Immigration in Canada: A Portrait of the Foreign-born Population, 2006 Census: Portraits of major metropolitan centres

Ottawa - Gatineau: Fifth-largest proportion of foreign-born

The 2006 Census enumerated 202,700 foreign-born people in the census metropolitan area (CMA) of Ottawa - Gatineau, an increase from 185,100 in 2001 and a growth rate of 9.5%.

Although the majority (88.8%) of the foreign-born people lived in the Ontario part of Ottawa ‑ Gatineau, the Quebec part experienced stronger growth. Between the intercensal period of 2001 and 2006, the Ontario part grew by 7.1%. In contrast, the Quebec side grew by 33.8%.

Slightly less than one-fifth (17.3%) of the foreign-born people in the Ottawa - Gatineau CMA were newcomers who arrived in Canada since 2001. These 35,100 recent immigrants represented 3.1% of the total population in the CMA.

As well, the Quebec part of the CMA received an increased share of recent immigrants. In 2001, 1 in 10 newcomers resided on the Quebec side of the CMA. In 2006, the share grew to 15.2% (representing 5,300 individuals) of new immigrants who came within the last five years.

Conversely, on the Ontario part of Ottawa - Gatineau, the share of new immigrants dropped, from 90.1% of all newcomers in 2001 to 84.8% in 2006.

Ottawa - Gatineau ranked fifth in having the largest proportion of foreign-born people (3.3%) and new immigrants (3.2%) in 2006, after Toronto, Montréal, Vancouver and Calgary.

The People's Republic of China (12.7%), India (4.6%) and the United States of America (4.3%) were the top three countries of birth among the new immigrants in Ottawa - Gatineau.

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