When Moncef Lakouas arrived in Moncton, N.B. from Morocco 20 years ago, he figured he would stay for two years to complete his finance degree.
But he fell in love with New Brunswick’s welcoming culture. He met his wife, who is also from Morocco, and they now have a daughter. He’s built a life in New Brunswick.
“I have big friends,” he said. “I have a big family called New Brunswickers.”
For a long time, Lakouas was unique. For many immigrants and refugees, New Brunswick was a “bridge,” he says — a place to stay before moving to another province. “We were not necessarily the land of hope and opportunity,” he said.
New Statistics Canada data shows that is no longer the case.
On Feb. 14, Statistics Canada released information showing whether immigrants and refugees still lived in the same province or territory five years after coming to Canada. The data looked at people who arrived between 2012 and 2016.
New Brunswick’s immigrant retention rate rose nine per cent in this time. Fifty-six per cent of immigrants and refugees who came to New Brunswick in 2016 lived there in 2021. In comparison, only 47 per cent of those who arrived in 2012 lived in New Brunswick in 2017.
Prince Edward Island also saw growth. Immigrants who arrived in 2016 had a nearly 31 per cent five-year retention rate, up from a 25 per cent five-year retention rate for those who arrived in 2012.
Both Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador’s five-year retention rates dropped by three per cent during this time, but their rates stayed “relatively stable,” the report says.
More immigrants and refugees staying in New Brunswick does not surprise Lakouas, former president of the New Brunswick Multicultural Council, an umbrella organization for 20 organizations that serve the province’s newcomers. Historically, the province prioritized retaining its youth or encouraging New Brunswickers who had left to return. Now, attracting immigrants is a priority. It needs to — seniors made up 23 per cent of New Brunswick’s population in 2021.
The province has had help. The Atlantic Immigration Program matches skilled immigrants with jobs in one of the four Atlantic provinces.
Lakouas says New Brunswick will only get better at attracting and retaining immigrants. “We are getting very good at it,” he said.
‘Economic piggy banks’
Not all provinces’ immigrant retention rates increased. Rates in Ontario, Quebec, Alberta and British Columbia have held steady. Each of these provinces had a five-year immigrant retention rate of more than 80 per cent each year for people who arrived between 2012 and 2016.
But in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, rates dropped. In Manitoba, the five-year retention rate fell from 75 per cent for 2012 arrivals to 64 per cent for 2016 arrivals. In Saskatchewan, the rate fell from 75 per cent for 2012 arrivals to 58 per cent for 2016 arrivals.
Manitoba and Saskatchewan’s rates are not surprising, says Lori Wilkinson, a professor at the University of Manitoba. The report does not say why immigrants and refugees leave, so “reading too much into the numbers could be a little bit dangerous,” said Wilkinson, who is also executive director of Immigration Research West, a group that studies the settlement experiences of newcomers to Western Canada and the territories.
Refugees and immigrants move for several reasons, including for jobs or to be closer to family or those who share their culture, she says. But people born in Canada move across provinces and territories, too.
“This idea that you’ve got to permanently stay in a place, especially if you’re an immigrant, it’s not fair to the immigrants,” she said. People born in Canada are not expected to stay in one place.
Often governments view immigrants as “economic piggy banks,” she said. “They’re going to pay taxes, and we want them to stay in the same place. But we don’t have that kind of mentality about people born in Canada.”
In Swift Current, Sask., Deanna Baje and Viju Vijayan see newcomers leave the province often. Baje and Vijayan, both immigrants themselves, work at the Southwest Newcomer Welcome Centre, helping newcomers settle in the province.
Often people leave because they cannot work in their profession in Saskatchewan, says Baje.
Baje, originally from the Philippines, followed her sister to Saskatchewan. “I think I have found a place that I could call my new home,” she said.
In Vijayan’s case, he left Ontario to come to Saskatchewan in 2015 because it would be faster for him to get his permanent residency there. Originally from India, his sister lives in Ontario, but he has no plans to move back. Saskatchewan is less busy; he can buy a house here, he says.
Once people know they have a community, “they will stay,” said Baje. “Some of them are okay with changing their jobs from before, as long as they have the community to back them up.”
