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'I'm not comfortable living here': More Americans did actually try to move to Canada since Trump's 2016 election – CTV News

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OTTAWA —
When Donald Trump won the presidential election in November 2016, many Americans threw up their hands and threatened to flee north of the border to live out the rest of their days in chillier climes.

And according to new figures from the government, some of them may have actually followed through on that threat.

Canada saw an uptick in Americans trying to move to Canada following Trump’s win, according to the new figures from Immigration Canada.

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In 2015, a little over 6,800 Americans tried to apply for permanent residency in Canada, followed by just over 7,700 in 2016.

But in 2017, the year of Trump’s inauguration, that figure jumped to over 9,000.

The number has yet to dip below 8,700 in the years since, although 2020 is on track to fall far below the years previous — likely related to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has seen borders shutter and travel restricted.

Immigration Canada cautioned that the numbers are “preliminary” and “subject to change.”

Chantal Desloges, a Canadian immigration lawyer, says the modest increase “doesn’t surprise” her — though she said it’s not an “extreme” trend.

“We get a lot of applications from expats in the U.S. who’ve been working there or studying there, and now find that the immigration policies in the U.S. are so restrictive that Canada is a much more attractive destination,” Desloges told CTVNews.ca in a phone interview.

Desloges said that after Trump was elected, she got a number of inquiries at her firm from Americans considering taking the jump.

“This happened at our firm when Trump was elected as well — you get a lot of consultations, right? People say they’re just kind of putting out some feelers to see if they’re qualified,” she said.

“I had for example a Muslim man, you know, highly educated professional, little bit older with a family, well established in the U.S., [who] said, ‘you know what? I’m not comfortable living here anymore as a Muslim.'”

Andrew Carvajal, an immigration lawyer who works at the same firm as Desloges, said he received similar calls — and a lot more of them, compared to the pre-Trump days.

He said he received roughly “four times” as many calls from U.S. residents considering a move to Canada once Trump was elected

“They would basically make comments, ‘I’m really concerned about what’s going to happen now,’ and a lot of the people just, it was just obvious from that, what they were saying,” Carvajal said.

He said that, for example, some members of the LGBTQ+ community who were exploring a move to Canada said during their consultation that they “don’t know what’s going to happen” with the “federal government” in the United States.

Carvajal said he also recently got a call from an American pastor who had been living in Canada for two years.

“During the consultation, he really said, ‘as a Black person in the U.S., I just don’t want to go back.’ This was within the context of everything that’s happening right now, he’s just like ‘I really want to stay in Canada, I want my children to stay in Canada,'” Carvajal said.

Desloges noted, however, that for someone to pull the trigger and actually pack up to move to Canada, there usually have be other factors at play.

“We haven’t found a great deal of just random Americans saying I’m getting out of here, I want to go somewhere else. It’s been more of, people who have a historical connection to Canada who are now saying okay, you know, I’ve had enough of this,” she said.

“It’s an emotional reaction at the beginning, but then once reality sinks in, you know, people usually decide to stay where they are.”

The month that Trump won the election also saw a little bump in applications from Americans looking to start fresh north or the border.

While a month-by-month breakdown of 2015 and 2016 permanent residency applications from Americans to Canada saw an absolute high of 694 applications, that changed in November 2016 — a day when American politics also experienced a shockwave.

In the month of Trump’s election, Canada received 829 applications from U.S. citizens trying to move to Canada. The next month, December 2016, also experienced the second highest number of applications in two years: 743.

Desloges explained that any reading of these monthly figures should be tempered by the fact that Canada has a system where it controls the flow of economic immigration applications by telling prospective applicants when they can apply — not the other way around.

“People don’t decide on their own when their application goes in. They have to get an invitation from the government, and when the government sends that invitation, the person has only 90 days to perfect it or else they lose their chance,” Desloges said.

“As soon as they have capacity to take a thousand more applications, they send out a thousand more invitations.”

Still, Desloges says her firm has felt an increase in inquiries from Americans toying with taking the big jump across the Canada-U.S. border — more so than they’ve felt in the wake of previous elections.

“People have kind of a visceral response to him, right? He sort of provokes that exaggerated reaction from people,” Desloges said.

But, she said, many of these inquiries remain just that, with very few pulling the trigger.

“You do get a lot of people who gripe about the general situation in the U.S. with Trump, like they’ll complain about that, but I mean that is a big step, to actually leave a country and go to another country over a guy that might not even be there next year,” Desloges said.

Still, according to the figures from Immigration Canada, enough Americans felt that push to establish a trend of increased applications. Meanwhile for Desloges, the calls keep coming from people living in the Unites States who think it’s time to make the move.

“Even this morning, I got a call from somebody,” she said.

With files from CTV News’ Mahima Singh

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1 dead, 2 critically injured after car crash in Montreal – CBC.ca

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Montreal

Three people are in hospital with critical injuries after their vehicle crashed into a tree. Police believe they might be connected to two drive-by shootings that took place early Thursday morning.

2 drive-by shootings also took place overnight

an SPVM car near a taped-off crime scene
Montreal police are investigating a car crash possibly linked to two drive-by shootings. (Mathieu Wagner/Radio-Canada)

Urgences-santé say one person died and two others were critically injured after their vehicle hit a tree in the Rosemont neighbourhood. 

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Montreal police believe the crash may be linked to two drive-by shootings early Thursday morning.

The first happened around 5 a.m. on Pie-IX Boulevard. Police say a car was shot at repeatedly and the driver, a 41-year-old man, was injured in the upper body. He was transported to hospital, but his life is not in danger, say police.

Shortly afterward, shots were reported in the Plateau Mont-Royal borough, near the intersection of Saint-Joseph Boulevard and Henri-Julien Avenue. No one was injured. 

Police say they are investigating to determine if there is a connection between the collision and the shootings. Montreal police spokesperson Jean-Pierre Brabant says it’s possible those in the vehicle were involved in the shootings.

The province’s independent police watchdog is now involved.

with files from Chloë Ranaldi

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Pakistan airline crew sought asylum in Canada: spokesperson – CTV News

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Typically, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight attendants who arrive in Toronto stay at a hotel overnight, meet back up with their crew the next day and then fly to their next destination.

But increasingly often, PIA attendants aren’t showing up, the airline says. According to PIA, at least eight flight attendants disappeared over the last year and a half.

They have abandoned their jobs and are believed to have sought asylum in Canada, a spokesperson for the government-owned airline says.

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Increased occurrences

Abdullah Hafeez Khan said at least eight flight attendants “have gone missing” after flying to Pearson International Airport in Toronto. He said these incidents have been happening over the last 10 years, but are now occurring more frequently.

“Since probably October of 2022, the number of the people that have opted asylum has increased tremendously,” Khan said in a video interview with CTVNews.ca from Karachi, Pakistan, where the airline is based.

“None of those crew members that disappeared in the last one-and-a-half years have come back. So they were granted asylum for one way or the other, and that probably has encouraged others to do so.”

The missing employees were fired immediately and lost their company benefits, Khan said.

Why did they flee?

Khan said he could only speculate as to why the flight attendants would flee.

The Canadian government underscored the volatile situation in Pakistan, warning in a travel advisory of a “high threat of terrorism,” along with threats of civil unrest, sectarian violence and kidnapping.

“The security situation is fragile and unpredictable,” the Canadian travel advisory reads. “Incidents are typically attributed to extremism, ethnic divisions, sectarian strife, regional political disputes and the situation in neighbouring Afghanistan.”

It added that many deaths and injuries have occurred from bombings, shootings and other terrorist attacks at a wide range of targets.

Since Khan isn’t in contact with any of the missing employees, he says, he assumes they decided to seek asylum in Canada for economic and social reasons.

“So I naturally assumed that all of them have been given asylum because I don’t think they would be living there illegally,” he said, adding they may already have family connections in Canada who can support them.

In this June 8, 2013, photo, a Pakistan International Airlines plane moments before take off from the Benazir Bhutto airport in Islamabad, Pakistan. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)

‘PR crisis’

Khan called the flight attendants’ disappearances a “PR crisis” for PIA that is “bad” for business amid a crew shortage.

The airline is in talks with the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) and Pakistani law enforcement agencies to potentially create a “legal safeguard” to curtail flight crew from seeking asylum, he said.

When asked about the PIA flight attendants’ disappearances, Erin Kerbel, spokesperson for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, said the department couldn’t comment on specific cases due to privacy legislation.

In response to questions about PIA’s claim that discussions are underway about the issue, a spokesperson for the CBSA said it could not confirm any information.

“The Canada Border Services Agency does not provide comment or details on specific individuals, including any discussions that would take place with airline companies, as an individual’s border and immigration information is considered private and protected by the Privacy Act,” Maria Ladouceur said in an email to CTVNews.ca.

Since the crew members’ disappearances, Khan said, the airline has “done numerous things to curtail that.”

For instance, the airline is only staffing Toronto-bound flights with crew members who have “established linkages” in Pakistan, such as children, spouses or parents, as well as those who have worked in the organization for more than 15 years.

The airline avoids sending to Toronto those who are single or don’t have established family ties in Pakistan, he said.

Khan said he and the airline are no longer in contact with the flight attendants because, they discovered, they usually change their phone numbers soon after disappearing in Toronto.

Who disappeared?

The PIA flight attendants who vanished in Canada are seasoned pros in their late 30s or 40s, some of whom have worked for the airline for as long as two decades, Khan said.

“There was never any sign from them that they would seek something like that,” he said. “So that is something that is bothering us in the matter because working with people who have been working with you for a long time and then something happens like this is pretty unexpected.”

In one of the latest cases in February, the crew members were waiting to take the bus back to the airport from the hotel in Toronto and one of the flight attendants didn’t show up, Khan said.

The airline was unable to reach the flight attendant on her cellphone or hotel landline so, Khan says, they asked hotel management to check if she was OK.

“When the crew went there, she left her uniform there with a note saying, ‘Thank you PIA,'” Khan said, which he interpreted as a genuine sentiment of gratitude for her more than 15 years of service with PIA rather than a taunt.

Khan said the crew members who disappeared were “family values people” who had good careers in Pakistan.

Asylum policies

Individuals can make a refugee claim in Canada at a port of entry upon arrival or online if they are already in Canada, according to the Canadian government’s website.

Canadian immigration or border officials will determine if the person is eligible for a hearing before the Immigration and Refugee Board. All claimants must undergo health and security screenings, the government says.

If eligible to make a claim in Canada, refugee claimants can access social assistance, education, health services, emergency housing and legal aid pending a decision on their claim. Most can apply for a work permit after a medical examination.

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Alberta's population surges by record-setting 202,000 people: Here's where they all came from – CBC.ca

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Alberta smashed population-growth records in the past year, mainly due to people moving to the province from across Canada and around the world.

The province’s population surged to just over 4.8 million as of Jan. 1, according to new estimates released Wednesday by Statistics Canada.

That’s an increase of 202,324 residents compared with a year earlier, which marks — by far — the largest annual increase on record.

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Alberta also broke a national record in 2023 for interprovincial migration, with a net gain of 55,107 people.

“This was the largest gain in interprovincial migration nationally since comparable data became available in 1972,” Statistics Canada said in a release.


Most of the interprovincial migrants came from Ontario and British Columbia.

Statistics Canada estimates that 38,236 Ontarians moved to Alberta last year, versus 14,860 Albertans who moved to Ontario, for a net gain of 23,376 people.

Similarly, an estimated 37,650 British Columbians moved to Alberta, compared to 22,400 Albertans who moved to B.C., for a net gain of 15,250.


All told, interprovincial migration accounted for 27 per cent of Alberta’s population growth over the past year.

That put it just ahead of permanent immigration, which accounted for 26 per cent, and well ahead of natural population increase (more births than deaths), which accounted for eight per cent.

The largest component, however, was temporary international migration.

Non-permanent residents from other countries accounted for 39 per cent of the province’s population growth in the past year, reflecting a national trend.


Canada’s population reached 40,769,890 on Jan. 1, according to Statistics Canada estimates, which is up 3.2 per cent from a year ago.

“Most of Canada’s 3.2-per-cent population growth rate stemmed from temporary immigration in 2023,” Statistics Canada noted.

“Without temporary immigration, that is, relying solely on permanent immigration and natural increase (births minus deaths), Canada’s population growth would have been almost three times less (1.2 per cent).”

Alberta’s population, meanwhile, grew by 4.4 per cent year-over-year.

Alberta now represents 11.8 per cent of the country’s population, its largest proportion on record. 

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