Changing Landscapes: Recent Immigrants Living in York Region

Appendix 3: Methodology
Changing Landscapes: Recent Immigrants Living
in York Region is primarily based on a series of
Statistics Canada 2006 Census custom tabulations.
The report focuses on the socio-economic
characteristics of York Region’s recent immigrant
population, and compares social and economic
attributes of immigrants from different periods of
immigration with non-immigrants, where data is
available. The report also compares characteristics
of recent immigrants in York Region, across
other GTA municipalities (Toronto, Peel, Halton,
Durham), Ontario and Canada to provide a broader
picture. Where possible the report highlights
comparisons between recent immigrants in
York Region who arrived in 2001 and those who
arrived in 2006.
The Statistics Canada 2006 Census data is the
most recent detailed data on social and economic
characteristics, providing detailed “point in time”
data on recent immigrants. Throughout the
report the data is augmented, where possible,
with more recent research papers, such as the
York Region Local Immigration Partnership:
Summary of Community Consultations and
Literature Review (2011), York Region Aging
Workforce Final Report (2011), Statistics Canada’s
study on migration from central to surrounding
municipalities (Turcotte & Vézina, 2010), Statistics
Canada Labour Force Study (2008 to 2009), and
Citizenship and Immigration Canada Landing Data
(2006 to 2008).
Definition of Recent Immigrants:
Statistics Canada defines immigrants as “People
who are, or have been, landed immigrants in
Canada. A landed immigrant is a person who
has been granted the right to live in Canada
permanently by immigration authorities. Some
immigrants have resided in Canada for a number
of years, while others have arrived recently.
Most immigrants are born outside Canada, but a
small number were born in Canada.” (Statistics
Canada, 2010, p. 28).
For the purpose of this report, recent immigrants in
2006 are considered to be those who immigrated
to Canada during the five-year time period
from 2001 to 2006. When appropriate, recent
immigrants in 2006 are compared to immigrants
from different immigration periods: 1996 to 2000,
1991 to 1995 and prior to 1991.
There is an increasing number of temporary
workers and foreign students across the province
and Canada. In York Region, there were 7,170
non permanent residents in 2006, who were not
included in the analyses conducted for this report.
Also, some of the immigrants in the analysis,
while defined as “recent immigrants” because they
received their permanent residency status between
2001 and 2006, may have been living in Canada
with other status (such as temporary workers and
foreign students) for more than five years.
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