Immigration, Emigration and Retention (Work in Progress)

• Based on Canadian Censuses the net exit rate of emigration for the naturalized portion of the Canadian population for the 1996-2006 period is 4.5%.

• A similar census-based estimate for the Canadian-born population yields a low net exit rate for the 1996-2006 period (1.33%) which translates into 500,000 Canadian-born leavers over the 1996-2006 period.

• Over the period 1996-2006 the naturalized group exhibited a three times greater emigration rate than the Canadian-born population.

• Moreover, given these exit rates for both the Canadian and foreign-born populations, a stock of 2.78 million Canadian leavers living abroad can be estimated.

• Canada has experienced a unique problem as a subset of its immigrants, approximately 10%, leave after ascension to citizenship.

• Most Canadians abroad feel strongly “Canadian” and strongly desire to remain connected to Canada.