Quote:
Originally Posted by Crawford
Actually, they're two sides of the same coin. Canadian immigration streams are largely the same as U.S. immigration streams, and the U.S. is somewhat more of a first choice but also somewhat more difficult to gain entry.
So when U.S. restricts certain groups (or qualifications) they usually end up in Canada. That's why Persians were big in the U.S. in the 70's and then big in Canada immediately thereafter, following U.S. restrictions.
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That's somewhat the case, but not entirely (it's true that similar timings of immigration for groups like Jews, Eastern Europeans, Italians, Chinese etc. existed for Canada and the US, with some lag because the US was more restrictive and led to Canada being the second choice). There's also the British and French colonial legacy for Canada that influences things in a way that doesn't for the US. And then there's the Latino influence (connection to Spanish-speaking countries, be they Cuba, Mexico, or the Dominican Republic) in the US that there isn't in Canada.
British themselves moved to Canada at really high rates until the 60s, something which never happened in the US, past colonial times.
Many Indians moved to Canada because of the Commonwealth ties, rather than IT/tech unlike in the US. Many Hong Kongers moved to Canada, again because of Commonwealth ties rather than the US, where Chinese-origin immigrants more likely come from China (though Canada also had lots of mainland Chinese immigration after the Hong Kong wave) or Taiwan.
And Canada has immigrant groups that are present because of French language skills in the points system offering them access to Quebec, like French-educated Haitians, Francophone West/North Africans, Lebanese etc. that there aren't as much of stateside.