Short-Term Residential Changes to Toronto's Immigrant Communities: Evidence from Lsic Wave 1

Abstract

As Canada's biggest metropolitan area, Toronto has a large immigrant population and attracts a major proportion of the country's new arrivals. Although it is well known that new immigrant arrivals are highly mobile, there is limited understanding of how this mobility impacts settlement patterns, particularly in the period following arrival in Canada and at small spatial scales. Using Wave 1 of the Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Canada (LSIC) and a variety of spatial-analytical methods, this article examines the short-term evolution of Toronto's immigrant population over their first six months in Canada. The impacts of various individual and household characteristics are evaluated to determine reasons for mobility within the Toronto CMA, as well as in- and out-migration from the CMA. Results suggest that whereas mobility is high, new arrivals primarily remain in their initial destination with little difference in the overall distribution. Residential moves are associated with various individual and household characteristics, along with neighborhood effects and the type of housing initially occupied.