‘1 in 6 male immigrants leaves Canada’

TORONTO: A substantial number of Canadian immigrants do not plan to stay in the country permanently.

A Statistics Canada report released this week has come upon a startling fact: One in six male immigrants leaves Canada for better opportunities elsewhere within the first year of arrival. And those most likely to leave are businessman and skilled workers.

The Statistics Canada report is the first national study to get a hang of the extent of out-migration and “brain drain” among Canada’s new arrivals. Immigrants are leaving in droves because they can’t land suitable jobs in Canada, evidence gathered over the years suggests.

Experts say the findings highlight the need for an integrated approach that focuses not only on selecting the right immigrants but also on keeping them by matching them with suitable opportunities.

“The people who are leaving the country are true migrants. They move by choice for pure economic reasons,” said Jean Lock Kunz, associate project director of Policy Research Initiative, an Ottawa-based think-tank.

“Every country will be competing for skilled workers. The key to keep them here is to match them up with the needs of the labour market, so they have a reason to stay.”

The findings are of no surprise to sociologist Jeffrey Reitz, chair of the University of Toronto’s Munk Centre for International Studies.

“It is no secret among those in the field that some people come to Canada with the intention of returning home. The idea that used to exist was that the world consisted of a lot of highly educated people who wanted to come here, and Canada got to pick and choose — but that’s something of a myth,” he said.

“When it comes to immigration, we are in a very competitive market. We have to recruit them and make sure they stay.”

Economics professor Chris Robinson, who co-authored the report, said the study underlines the fact that an international move isn’t necessarily a permanent one any more.

“It’s a very competitive market for immigrants, and it’s going to be even more competitive in the future with international mobility being so fluid,” he explained. “We have to figure out how to keep them. People used to say America’s a land of opportunity — they would never leave. The fact is, they do.”

A key factor pushing newcomers out of the country is the state of the local economy, Robinson said. Immigrant retention rates in the recession years of 1981 and 1991 were lower (80.9 per cent and 72.6 per cent respectively) than in the boom years of 1986 and 1996 (90.2 per cent and 76.3 per cent).

The bottom line, according to Kunz, is newcomers need to feel welcomed in Canada and have the ability to get established here.