Immigration in York Region

Brenda Hogg, Regional and Local Councillor
Town of Richmond Hill

Richmond Hill has changed dramatically over the past 40 plus years that I have lived here. It isn’t just growth in population but change in our ethnic origins. Some people would ask that we stop immigration altogether. That would mean that our population would continue to age, retire, and our services would eventually stop. Our quality of life would not be sustained. So instead we look at ways to invest in our new residents while limiting costs to our existing residents.

Provision of service requires studying the characteristics of our new residents. This is what we have learned: Immigration in Canada has shifted in place of origin from Western Europe to Eastern Europe and Asia; approximately two–thirds of recent immigrants (within the past five years) are of prime working age and child bearing age; (seventy per cent) choose to become Canadian citizens; seventy–one percent are visible minorities, with Chinese being the most common; many live in extended family households and are most likely to be homeowners. Recent immigrants are three times more likely than non–immigrants to have lower earnings even with a similar education. (e.g. University education: $63,800 for non–immigrants vs. $38,400 for recent immigrants.) Immigrants use public transit at a higher rate than the total population (fifteen per cent vs. nine per cent); eighty-nine per cent of York Region’s recent immigrants speak English and or French the remaining eleven per cent have no knowledge of either official language.

Most recent immigrants respond that they have "no religion" but 19 percent say they are Roman Catholic and 11 percent say they are Muslim. Currently, our most common religions are Roman Catholic (35 percent), "no religion" (17 percent), Jewish (8 percent) and United Church (8 percent).

York Region is planning to assist immigrants with social and economic integration. We want our residents to engage in our social networks so that York Region becomes "home" and we want their skills and education to be fully utilized to the benefit of all residents. Through the Human Services Planning Coalition of York Region, we are designing an ‘inclusivity action plan’. There will be many challenges and opportunities but with planning we can provide a dynamic, welcoming environment which will maintain and enhance our quality of life.

Your comments are welcome. You may contact me at: bhogg@richmondhill.ca or 905-771-2498

Brenda