Photo credit: CBC
Mahak Bhateja says Canada’s culture helped her adjust to her new home after she moved from India.
CBC News reports that the Toronto resident said, “One thing I really like about this country is the people are very welcoming and they were very supportive.”
Bhateja’s experience is backed by the findings of a new report that indicates about two-thirds of Canadians agree multiculturalism has contributed positively to the country’s identity.
The Canadian Diversity Study 2026, released Tuesday, was conducted by the Environics Institute and Global Migration Institute at Toronto Metropolitan University.
The 49-page report is based on online surveys with 6,818 adult Canadians between March 4 and April 24. The results were weighed to be representative of Canada’s population according to the 2021 census.
The findings cover a range of issues relating to multiculturalism, from different perspectives, including from migrants and people of various racial identities.
The results come amid changing attitudes toward immigration, which became a wedge issue in Canadian politics after the population rapidly increased during and in the years after COVID-19 pandemic. Indeed, only about 20 percent of Canadians in the diversity study expressed wholly positive opinions about immigration.
But even among those who felt more negatively about the issue, a majority believed multiculturalism has a positive impact on Canada.
Canada’s population drop last year, by 0.2 percent, marked the first time the country saw an annual net decline in residents since Confederation.
The population fell again in the first quarter of this year, by 0.1 percent, reflecting a decrease in both immigration and births compared to deaths.
During Justin Trudeau’s tenure as prime minister, the federal government drastically increased immigration due to a labour shortage after the pandemic. There was a spike in international students and temporary foreign workers.
As result, The population grew by about one million people a year for three years in a row, flouting the trajectory of other developed countries whose populations were shrinking – and aging – due to low birth rates.
The surge has tested the country’s housing market as well as its infrastructure, as the healthcare system was strained trying to keep up and youth unemployment soared. A 2025 study found that nearly three-quarters of Canadians supported reducing the number of new immigrants.
A backlash mounted, Trudeau subsequently announced new measures educing temporary and permanent residents arriving in the country. Prime Minister Mark Carney further reduced those targets.
