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Immigration in Canada: A Portrait of the Foreign-born Population, 2006 Census: Immigrants in metropolitan areas

Newcomers in suburbs

The impact of immigration on the three largest census metropolitan areas (CMAs) of Toronto, Montréal and Vancouver varied because the newcomers were more likely to live in certain municipalities within these metropolitan areas.

In Toronto, most of the growth in the foreign-born population occurred in the municipalities surrounding the City of Toronto. Newcomers to Canada were largely responsible for the growth of some of these municipalities. For example, Mississauga took in 16.7% of newcomers to the Toronto CMA in 2006, an increase from 14.5% in 2001. Brampton's share of recent immigrants grew to 9.6% in 2006 from 5% five years before. Vaughan, home to 1.9% of newcomers in 2001, grew to 2.5% in 2006.

In Vancouver, nearly three-quarters (74.7%) of the metropolitan area's recent immigrants lived in just the four municipalities of the City of Vancouver, Richmond, Burnaby and Surrey in 2006. But unlike the census metropolitan areas of Toronto and Montréal, where the majority of newcomers still lived in the central municipality, only 28.7% of newcomers lived in the City of Vancouver, and the remaining 46% resided in the other three municipalities. In fact, Surrey was home to 19.3% of newcomers in 2006, an increase from 14.1% in 2001.

In Montréal, a majority of the newcomers (76.3%) lived in the City of Montréal in 2006. This was a drop from 2001, when 81.9% of newcomers lived in the city. Between 2001 and 2006, the metropolitan area of Montréal also saw an increase of newcomers settling in surrounding municipalities such as Laval, Longueuil, Brossard, Dollard-des-Ormeaux and Côte-Saint-Luc. Collectively, these surrounding municipalities received 15% of newcomers in 2006, compared with 11.2% in 2001.

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