Canadians more positive towards immigration than US and Europe
According to a poll released last Thursday, Canadian attitudes toward immigration are hardening but Canada still remains more positive attitude as compared to other Western nations including the US and Europe.
The annual survey, done by a Washington-based think-tank, looked at public perception of a wide variety of immigration issues in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain. And it maintains that Canada is the most welcoming nation to the immigrants who want to live and work in Canada.
Around two-thirds of Canadians agreed that people immigrating to Canada have been successfully integrated into their society. The statistics show that respondents who felt in 2010 that immigrants helped create jobs by establishing new businesses down is down from 75 per cent in 2009 to 67 per cent in 2010. And the proportion of Canadians who thought immigration "enriches" culture by bringing in new customs and ideas slipped from 65 to 60 per cent. However in both cases, the numbers were significantly higher than those from the US and Europe.
The majority of the survey respondents from the US (73%), the UK (70%), Spain (61%), France (58%), and the Netherlands (54%) believed that their government was doing a poor job in managing immigration. Only Canadians were split, with 48% feeling positive and 43% responding negatively about their government’s handling of immigration to Canada.
Delancey Gustin – the author of the 2010 Immigration Public Opinion Survey said that Canadians are quite positive about immigration and they seem to be less bothered by issues of immigrants taking away their jobs leading to lower wages. She also stated that Canadian government policies and more importantly Canadian geography drive public attitudes.
