Public acceptance of immigrants has grown in Canada over the last few years, despite debates about its merits. AP-Ipsos polling found more tolerance for immigrants now than two years ago in Canada. *

Three quarters of those polled said immigrants are a good influence.

Canadians generally believe that immigrants work at least as hard as workers born in Canada, with 43 percent saying they work harder. Only 15 percent of Canadians believe immigrants are more likely to be involved in crime than people born in Canada.

“The population of immigrants is increasing dramatically,” said Fred Bemak, a professor who studies the impact of immigration. “When it’s the person next door, it changes the tone.”

The changes in public sentiment over the last two years came in a shift from a number of people who didn’t know how they felt in 2004 to more people feeling immigrants are a good influence.

Meanwhile, The Vancouver Sun, through the Access to Information Act, has discovered that seven years of internal government polls suggest that public opinion on Canada’s immigration levels has changed little, with roughly half of those surveyed saying the right number of immigrants are entering the country.

However, a 12 percent decrease in support has been noticed in Vancouver since August 2005.

“This decrease in support can be explained by a number of failed refugee claimants that became high-profile crime cases in B.C. during this period of tracking,” the report said.

* Polling was carried out in May, before the arrests in Ontrario of a number of Canadian muslim men for allegedly plotting acts of terrorism in Canada.

6 Jun 2006