Record international immigration and the historic Ontario population were the two main factors that tipped the population of New Brunswick more than 800,000 earlier this year, new estimates show.
In March, the real-time population clock of the Statistics Canada for New Brunswick reached the 800,000 mark, which was taken by Prime Minister Blaine Higgs as an important moment for the province.
“People all over the country and around the world see the value, the opportunity and the reward of choosing to live here,” he tweeted at the time.
On Wednesday, the Statistical Office of Canada released more information on what caused the population growth, including the arrival of a record 6,581 immigrants in New Brunswick between April 1, 2021 and March 31, 2022.
In a scene that has become commonplace in New Brunswick, residents of Grand Manan showed up at the island’s airport earlier this month to welcome an immigrant Ukrainian family. Martha Eaton made two signs reading “Welcome to Grand Manan”, one in English and one in Ukrainian. (Grand Manan Safe Harbor / Facebook)
This is the largest number of people from other countries arriving in New Brunswick in a single 12-month period since the recordings began in 1932.
Mohamed Bagha is the managing director of the St. John’s Center for Newcomers, which helps immigrants settle into the community.
He said it was a lot more work now than when it started in 2013, and New Brunswick was attracting fewer than 200 immigrants a month.
“We are doubling almost every year,” Bagha said.
“There are many challenges,” he said, but immigrants themselves are generally “ecstatic” about coming to Canada and have been well received in a province not as accustomed to seeing newcomers as some others.
Mohamed Baga is managing director of the St. John’s Center for Newcomers and says for the most part New Brunswick welcomes the record number of immigrants arriving, but is worried about offering housing for all. (Kirk Penel / CBC)
“I think it’s getting much, much better,” Bagha said, “there’s a more positive attitude in the communities.”
Immigrants have significantly increased New Brunswick’s population in the past year, but even as they arrived, the province experienced a second but equally historic wave of Canadians moving east.
In the year ended March, Statistics Canada showed that 10,540 people from Ontario alone came to New Brunswick in search of more space, cheaper housing or a change in their lifestyle.
It was the largest influx of provinces in New Brunswick in any 12-month period since records began in 1952.
Hailey Burrell moved to New Brunswick from London, Ontario, at the start of the pandemic As a real estate agent, she said most of her clients in 2021 were people from Ontario, as she was. (Hailey Burrell / Facebook)
And as only 3,005 New Brunswick residents moved the other way back to Ontario during the same period, the province won a net amount of 7,535 people in the exchange.
Movements between other provinces and New Brunswick were mostly uncomfortable, but between the record migration in Ontario and the record international immigration occurring at the same time, population growth in New Brunswick during the year was more than twice the average for Canada.
This is a stunning development in a province where the population did not grow for 12 years between 1997 and 2010.
“People are looking at New Brunswick in a new light,” Higgs said in a press release in March, marking the arrival of the province’s 800,000th citizen.
“Our province has a lot to offer and people are noticing and taking advantage of the opportunities they see here.”
Fredericton’s U-Haul rental location has been regularly clogged with trucks and trailers over the past year as thousands more people have moved to New Brunswick than outside. (Shane Fowler / CBC)
However, the effects of rapid growth are twofold.
Many arrivals include younger families who are helping to counter the province’s rapidly aging population and fill gaps in the labor market.
School enrollment in New Brunswick has increased by nearly 2,000 this year with gains in five of the province’s eight districts. And births, which are in a seven-decade decline in New Brunswick since the 1948 peak, have even risen slightly.
But there were also problems.
When the population of New Brunswick reached 800,000 in March, Prime Minister Blaine Higgs announced this on Twitter. The increase was caused by international immigrants and Ontario residents moving east. (Blaine Higgs / Twitter)
So many people arriving at once have left housing in short supply, and the cost of renting an apartment or buying a home has escalated rapidly in the last year, if it can be found at all.
“The housing is huge. a huge problem at the moment, “Baga said of the difficulties immigrants face in finding suitable and accessible places to live.
“At the moment, the New Brunswickers have opened their doors, giving them a place in their homes, but in the end, finding a place will be a challenge.
This is an emerging issue that needs attention quickly.
On Wednesday, Statistics Canada predicts that the population of New Brunswick is already up to 804,855 as of March, an increase of 20,700 over the past 18 months.
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