Skip to Content Subscribe Our Offers My Account Manage My Subscriptions FAQ Newsletters Canada Canadian True Crime Canadian Politics Health World Israel & Middle East Financial Post NP Comment Longreads Puzzmo Diversions Comics NP News Quiz New York Times Crossword Horoscopes Life Eating & Drinking Style Sponsored Play for Ontario Travel Travel Canada Travel USA Travel International Cruises Travel Essentials Culture Books Celebrity Movies Music Theatre Television Business Essentials Advice Lives Told Tails Told Shopping Buy Canadian Home Living Outdoor Living Kitchen & Dining Tech Style & Beauty Personal Care Entertainment & Hobbies Gift Guide Travel Guide Amazon Prime Day Deals Savings National Post Store More Sports Hockey Baseball Basketball Football Soccer Golf Tennis Driving Vehicle Research Reviews News Gear Guide Obituaries Place an Obituary Place an In Memoriam Classifieds Place an Ad Celebrations Working Business Ads Archives Healthing Epaper Manage Print Subscription Profile Settings My Subscriptions Saved Articles My Offers Newsletters Customer Service FAQ Newsletters Canada World Financial Post NP Comment Longreads Puzzmo Diversions Life Shopping Epaper Manage Print Subscription HomeNP CommentFIRST READING: Immigration rates still at generational highs, even if population shrinkingPermanent immigration in 2026 poised to be the sixth highest of the last 110 years, asylum-seekers now number 500,000 You can save this article by registering for free here. Or sign-in if you have an account.On permanent immigration, meanwhile, Canada is still on track to chart one of the highest intake years of the last century. Photo by dennizn /Adobe StockFirst Reading is a Canadian politics newsletter curated by the National Post’s own Tristin Hopper. To get an early version sent directly to your inbox, sign up here.Enjoy the latest local, national and international news.Exclusive articles by Conrad Black, Barbara Kay and others. Plus, special edition NP Platformed and First Reading newsletters and virtual events.Unlimited online access to National Post.National Post ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on.Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword.Support local journalism.Enjoy the latest local, national and international news.Exclusive articles by Conrad Black, Barbara Kay and others. Plus, special edition NP Platformed and First Reading newsletters and virtual events.Unlimited online access to National Post.National Post ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on.Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword.Support local journalism.Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.Access articles from across Canada with one account.Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments.Enjoy additional articles per month.Get email updates from your favourite authors.Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.Access articles from across Canada with one accountShare your thoughts and join the conversation in the commentsEnjoy additional articles per monthGet email updates from your favourite authorsSign In or Create an AccountorFor the third consecutive quarter, the population of Canada has shrunk, capping off an unprecedented nine-month period that has seen the Canadian population go down by a combined 180,000 people.But the phenomenon is due almost entirely to Ottawa reining in the meteoric surge of temporary migration experienced by Canada between 2022 and 2024. On multiple other immigration streams intake continues to remain at generational if not all-time highs.This newsletter from NP Comment tackles the topics you care about. (Subscriber-exclusive edition on Fridays)By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc.We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try againThis is particularly true in the realm of asylum seekers. As of the most recent Statistics Canada data, there is now an unprecedented high of 525,479 asylum claimants in the country; the equivalent of the entire population of Halifax.This is more than triple the figure of 166,780 asylum claimants charted in Canada just four years ago, on April 1, 2022. It works out to an average of Canada bringing in 245 new asylum claimants every day for the last four years.On permanent immigration, meanwhile, Canada is still on track to chart one of the highest intake years of the last century.In the first four months of 2026, 83,149 permanent immigrants entered Canada. If this rate holds, Canada will witness 330,000 new permanent immigrants by the end of 2026.Although this would be below the 380,000 permanent immigrants that the government of Prime Minister Mark Carney has earmarked for 2026, it’s still well beyond what was considered normal for much of the last 100 years.Throughout the 1990s, Canada’s intake of permanent residents averaged 220,000 per year. The decade prior, in the 1980s, the average annual intake of permanent immigrants stood at just 107,000.As recently as 2014, Canada’s intake of just 260,400 immigrants was declared by Statistics Canada as “one of the highest levels in more than 100 years.”In fact, even if Canada hits below this year’s target of 380,000 permanent residents, 2026 is still poised to become the country’s sixth-highest permanent immigration year since the First World War.The only higher years would be a five-year streak from 2021 to 2025, when permanent immigration averaged 439,000 annually.On Wednesday, Statistics Canada confirmed that Canada’s estimated population had dropped by 0.1 per cent in the first quarter of 2026, representing a net decrease of 55,025 people.This was almost entirely due to a drop of 117,879 people in the category of “non-permanent residents.”Nevertheless, that category still remains at historic highs following an unprecedented surge of temporary migrants into Canada in the years immediately following the COVID-19 pandemic.In just three years from 2022 to 2024, Canada’s population of “non-permanent residents” surged from 1.4 million to 3.2 million — an average daily increase of 1,600 people.The surge was driven by a dramatic relaxation of standards and quotas in everything from student visas to temporary foreign worker permits. In 2023 alone, Canadian immigration officials approved an unprecedented 684,000 study permits, nearly double the 356,000 study permits that had been issued in the pre-COVID year of 2018.The Carney government has actively touted its strategy to rein in the immigration surges of 2022 to 2024. On Wednesday, Immigration Minister Lena Diab cited the population decline as evidence that “our plan for responsible, sustainable immigration is working.”“The non-permanent resident population has declined,” she told the House of Commons.Even with the decline, however, Statistics Canada is still charting Canada’s population of non-permanent residents at 2.6 million, meaning that roughly one in every 16 people in Canada is here on temporary status.Compare this to figures from just eight years ago in 2018, when Statistics Canada charted what was then the “highest number on record” for temporary migrants with a total population of 1,055,010 – about 38 per cent of Canada’s current population of non-permanent residents.And when the Liberals first took power in 2015, the population of non-permanent residents was just 750,000, about 29 per cent of the current figures. With the deadline for CUSMA’s renewal now less than two weeks away, the Carney government has suddenly taken an interest in U.S.-friendly policy and rhetoric, such as addressing American concerns that Canada isn’t sufficiently diligent at keeping out imports made with forced labour. Or, Prime Minister Mark Carney’s speech last month in New York City where he declared that Canada could help “make America great again.” Above is a screenshot from the video feed at the ongoing G7 summit in France, where Carney offered U.S. President Donald Trump his chair after the U.S. leader complained that his didn’t “go up.”Anna Loparco is on Prime Minister Mark Carney’s shortlist to be the next Supreme Court justice. As noted by National Post columnist Jamie Sarkonak, Loparco is a particularly enthusiastic champion of Canada’s race-based sentencing regime, under which offenders are given reduced sentences based on the extent of their “marginalized” background. In one decision, she declared that an Indigenous man who had beaten his children shouldn’t be judged “too harshly” as the actions are “rooted in colonial practices.”First Reading is a Canadian politics newsletter curated by the National Post’s own Tristin Hopper. To get an early version sent directly to your inbox, sign up here. Get the latest from Tristin Hopper straight to your inbox Join the Conversation This website uses cookies to personalize your content (including ads), and allows us to analyze our traffic. Read more about cookies here. By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.