (accessed March 13, 2014).
7. Adapted from Statistics Canada. Table 1: Top 10 country of birth of recent immigrants, 1981 to 2006. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.
8. Statistics Canada.  2011 National Household Survey: Religion and immigrant status and period of immigration for population. Cat. No.: 99-010-X2011032. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.