Refugee influx last year helped push population over 36M: Statcan

OTTAWA — Statistics Canada says a record number of immigrants arriving in the last year helped push the country’s population to an estimated 36,286,425 as of July 1.

The agency says the country recorded an overall increase of 437,815 people, or 1.2 per cent, during the 2015-16 year.

Such an increase in absolute numbers hasn’t been seen since 1988-89.

The overall rise was driven by the arrival of 320,932 immigrants.

The report says the influx of Syrian refugees — the government says more than 30,000 have arrived since last November —  helped boost the overall numbers.

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Under the system of population accounts used today, which dates to 1971, the previous record immigration level was recorded in 2009-10, when 270,581 newcomers arrived.

“The country had not received such a large number of immigrants in a single annual period since the early 1910s, during the settlement of Western Canada,” Statistics Canada said.

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The Canadian Press