Latest news with #permanentResidents
National Post
18-06-2025
- Politics
- National Post
Slim majority of Canadians found reduced immigration levels still too high: government polling
OTTAWA — Shortly after cutting immigration levels, the federal immigration department heard through government-funded polling that a slight majority of Canadians still found this year's number too high. Article content Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada commissioned the survey as part of its annual tracking of public sentiment towards immigration and reported it publicly as part of the government's disclosures on its public opinion research. Article content Article content The survey, which was done last November, followed the federal government's announcement that it would reduce the number of permanent residents by nearly 100,000 in 2025. The target was set at 395,000, down from 485,000 in 2024. Article content Article content The survey found that 54 per cent of Canadians said they 'felt there are too many immigrants coming to Canada.' Another 34 per cent said they felt the number was fine, according to the report. Article content 'When informed that Canada plans to admit 395,000 immigrants as permanent residents in 2025, 52 per cent said that it is too many, 37 per cent that this is about the right number and five per cent that this is too few,' it read. 'When informed that 395,000 immigrants is roughly 20 per cent fewer than Canada planned to admit in 2024, 44 per cent feel this is too many, 39 per cent that this number is about right and 13 per cent that it is too few.' Article content A spokesperson for Immigration Minister Lena Metlege Diab said in a statement that work has begun on setting immigration levels for the next two years, with that plan scheduled to be tabled in the fall, as it has in years past. Article content Article content '(Immigration, Refugee and Citizenship Canada) will continue work together with partners to establish the best paths forward to ensure that Canada is in position to attract the best talent in the world, while ensuring that overall immigration levels are more sustainable, and that the integrity of the system's programs remain in tact,' wrote Renée LeBlanc Proctor, the minister's press secretary. Article content Article content 'We won't speculate about specific future policy decisions at this time, but note that work on the 2026-2028 levels plan is already underway.' Article content Determining how many more permanent and temporary residents Canada will allow into the country has been challenged by changing public sentiments around immigration, connected to concerns regarding housing affordability, the availability of doctors and other social supports. Article content While federal officials say immigration accounted for nearly 98 per cent of Canada's population growth in 2023, helping to offset an aging population and bringing the country's population to 41 people million last year, housing experts, economists, and the Bank of Canada all warned that it has contributed to the country's housing shortage.
CBC
24-05-2025
- Climate
- CBC
'Resentment is high,' says Whiteshell resident as homeowners, cottagers wait for information about return
Social Sharing Some permanent residents and cottagers at Whiteshell Provincial Park say frustration is growing as they wait to hear when they'll be allowed to return home, after the province of Manitoba lifted evacuation orders for some parts of the park earlier this week. The province issued an evacuation order on May 13, closing the eastern Manitoba park on May 15 due to extreme fire conditions. On Thursday, Manitoba Parks let permanent residents, cottagers and commercial operators return to Falcon Lake and Barren Lake, in the south of the provincial park. Manitoba's latest fire bulletin shows a wildfire burning at the Manitoba-Ontario border, near Ingolf, had reached a total 32,000 hectares in size, with about 1,650 hectares on the Manitoba side. In that Friday update, the province reiterated that some parts of the Whiteshell were safe but said "more suppression is needed" before other areas can reopen. Golf courses have resumed operations, fishing tournaments are underway and couples are celebrating their weddings this weekend at Falcon Lake, said Brian Zimmerman, a permanent Whiteshell resident. But just under 15 kilometres northwest of Falcon Lake, his home at the West Hawk Lake is still under an evacuation order. "We just keep being told that the fire is still going and it's in danger," Zimmerman said. "But it's not near our place at all, and we just don't understand how seven minutes away, everything is open.… Every area around here is vulnerable." A spokesperson for the province said Manitoba is working to protect lives and ensure firefighters can do their jobs safely. As soon as people can return, they will be notified, the statement said. Updates 'word of mouth or via Facebook': resident But Jocelyn Martin, who has had a home at West Hawk Lake with her husband, Jason Martin, for 25 years, said residents and cottagers have largely been left in the dark, combing through social media posts to figure out what's happening. "Most of the updates about the fires and the evacuation have been coming through word of mouth or via Facebook," Jocelyn Martin said. She said the community has largely been left to gather information on their own, leading to growing frustration over what they say is lack of communication from Manitoba Parks and provincial officials. "The resentment is high," said Jocelyn. "It's becoming ugly amongst the community because of the lack of communication." Jason Martin said he and Jocelyn are taking each day as it comes, couch-surfing while waiting for updates. "I don't think anybody wants to go back into the park or to a cottage or to a home, like ours, with any risk. That's not the concern, but the lack of detail and misinformation and misdirection," he said. Barb Bobychuk has been staying in Winnipeg since the wildfires forced her out of her home in Caddy Lake. She was hoping to get an update on when her family might be allowed back home on Saturday. "We've had no communication from the government, we have no clue as to when we're going to be allowed back, even though the fires in the north have not changed direction," Bobychuk said. Bobychuk said she got the evacuation order through word of mouth, unlike during a wildfire in 2016, when Manitoba Parks went door to door. The province said it provides regular updates on the fire to park residents and cottagers through the chamber of commerce and the Whiteshell Cottagers Association. But Bobychuk said information is not shared daily, and often lacks important details. "We don't know where the fires are burning, if they're burning close to us, any hot spots, who's working them," she said. She said a dedicated website for Whiteshell fire updates "is something that should have been done and instituted immediately." "If we had knowledge, we would then feel a little better," said Bobychuk.
