Has Canada actually undercounted its population by a million?
A CIBC Capital Markets Inc. report released last month suggested there are about a million more non-permanent residents in Canada than the official number, 925,000, that is widely quoted and used for planning purposes by various government authorities.
If ignored, the “undercounting” could hurt Canada’s housing and labour policies, said economist Benjamin Tal, who wrote the Aug. 30 report, Counting heads in Canada — a conundrum.
In response, Statistics Canada, the government agency that keeps track of the population count, said it stood by its numbers and that it hasn’t missed counting such a significant portion of the population.
The CIBC report, which was released days after the government revealed it was thinking about putting a cap on international students to help tackle the country’s housing crisis, garnered plenty of attention and raised questions such as: Are the “missing” million making it difficult for authorities to plan its housing and labour policies? Does Canada need to change the way it counts its population?
Non-permanent residents include foreigners who either have a work or study permit in Canada or someone who has claimed refugee status. Family members of these persons are also included in this category unless they are already Canadian citizens, landed immigrants or permanent residents. People who enter Canada on a visitor visa are not included in this category.
As of 2021, about 28.5 per cent of Canada’s non-permanent residents were born in India and 10.5 per cent in China.
They play an important role in Canada’s economy, according to Statistics Canada, since they fill critical labour shortages in key sectors, participate in Canada’s post-secondary education system and contribute to the economy as
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