Over 1 in 5 people (20.6%) residing in the Montreal metropolitan area immigrated from abroad according to the 2006 Census. This is up from 18.4% in 2001 and 17.8% in 1996. Within Montreal, there has been a significant shift in where new immigrants choose to settle.
This post describes where in the city new immigrants chose to settle during two periods: 1986 to 1991 and 2001 to 2006. The shift in settlement patterns occurred for various reasons, including cost-of-living factors, source countries, and changes in the social networks that immigrants relied upon [a discussion beyond the purpose of this post, but see below for a reference].
Click on the maps to enlarge them.
The first map shows the percentage of residents per census tract who immigrated and settled between 1986 and 1991, according to the 1991 census:
The second map shows the same, for the period 2001 to 2006, according to the 2006 census:
As seen in a comparison of the two maps, the neighbourhood choice for new immigrants has generally shifted from the northern regions of the metropolis to the centre. Laval, Montreal East, and Montreal North no longer have the highest percentages of new immigrants. Now, some census tracts in Côte des Neiges and Ahuntsic contain nearly 30% recently immigrated residents.
For a good read on the changing nature of Montreal’s immigration patterns and general history, check out Montreal: The Quest for a Metropolis by Annick Germain and Damaris Rose (but find it in the library- it’s $185).
Sources: the 1991 and 2006 Canadian Censuses via the University of Toronto’s CHASS system, and McGill’s EDRS.
4 comments
Hey, that’s my ‘hood! I’ve suspected the percentage was one of the highest on the island, nice to see it confirmed. It’s one of the things I like about it – on any given day I can hear a dozen languages or accents of French and English and get an impressionistic sampling of the results of Canada’s relatively welcoming immigration policy.
Thanks, fascinating… Dramatic shift!
Pour avoir vecu dans plusieurs quartiers a forte concentration d’immigrants, j’ai l’impression que cote des neiges (dans le haut, edouard montpetit en montant) est un des quartiers ou les immigrants s’integrent le mieux.
Quelle elle la recette de leur succes?
I have no idea…
To answer that, assuming that it’s true, one would have to know what the criteria for successful integration are considered to be…
I live in “bas” Côte-des-Neiges (I have to climb the hill a bit to get to the area you describe), and the immigrants even here seem fairly successful by modest standards. The turnover in my apartment building is mainly among the students (like me); the working folks are fairly long term residents.
It’s just my impression also, but too many immigrants seem to use their cars despite (or because of?) the also heavy use of the 165, 161 and 160 bus lines. Perhaps it’s the influence of the mainstream culture’s constant implication that car use is a badge of success, regardless of the availability of public transit.
C’est que le quartier de côte-des-neige est proche d’Universités, de supermarchés, de centres médicaux, de métros, d’accès par autobus au Centre-ville, quoi demander de plus pour un immigrant qui cherche à s’intégrer dans la société québécoise?