A newly revealed report has discovered immigration to Durham Area has drastically accelerated lately, although it nonetheless lags behind Ontario as an entire and neighbouring areas.
The Area launched the report by means of the Durham Native Immigration Partnership, certainly one of 87 such partnerships throughout the nation to review how effectively the immigrant inhabitants is settling into regionally.
Because it stands Durham Area is residence to roughly 700,000 individuals throughout Ajax, Brock, Clarington, Oshawa, Pickering, Scugog, Uxbridge and Whitby. Of that whole, about 28 per cent of all Durham residents immigrated to Canada instantly. Solely a few quarter of this group arrived previous to 1980.
“Immigration has and continues to enrich Durham’s social and economic prosperity, bringing cultural and linguistic richness, an educated and skilled
workforce, and a wealth of global talent,” the report reads.
Nonetheless, it additionally famous, “Although Durham has a long history of welcoming immigrants, the community is also facing new trends in immigration and settlement. Not only is the pace of Durham’s population growth increasing, but the demographic profile of newcomers, the immigration pathways through which immigrants are arriving, and their integration experiences are also changing.”
The report discovered the immigrant inhabitants in Durham has grown considerably lately. In 2001, immigrants represented about 19 per cent of the Durham inhabitants. Over the following 20 years, the inhabitants swelled to twenty-eight per cent of the Area.
This may increasingly sound like rather a lot, but it surely’s the second-lowest fee within the GTA. For comparability:
Peel Area (Brampton, Mississauga and Caledon) is at practically 52 per cent
York Area (Markham, Richmond Hill, Vaughan and so on.) is at practically 48 per cent
Toronto is at practically 47 per cent
Halton Area (Burlington, Halton Hills, Oakville and so on.) sits at simply over 34 per cent
Durham Area at 28 per cent, and at last
Hamilton at solely about 9 per cent
Practically half of all Durham Area’s immigrant residents got here to Canada by means of the “economic admission category” which “admits candidates for their potential to meet Canada’s labour market needs, or create economic opportunities by owning, operating or investing in a business for their potential to meet Canada’s labour market needs,” the report describes.
In whole, the admission packages break down as:
47 per cent by means of financial admission
35 per cent by means of household reunification
16 per cent by means of refugee standing, and
1.5 per cent by means of different packages
Although they characterize a minority of immigration instances, refugees and asylum seekers require extra sources to get settled on arrival. A scarcity of federal and provincial assist led to a disaster for newly arrived refugees in Durham simply final summer time.
In July 2023, Durham Chair John Henry and Ajax Mayor Shaun Collier declared an emergency state of affairs after an inflow of refugees. “We cannot keep up with this demand. We have exhausted the capacity in our system and any funding we had available to support newcomers,” Henry mentioned on the time.
This created a threat of newcomers turning into homeless as quickly as they arrived in Durham. After repeated requires support, the provincial and federal governments ultimately gave municipalities a money infusion to fund these packages.
Nonetheless, issues nonetheless persist main Whitby to request extra support simply final week as “the supports provided to municipalities to receive asylum claimants are often short-term and focused on emergency response and shelter, but do not ensure permanent settlement and housing options for asylum claimants, including a focus on homeless prevention and long-term stability.”
Collier is closest to the bottom on this matter since Ajax has the very best immigrant inhabitants within the Area. Every municipality’s share of the overall inhabitants breaks down as:
Ajax – 28 per cent
Oshawa – 21.3 per cent
Whitby – 20.2 per cent
Pickering – 19.1 per cent
Clarington – 8.2 per cent
Uxbridge – 1.5 per cent
Scugog – 1.2 per cent
Brock – 0.5 per cent
The nations of origin fo immigrants have additionally modified lately. The commonest nations of origin for latest immigrants are:
India – 33.9 per cent
Pakistan – 6.6 per cent
Philippines – 6 per cent
China – 5.4 per cent
Nigeria – 4.8 per cent
The most important teams of seen minorities embody South Asian at 13.4 per cent, Black at 9.6 per cent, Filipino at 2.9 per cent and Chinese language 2.4 cent. Greater than 97 per cent of Durham residents no matter immigration standing cite English as a primary language.
Lastly, most Durham residents (about 53 per cent) determine as Christian, 32 per cent as irreligious, 7.6 per cent Muslim, 5.6 per cent Hindu, 0.6 per cent Sikh, 0.5 Buddhist, and 0.3 Jewish.
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