Nearly half of Canadians favour mass deportations: poll

Article content

Nearly half of all Canadians believe that mass deportations are necessary to stop illegal migration, new polling shows.

Article content

Article content

A Leger poll done for the Association for Canadian Studies found that 48 per cent of Canadians hold that view — just once percentage point shy of Americans polled who, with the election of Donald Trump, could see such a policy enacted when he assumes office next year.

Article content

The polling also found that 65 per cent of Canadians say Canada is accepting too many legal immigrants. That figure, less than a year ago in February, was just 50 per cent. In March 2019, only 35 per cent of Canadians held that view.

Canada sees relatively few illegal immigrants when compared to the United States. Between January and September 2024, 865 irregular border crossers were intercepted crossing into Canada, according to Statistics Canada. But the numbers were climbing until 2023, when the federal government closed the Roxham Road crossing in Quebec. In 2023, 31,520 people made a refugee claim after crossing illegally. In 2022, it was 20,896 people. Since March 2017, Canada has documented 113,805 irregular migrants, 24,680 of whom have had their claims to stay in Canada rejected. According to the Immigration Ministry, there could be as many as 500,000 undocumented immigrants residing in Canada.

Canadians’ views are hardening on regular immigrants, who have been blamed for increasing housing costs and employment challenges, and the federal government, after overseeing the settlement of hundreds of thousands of newcomers per year, has moved to cut its immigration targets.

Article content

Article content

“At least to this point, (the cuts) didn’t modify public opinion,” said Jack Jedwab, president of the Association for Canadian Studies, who will be discussing migration governance at a conference in Washington, D.C. on Thursday.

The polling also looked at immigration target reductions, which will see 395,000 new permanent residents for 2025, 380,000 for 2026, and 365,000 for 2027, down from a target of 500,000 newcomers per year. Among those polled who said they were aware of the lowered immigration targets, 67 per cent still said it was too many. Among those who were not aware of lowered targets, 79 per cent said Canada was taking in too many people.

The polling shows mixed views on the role immigrants have in Canada. Forty-nine per cent said that immigrants are generally good for the economy, and 70 per cent said they tend to take jobs that those born in Canada don’t want to do. Yet, 40 per cent believe that immigrants are taking jobs away from Canadians and 33 per cent said they threaten the Canadian way of life.

Still, 61 per cent said immigrants make important cultural contributions to Canada.

Article content

“There’s a bit of ambiguity, or contradiction, in terms of the economic dimension of the issue,” said Jedwab. “But there’s a fairly strong perception that immigrants make an important contribution to our culture, but also a substantial percentage of people think that they’re threatening our way of life.”

There are, however, some differences of opinion in broader questions about immigration, when comparing those who think too many people are coming to Canada, and those who disagree.

For example, of those who say there are too many immigrants coming, only 39 per cent believe that immigrants contribute to the national economy, compared to 80 per cent of those who do not think too many are coming. This trend continues across other questions: Sixty-three per cent of those who say there are too many favour mass deportations, compared to 20 per cent of those who say there aren’t too many; only 52 per cent of those who say there are too many recognize cultural contributions, compared to 86 per cent of those who say there are not too many.

Despite some similarities with the United States, the polling found that the U.S. is far more polarized than Canada on questions of immigration. On mass deportations, Jedwab said he expected Canadians to be less supportive for such a practice in Canada, for example.

Article content

“I do think that the debates in the U.S., those debates that arose during the election campaign around immigration, probably do have some spillover effect on the way debates get played out here,” said Jedwab.

In the U.S., the spread between the views of those who believe there are too many immigrants and those who believe there are not is much wider than in Canada. For example, 63 per cent of those who believe there are too many immigrants in Canada say mass deportations are needed. Twenty per cent of those who say there are not too many immigrants agree with that sentiment.

Yet in the United States, 78 per cent of those who say there are too many immigrants say mass deportations are necessary, and only 14 per cent of those who say there are not too many agree.

“That’s suggesting more polarization in the U.S.,” said Jedwab.

The online survey was conducted by Leger for the Association for Canadian Studies with 1,539 respondents in Canada between Nov. 22 and 24. A margin of error cannot be associated with a non-probability sample in an online survey for comparison purposes, but a probability sample of 1,539 respondents would have a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 per cent, 19 times out of 20. In the United States, the survey was conducted by Leger with 1,009 respondents between Nov. 22 and 24 and has a probabilistic margin of error of plus or minus 3.9 per cent, 19 times out of 20.

Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our newsletters here.

Article content