Tuesday, December 04, 2007

The future of Canada: Immigration 4 times birth rate

Today Statisctics Canada released their data on Immigration, citizenship and language from the 2006 Census. As I've been saying for some time now, the future of Canada will be found in immigrant communities like Thorncliffe Park. Therefore I was not surprised to read the report, but I think if the church doesn't wake up fast we'll be in some serious danger of being lost in the multicultural shuffle. As CTV reports:
The latest census figures show that 19.8 per cent of the population in 2006 was foreign born, the highest proportion since 1931 and up 13.6 per cent from five years earlier. By contrast, the entire Canadian population grew only 3.3 per cent in the same period.
Did you catch that? The entire population grew 3%, immigration grew 13%. Immigration is 4 times the birth rate. And where are people coming from?
For the first time, the proportion of foreign-born immigrants from Asian and Middle Eastern countries (41 per cent) outstripped those of European heritage (37)...between 2001 and 2006, language groups from Asia and the Middle East recorded the largest gains
As a final note CTV makes a prediction we should all take to heart:
An aging population and the declining birth rate has Canada on track to becoming fully dependent on immigration for population growth by around 2030, Statistics Canada data suggests.
How will you process this data? What is the immigrant population of your church? If it's low, will your church make any adjustments to prepare for this? What will your church look like in 2030?

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