Canadians see immigration as an opportunity: study

WASHINGTON — Canadians see immigration as an opportunity while a majority of Britons, Americans and Spaniards view it as a problem.In France, perceptions of immigrants worsened last year, with 40 percent of the French saying immigrants -- even those who are in the country legally -- increase crime. In 2009, less than a quarter of the French thought that way.Those are some of the findings of the "Transatlantic Trends: Immigration," which measured public opinion on immigration issues on both sides of the Atlantic last year, as the world struggled to emerge from the global economic crisis.The countries included in the survey were Canada and the United States in North America, and Britain, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain in Europe.The study found that two-thirds of people in Britain and more than half in Spain and the United States see immigration as more of a problem than an opportunity, while in Canada, the trend is reversed, with just 27 percent considering immigration a problem.Meanwhile, majorities in Spain and the United States -- 54 percent and 59 percent respectively -- also think immigrants are integrating well into their societies, as do nearly two-thirds of Canadians.At the other end of the scale, in the Netherlands and Italy, only around 36 percent of poll respondents said immigrants were fitting in well, while in Britain, France and Germany, over four in 10 said immigrants were integrating well.When the poll respondents were asked specifically about how Muslim immigrants were integrating, the reaction in the Netherlands and Italy was the same as for immigrants in general.But in every other country but one, people perceived Muslims as blending into society less well than the immigrant population as a whole.In Spain, only two in 10 poll respondents said Muslims were blending into society, while just a quarter of Germans said the same thing. In the United States and Canada, 45 percent of poll respondents saw Muslims as blending in better than other immigrants.In Britain, 37 percent

Add comment

Nick
Content

Submit