Canada sees 'reverse immigration'; cost-of-living requirement for international students doubled | Details here
Canada's overall population touched a high of 0.2 per cent in the mid-1990s, and currently stands at about 0.09 per cent, according to official government data. The rate of immigrants leaving Canada hit a two-decade high in 2019, according to a recent report from the Institute for Canadian Citizenship (ICC), an immigration advocacy group. While the numbers went down during pandemic lockdowns, Statistics Canada data shows it is once again rising.
Reuters interview a few people who have either left the country or are preparing to do so, because of the high cost of living. Many immigrants blamed the skyrocketing housing costs as the biggest reason for their decision to consider a new country. On average in Canada about 60 per cent of household income would be needed to cover home ownership costs, a figure that rises to about 98 per cent for Vancouver and 80 per cent for Toronto, Reuters cited data from Royal Bank of Canada's (RBC) September report.
Cara, 25, who came to Canada in 2022 as a refugee from Hong Kong, now pays C$650 ($474) in monthly rent for a single-room basement apartment in Scarborough, north of Toronto, which is about 30 per cent of her monthly take-home salary. ($1 = 1.3718 Canadian dollars) Cara works three part-time jobs, making Ontario's minimum wage of C$16.55 per hour, and goes to an adult learning school to earn university credits. "I almost use every single penny," she was quoted as saying.
In Hong Kong, she was able to save about a third of her monthly salary. Stankus, who pays C$2,000, including utilities, for a one-bedroom apartment, said increasing living expenses has made it difficult to afford basic necessities. "With a graduate student's budget, it is not sustainable," Stankus said.
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