As of August 22, Canada had accepted around 300,000 new permanent immigrants.

Last Monday, Immigration Minister Sean Fraser claimed that Canada had reached the 300,000 level sooner this year than in any previous year. Only six times since Confederation in 1867 has Canada admitted more than 300,000 immigrants in a single year: from 1911 to 1913, and again in 2018, 2019, and 2021.

Following a drop in immigrants due to pandemic-related travel restrictions in 2020, Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) increased immigration in 2021, completing the year with a record-breaking 405,330 newcomers. Despite this, IRCC did not reach 300,000 until the fourth quarter of that year.

So far, data on the IRCC's open data portal has provided the number of new immigrants up until June 2022. The July and August results will be announced in the coming months.

By the end of June, around 231,620 immigrants had arrived in Canada. The change in numbers from the end of June to the end of August implies that Canada accepted around 68,000 permanent residents over the period of two months.

If this rate continues over the next four months, Canada may reach or perhaps surpass its objective of 431,000 new immigrants in 2022. If the immigration service meets this goal, it will break the previous record established in 2021.

By far the most common immigration landing province has been Ontario. In the first six months of the year, Ontario received 101,155 immigrants, nearly double that of the second-place challenger, British Columbia. As of the end of June, the province of British Columbia has 36,700 new permanent residents.

Quebec received the third-highest number of immigrants overall, with 31,880 arriving in the first half of the year. With 26,920 immigrants, Alberta ranked fourth.

Ontario also accepted the most people from all of Canada's immigration categories, including economic, family, refugee, and other. BC received the second highest number of economic and family-class immigrants and ranked third in the other category. Alberta had the second greatest number of refugees and the third highest number of family-class immigrants. Quebec had the third highest number of economic and refugee immigrants, and the second highest number of other immigrants.

According to the 2022-2024 Immigration Levels Plan, Canada expects to admit more immigrants this year and next year through its Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) than through its Express Entry-managed programmes. This has not occurred since 2015, when Canada implemented the Express Entry system.

So far, Canada has accepted 40,785 immigrants via Express Entry and 40,835 via the PNP. Most Express Entry immigrants have come from the Canadian Experience Class (CEC). This year, Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP) immigrants make up a lesser percentage of Express Entry immigrants, while Federal Skilled Trades Program (FSTP) immigrants make up the smallest amount.

To meet labour market shortages, Canada mainly relies on immigration. According to the most recent Statistics Canada data, there are over one million job openings and an unemployment rate of 4.9%, a record low. As a result, the country is experiencing a labour shortage in several industries. This is exacerbated by the fact that nearly nine million Canadians will reach retirement age by 2030, yet the birth rate in Canada is one of the lowest among G7 countries, at 1.4 children per woman.

To address the labour gap, Canada will continue to welcome record-breaking numbers of immigrants each year. As part of the Immigration Levels Plan, Canada intends to accept more than 450,000 newcomers in 2024. Some provincial governments are urging Canada to do more to attract skilled immigrants and to give them more input over immigration.

Canada is also redoubling its efforts to make the application process simpler and more efficient for candidates. IRCC has announced several initiatives aimed at reducing the present backlog of applications and improving the customer experience. Beginning September 23, immigration applications will be completely digital, and by the spring of 2023, IRCC will introduce application progress trackers for seven more permanent and temporary resident categories.