Approximately 40 years ago, 75 percent of Vancouver residents stated English as their mother tongue. Only six percent of residents had listed Chinese as their mother tongue, followed closely by German, Italian, and French.

By 2006, only 49 percent of Vancouver’s residents listed English as a mother tongue, while 21 percent reported a form of Chinese as their main language, followed by Punjabi, Vietnamese, Tagalog, and Korean.

Today, one out of every two Vancouver residents is foreign-born. More than 50 percent of new students in Vancouver in kindergarten to grade 12 are from China.

Due to the large influx of immigrants to the area, the City of Vancouver has initiated various immigrant services, such as the Mentorship Pilot Project, aimed at linking newcomers to the city’s employment networks. New immigrants are paired with a mentor who assists him with understanding the Canadian work force, expanding their professional network, providing information on credential recognition, and more.

Vancouver has also helped immigrants gain access to social services by setting up help lines and websites in five different Asian languages.

Are you interesting in living in Vancouver? Take our free immigration assessment to find out if you qualify for Canadian immigration.