Where do Canada's immigrants come from, is a question that has been asked last week by the Economist. Statistics dating back to 2011 suggest that Africa is at the bottom of the ranking compared to other regions in the world whose citizens immigrate to the North American country. The same thing applies to Morocco according to data provided by the Canadian government. Canada is one of the world's most ethnically diverse and multicultural countries, that has welcomed immigrants for years. The country located in North America is perfectly bilingual with French and English-speaking populations. According to recent statistics showcased by The Economist, an English-language weekly magazine-format newspaper owned by the Economist Group and edited at offices in London, 1% of Canada's population are immigrants who were born outside the country. «A fifth of the country's population is foreign-born, about twice the share in America. In the 12 months to June 2016, Canada admitted 321,000 immigrants», states the weekly magazine. Indeed, Canada seems to be the only Western country that is not complaining about immigration. Starting from 1871, most of the people who immigrated to Canada were from the British Isles, a group of islands off the north-western coast of continental Europe. The number of immigrants from the British Isles, and after dominating the chart, started to fade a bit by bit facing other immigrants from other parts of the world. Based on the same source, «by the 1960s, arrivals from continental Europe were the most numerous, and the share of those from Asia was on the rise». Accordingly immigrants from Asia and the Middle East took over the ranking in the recent years. «During the next five decades, the proportion of immigrants born in Asia grew from less than 2% to 38%» said the Economist referring to the percentage of immigrants arriving in Canada. Moroccan immigrants in Canada As opposed to what people think, African immigrants arrived in Canada only by the beginning of the 1970s. Their existence compared to other immigrants started growing in a humble way, being positioned in 2011 ahead of Americans who make up less than 5% of immigrants in Canada. For Morocco, data provided by the Canadian government, suggest that the total number of Moroccans who lived in Canada in 2011 is 56,280. 35,565 of them do have a Canadian citizenship. According to the same chart, 25,295 people of Moroccan descent possess a Canadian citizenship only while 10,270 are considered citizens of Canada with at least one other country. Last but not least, 20,715 are not Canadian citizens. On the other hand, 5,395 Moroccans are living in the Canadian capital, Ontario. 4,185 do have a Canadian citizenship while 1,210 do not. Quebec, which is the French-speaking region of Canada, is heavily populated by Moroccans as opposed to Ontario. In total, 48,380 Moroccans live in the region, 29,825 of them have a Canadian citizenship while 18,555 do not.
