Canada facing the rise of anti-immigration sentiment

(Toronto) In a working-class Toronto neighborhood, Sultana Jahangir helps women from South Asia settle in Canada and enter the job market – a challenge she says is becoming increasingly difficult to overcome .

As several experts report, the consensus in favor of immigration, which has prevailed for decades in Canada, is crumbling, after three years of sharp increase in the foreign population.

It was never easy to settle in Canada, says Sultana Jahangir, a social worker born in Bangladesh who arrived in Toronto in 2005. But the situation has “definitely” gotten worse.

“We are seeing a growing and negative rivalry between immigrants and more hostile feelings towards newcomers than towards those who have been here for a long time,” she says, surrounded by women who have come to listen to her advice.

Despite the rise in anti-immigration sentiment, many Canadians still look favorably on immigrants who have already settled for several years, explains Daniel Bernhard of the Institute for Canadian Citizenship.

An important distinction, but one that is weakening, according to the director of this NGO which facilitates the integration of people arriving in Canada.

In a 2019 Gallup poll that gauged support for immigration in 145 countries, Canada came out on top with 94% of respondents seeing the arrival of migrants in the country as a good thing.

Five years later, a September poll by the Environics Institute revealed that “for the first time in a quarter of a century, a clear majority of Canadians believe that there is too much immigration.”

Finding the “right balance”

“We are not yet at Brexit or Donald Trump’s wall,” explains Mr. Bernhard.

Canada has so far avoided the incendiary rhetoric and false claims about migrants that fueled the US president-elect’s presidential campaign last week, but “this should soon happen,” says the expert.

From 2021 to 2024, an unprecedented influx of some three million foreigners brought Canada’s population to 41 million.

Over the past year, the population increased by 3.2%, the largest annual increase since 1957.

Last month, while announcing a reduction in immigration quotas for the next three years, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau acknowledged that the influx of migrants had put a strain on the country’s reception capacity.

“We have failed to get the balance right,” he said, explaining that Canada needs to slow population growth to relieve pressure on essential infrastructure and services.

But if the prime minister thinks that reducing immigration will help solve problems like hospital waiting times or housing shortages, “he would be better off getting a second opinion,” says Daniel Bernhard.

Arguing that “there are just too many people” is an easy way to distract from government failings, he adds.

Shortage of employment and housing

For Sultana Jahangir, the measures taken by the government are justified given the current difficulties in finding a job or housing in Toronto.

Some women even go so far as to rent beds for half a day, she says.

“Those who work at night take the bed of those who work during the day” and vice versa, explains the 53-year-old social worker.

But the government “should not blame immigrants” to justify its mismanagement, she in turn emphasizes.

Like Ottawa, the media tends to link the shortage of housing and gaps in services to overpopulation, risking further deterioration of the living conditions of newcomers, says Victoria Esses, professor of psychology at the Western University of Ontario.

By reducing quotas, the government seems to want to allay concerns, suggesting that it is listening to Canadians, adds the woman who specializes in public attitudes towards immigration.

“Citizens like to feel that they have control over immigration,” she recalls.