Economics
Immigration to Canada Falls by Half on Pandemic Disruptions
A healthcare worker directs travelers to a mandatory Covid-19 testing area at Pearson airport in Toronto.
Photographer: Cole Burston/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Immigration into Canada fell by almost half last year, hitting its lowest level in more than two decades as the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted travel across borders.
Final government data released Thursday show Canada added 184,370 permanent residents in 2020, down from 341,175 a year earlier. That appears to be the lowest intake since the late 1990s, according to Statistics Canada data. It’s also well short of the 341,000 newcomers Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government had targeted in 2020.