Canada on track to surpass 500,000 new permanent residents this year

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada data suggests that the total number of new residents to Canada could reach 511,410 in 2024, marking a nearly 40,000 increase from last year’s numbers.

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  • August 12, 2024
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Canada on track to surpass 500,000 new permanent residents this year
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After two consecutive months of immigration growth, Canada experienced a slight decline of 4.9% in the number of new permanent residents in June, based on data from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).

Canadians welcomed 34,870 new permanent residents in March, along with 42,595 in April. This upward trend continued in May with the addition of 46,835 and finally fell in June to 44,540.

IRCC data shows that Canada is on track to welcome 511,410 new residents in 2024. This is about 40,000 more than last year when there were 471,815 new permanent residents. 

Such projections mean that Canada would exceed the Trudeau government's target of 485,000 new permanent residents for 2024, as outlined in the Liberals' 2024-26 Immigration Levels Plan, by 5.4%. The total number may even surpass the previously set targets of 500,000 for 2025 and 2026.

Of note, the number of temporary new residents in Canada in the first six months of this year was 2.9 percent lower than the same period last year, dropping from 263,420 in 2023 to 255,600 in 2024.

Ontario saw the largest number of newcomers, with 106,500 permanent residents choosing to reside there. The province took in 41.6% of all immigrants from January to June 2024.

British Columbia saw the second most monthly immigration gains, at 34,535, while Alberta took in 34,375.

Quebec was fourth in total new residents, at 30,315.

Potentially due to Canadians’ growing division on immigration, Federal Minister for Immigration Marc Miller said last week that the government would not go forward with its plans to grant residential status to illegal immigrants in Canada.

The Justin Trudeau government had initially proposed in 2021 to "explore ways of regularizing status for undocumented workers who are contributing to Canadian communities."

"As frustrating as that is to hear for people that are in a precarious position of being undocumented in Canada and are contributing to the economy — and perhaps kids that are Canadian — I think we have to be quite clear with Canadians and quite realistic about what’s achievable," Miller told CBC News.

"Despite the economic imperative, despite the very humanitarian imperative that a broad regularization program presents, it is clear to me that Canadians are not there and that's just reality."

There are currently 300,000 to 500,000 illegal immigrants resident in Canada, according to federal estimates.

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