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Immigration in Canada: A Portrait of the Foreign-born Population, 2006 Census: Immigrants in the provinces and territories
The majority of the foreign-born population (86.8%) lived in three provinces: Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia. As well, the three provinces received 85.8% of newcomers who arrived in Canada since 2001.
In fact, Ontario and British Columbia were home to a higher share of foreign-born and recent immigrants than their share of the Canadian population. In 2006, 38.5% of the total population in Canada lived in Ontario, but the province took in over one-half (54.9%) of the foreign-born population and one-half (52.3%) of the recent immigrants.
British Columbia was home to 13% of the total Canadian population, compared to 18.1% of the foreign-born population and 16% of newcomers.
Historically, Quebec has had a smaller share of the foreign-born than its total population share. This was still the case in 2006. Quebec had close to one-quarter (23.8%) of the country's population. In contrast, the province was home to 13.8% of the foreign-born population and 17.5% of recent immigrants.
Table 2 Distribution of total population, total immigrant population and recent immigrants, Canada, provinces and territories, 2006 Census
Canada. Immigrants as a percentage of each province's total population, 1911 to 2006 censuses
