Posts Tagged ‘canada’

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How learned/ smart are Canadian cities?

May 22, 2010

Looking to immigrate to Canada, not sure where to go? Here is a report by Canadian Council on Learning that depicts the cities and how learned they are. This could be another factor for you to consider if you are looking for a city which focuses and encourages learning.

26 factors were taken into consideration for a period of 5 years to rank and gauge the 4,500 cities, towns and rural communities across Canada. What are some of the factors considered when calling a city smart/ learned? These include high-school drop out rates, reading and math scores, spending on museums and reading materials, travel time to religious institutions, exposure to media and access to community facilities. It also includes factors like job skills such as computer training and apprenticeships, social skills, literacy, numeracy and activities that foster personal development.

Interestingly the score for the country as a whole has only grown by 0.3% each year in the last 5 years. But there are significant improvements in individual cities.

Top of the list is Victoria (BC) leading all major Canadian cities with a score of 95, Saskatoon (SK) came in second with 90, followed by Calgary (Alberta) 88, Ottawa (ON) 87 and Regina (84).  Victoria and Saskatoon are the only 2 cities with scores significantly above the national average and +2.7 and +1.5 growths per year in the last 5 years. Calgary and Ottawa have on the other hand declined in the last 5 years by -0.9% and -1.3% per year.

Atlantic Canada on the other hand had sizable improvements led mainly by Fredericton and St. John’s. “This confirms what happens at the local level is very really important” says the council’s head Paul Cappon.

Out of 3 major metropolitan cities Toronto score was 81 (+1.3) Vancouver was 77 (-0.1) and Montreal was 70 (+0.5).

If you are thinking about immigrating to Canada, contact us or fill up a free assessment form or read more about the different options for immigrating to Canada – go to www.immigrationzonecanada.com

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Posted in Coming to Canada | 2 Comments »

Toronto is 2nd most popular city for attracting working people and immigrants

April 6, 2010

Toronto is the 2nd most attractive place to work and live in, just behind Barcelona. Paris ranks 3rd, Madrid is 4th, London ranks 8th as per the Prosperity Score card 2010 released by the Toronto Board of Trade.

Toronto ranks 2nd out of 24 cities worldwide, making it the choice for new immigrants because of high mix of population, strong and consistent population growth, low homicide rate and an affordable cost of living. 47% of Toronto’s population is foreign-born in comparison to let’s say New York with 28%, or Sydney with 34% or San Francisco with 29%.

These are also some of the reasons why Toronto is the favourite destination of new immigrants in Canada:

- Toronto ranks 7th in the scorecard for cities with at least bachelor’s degrees (30.6% of the population having a bachelors degree).

-Toronto ranks 6th with 68 teachers per 1000 school-age students with Montreal (75 teachers) and Vancouver (73 teachers) ranking 1st and 2nd out of the 17 cities rated. Toronto has a 1.9 homicides per 100,000 people ranking 4th out of 15 cities. Hong Kong is the best with 0.5 homicides and Montreal is 2nd best city with 1.5. In use and availability of non-auto transit (public transit, cycling or walking) Toronto comes 12th out of 21 cities with 28.8% of the Toronto residents choosing non-auto options to commute in the city. The best being Hong Kong  with 89% of commuters travel to work using public transit, cycling or walking.

-In affordable housing, Toronto ranks 5th when compared with 12 cities within US and Canada. With Dallas coming on top, followed by Calgary. Toronto ranks 6th out of 22 cities on cost of living. Remember the lower the cost of living the more attractive it is to live in. Seattle comes at the top, followed by Montreal. London ranks 21st, Paris is 17th, New York is 16th, Calgary and Vancouver are 4th and 5th respectively.

-Toronto has 6.6 million international visitors making it the 5th highest number of international visitors out of the 23 metros. London is the leading metro with 15.3 million, followed by Hong Kong (12.1 million). Vancouver (3.1 million) and Montreal (2.7 million) also make the top 10.

Toronto is a global city and deserves its multicultural, dynamic, immigrant loving status.

Source: Scorecard on Prosperity 2010, Toronto Board of Trade.

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Posted in Coming to Canada | Leave a Comment »

Toronto and immigration to Canada….

March 13, 2010

Toronto metropolitan census area is the most populated area in Canada. Majority of the immigrants come and settle here.

In 2006 census of Statistics Canada, 2.6 million non-caucasian race or non-white in colour people were living in the Toronto metropolitan area stretching from Oshawa in the east to Burlington in the west and Barrie in the north. And, also contains municipalities like city of Toronto, Mississauga, Markham, Brampton, Richmond Hill.

By 2031, this number will double to 5.6 million in other words 63% of Toronto’s population will belong to non-caucasian immigrants. And interestingly, 43% of Canada’s non-white in colour population will be living in Toronto metropolitan area.

South Asians are the biggest portion of the immigrant population in 2006 and it will grow further to 2.1 million or 24% of Toronto’s population. 2nd biggest group is of Chinese immigrants which will grow to 1.1 million in 2031 constituting 12% of Toronto’s population. Even Arabs and West Asian immigrant’s population will triple in line with the national trend.

In terms of religion, non-christian population of Toronto will triple by 2031, 31% in 2031 from 21% in 2006 and Christian population will drop from 62% to 49% in the same time period.

Toronto is changing, evolving and will continue to do so for a long time to come because of the influx and settling of new immigrants. And, this has made Toronto metropolitan area multicultural with a dynamic mix of population where everyone lives, works and grows old together, making Canada proud.

Canada is not only accepting the most immigrants on an ongoing basis out of the G7 countries but its 3 main metropolitan areas, Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal multiculturalism and changing mix of population shows that the new immigrants are welcome and are becoming a part of its society and economy.

http://www42.statcan.gc.ca/smr09/smr09_017-eng.htm

Stay tuned to learn more about Vancouver and Montreal in our next blog..

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Posted in Coming to Canada | 4 Comments »

Canadian immigration rule changes will make it easier for Haitians to re-unite with their family in Canada

January 17, 2010

Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney has been asked with exploring ways to fast-track the process of bringing Haitians into Canada under the family reunification program.

The announcement will be augmented with new immigration rules that will make it easier for Haitians to join family members in Canada. As well, people in Canada who for whatever reason may be required to return to Haiti – because, such as, their visa has expired – will be granted an extension, permitting them to stay in Canada temporarily.

With Montreal being the center of the Haitian-Canadian community, there are about 150,000 people of Haitian origin in Canada. The backlog of Haitians seeking to join family members in Canada stretches back for years. But Prime Minister Stephen Harper has promised that the government will quickly put in place measures to improve the immigration process for Haitians in the wake of this week’s calamity.

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Posted in World- Current events | 1 Comment »

Canada welcomes immigrants in 2010 amidst immigration cuts worldwide

January 10, 2010

Even though other countries like Japan, Spain, Australia have cut back their immigration quotas and are urging itinerant workers to leave faced with recession and as a means to recover their economies. Canada is looking to maintain its previous years quota as per Jason Kenney, Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism.

Australia reduced its immigration targets by almost 15%. Italy and Spain are focusing on expelling undocumented workers. Japan is looking to send home South Americans.

“While other countries have cut back immigration levels as a short-term response to the global economic downturn, our government is actually maintaining its immigration levels to meet the country’s medium- to long-term economic needs,” said Minister Kenney.

“Canada plans to welcome between 240,000 and 265,000 new permanent residents in 2010, the same number of immigrants as in recent years. In 2010, Canada will again welcome more new permanent residents than the average annual intake during the 1990s,” said Minister Kenney. “The focus of the 2010 plan is on economic immigration to support Canada’s economy during and beyond the current economic recovery.”

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Posted in Immigration Zone Canada News | Leave a Comment »

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