Immigrants growth in Durham rose 6.1 per cent compared to Ontario average of 1.5 per cent, though it is still way below the immgrant populations of GTA regions such as Peel (51.8 %), York (47.8%) and Toronto (46.6%).
Durham’s immigrants comprised some 28 per cent of the region’s population in 2021 (192,600 people).
Amongst the region’s municipalities, Ajax had the highest share of the immigrant population, where 28 per cent of Durham’s total immigrants (53,955) had chosen to settle, according to a new report, titled A Look at Durham: Trends in Immigration and Citizenship released by Durham Local Immigration Partnership (DLIP).
It said Ajax was followed by Oshawa with 21.3 per cent (41,115) and 20.2 per cent in Whitby (38,865). An overwhelming majority of immigrants in Durham (96.8 per cent) live in the southern area municipalities.
As a percentage of the total municipal population, Ajax remains the municipality with the highest percentage of immigrants (42.7 per cent), followed by Pickering (37.3 per cent), and Whitby (28.4 per cent). Brock had the lowest with 8.2 per cent.
More recent immigrants, or those who arrived within the last five years, are settling further east in Durham.
The report covers data up to 2021.
In 2021, the top five places of birth of immigrants in Durham were India, followed by the United Kingdom, Jamaica, Sri Lanka, and the Philippines.
Among recent immigrants, or those who arrived within the last five years, the top five places of birth are India, Pakistan, the Philippines, China and Nigeria.
These trends align with the top places of birth of recent immigrants in Canada, which is also led by India, followed by the Philippines, China, Syria and Nigeria, the report said.
Temporary residents
Durham, like many regions across Canada, are seeing their temporary resident populations grow. Temporary residents are individuals with temporary status, such as temporary foreign workers, international students, and refugee claimants. In 2016, Durham had approximately 3,045 temporary residents. This increased to 6,140 in 2021.
This trend aligns with the experiences of neighboring regions and municipalities. The Region of Peel experienced one of the highest increases, with its temporary resident population growing by over over 200 per cent, from 22,700 in 2016 to 68,190 in 2021. Toronto’s temporary resident population increased by 55 per cent, from 93,580 in 2016 to 145,250 in 2021, while York increased by 73 per cent from 15,010 in 2016 to 26,020 in 2021.
Visible minorities and ethnocultural origins
In 2021, visible minorities13 comprised 36.3 per cent of Durham’s population. This represents a 9.1 per cent increase from 2016. The largest groups of visible minorities include: South Asian (13.4%), Black (9.6%), Filipino (2.9%) and Chinese (2.4%).
Compared to Ontario (34.3%) and Canada (26.5%), visible minorities in Durham represent a higher percentage of its respective populations. However, Durham’s visible minority population remains less than the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (52.3%), with the majority of Peel’s population (68.8%) identified being a visible minority, followed by Toronto (55.7%), York (55%), and Halton (35.5%).
In 2021, the majority of Durham’s population reported having ethnic origins of European (96.4%) and North American (27.7%) descents. This is followed by Asian (29.2%) and South American (7.6%). Comparatively, these rates are higher than the GTHA, with 67.5% of its population identifying as of European and 16% North American ethnic origin.
Religion
The majority of residents in Durham identify with the Christian faith (52.7%), followed by Muslim (7.6%), Hindu (5.6%), Sikh (0.6%), Buddhist (0.5%) and Jewish (0.3%).
Just over 32 per cent of Durham’s population do not identify with any religious or secular perspectives.
Immigrants in Durham are educated
Immigrants in Durham Region have high rates of educational attainment. Around 62.8 per cent of immigrants in the region have a post-secondary certificate, diploma, or degree, compared to 53.5 per cent of non-immigrants in Durham.
Overall, racialized groups in Canada tend to be highly educated. Despite this, immigrants face difficulties finding commensurate employment and getting their foreign credentials recognized in Canada. Immigrants tend to have above average rates of qualification.
Immigrants in Durham bring economic potential
Most immigrants coming to the region are admitted as economic immigrants, selected for their strong ability to rejuvenate Canada’s aging population and declining labour force. In 2021, approximately 47 per cent of Durham’s immigrants arrived in Durham under the economic admission category, followed by those under the family reunification category (35%), and refugees (16%).
More than 65 per cent of recent immigrants to Durham are of core working age (between 25 to 54 years old). The overall labour force participation rate of immigrants in Durham is 60.7 per cent.
Immigrants in Durham are entrepreneurs
Immigrants in Durham are not only participating in the labour market as employees, but also as business owners and entrepreneurs.
Durham’s total number of self-employed immigrants has been steadily increasing with each consecutive year. Between 2008 and 2018, Durham’s share of immigrants with self-employment more than doubled, from 5,415 to 11,310 individuals. In comparison to other GTHA municipalities analyzed in the research sample, Peel has the highest number of self-employed immigrants, followed by York, Halton, and Durham.
Business ownership and self-employment rates are prevalent in the immigrant community, and typically higher than non-immigrant counterparts. In 2016, 11.9 per cent of immigrants in Canada aged 25 to 69 years either owned a private incorporated company or were primarily self-employed, compared to 8.4 per cent of the Canadian born population (specifically Canadian-born individuals with Canadian-born parents).
Some possible reasons why business ownerships rates are higher amongst the immigrant population include: greater difficulty finding suitable paid employment (and thus more turn to self-employment as a source of income); strong immigrant networks that serve as a source of collective business expertise and experience in immigrant communities; and strong educational backgrounds (especially for economic immigrants) that can increase their tendency to start and run their own businesses.
In addition to contributing to Durham’s economic prosperity, immigrants and newcomers enrich the community’s social fabric through community building and civic participation, the report said. Immigrants expand a community’s cultural horizons through culinary diversity and traditions and customs such as celebrations and festivals. Immigrants are also eager to participate and give back to their community. On average, immigrants donate more to charity than Canadian-born citizens.
Almost 40 per cent of immigrants aged 15 and older are volunteers. Immigrants noted that the top three reasons why they make financial donations were: to show compassion towards people in need; because they personally believed in the cause of the charity; and to make a contribution to the community.
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Immigration in the last 10-15 years has destroyed our once great country of Canada. It is so shameful. F/@k J.T.