New Immigrants' Assessments of Their Life in Canada

In this paper, the Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Canada (LSIC) is used to examine how immigrants in the 2000-2001 landing cohort subjectively assess their life in Canada. The paper provides a useful complement to other studies of immigrant outcomes that often focus on employment, income or health. Four years after landing, about three-quarters of LSIC respondents said they were satisfied or very satisfied with their life in Canada, and a comparable proportion said their expectations of life in Canada had been met or exceeded. Nearly 9 out of 10 said that, if given the chance, they would make the same decision again to come to Canada. A broad range of demographic, social and economic characteristics are associated with subjective assessments. Positive assessments of life in Canada are less prevalent among individuals in their thirties and forties, and university graduates and principal applicants in the skilled worker admission category, than they are among other groups. While assessments of life in Canada are correlated with economic factors such as personal income, they are also correlated with social factors such as relationships with neighbours and perceptions of discrimination.