Immigrant and refugee children
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In 2015, what percent of permanent residents who migrated to Canada were aged 14 or under?
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1%
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10%
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Correct!
20%
Immigrant and refugee children make up a significant proportion of Canada's incoming newcomer population each year.
In 2015, 20% of permanent residents who migrated to Canada were 14 years of age or under.
(Government of Canada, 2015)
In 2016, permanent residents age 14 or under made up 8% of the total existing newcomer population in Canada.
(Statistics Canada, 2017a)
In 2011, 945,130 children and youth under the age of 25 were immigrants or refugees, representing 9.5% of Canada's population in this age group.
In 2015, of the 271,847 permanent residents admitted to Canada, 87,468 or 32% were under age 24. Of those, nearly two-thirds (63%) were admitted under the Economic Immigration class, 18% were among the Family Class and 18% were refugees (CIC, 2015).
Proportion of immigrants among children by census metropolitan areas
Newly-arrived immigrant and refugee children attend daycares and schools across Canada, diversifying the ethnocultural population of the community.
In Canada's two largest census metropolitan areas, Toronto and Vancouver, newcomer children made up more than 25 per cent of the school-aged population in 2001, as shown in the figure below.
Immigrant and refugee children—as with all children—require particular attention to their needs as they are vulnerable, dependent on adults and still developing. Children are physically vulnerable as they are more susceptible to some diseases, malnutrition and physical injury. In addition, they need the support of adults for physical survival and for their psychological and social well-being, particularly in the early years of childhood.
Because children develop in a general sequential order where each stage depends on the one before it, any serious delays or interruptions in these sequences can severely disrupt their development (Schutzenhofer, 2018). Violence and insecurity prevent children from engaging in and mastering age-appropriate tasks such as learning how to regulate bodily functions or emotions, or learning social skills (Mueller & Tronick, 2019).