What is canadas population

Consequently, Canada and its regions do not have well-developed population policies, other than those that establish targets and guidelines for the numbers and types of immigrants that will be allowed into the country. In addition, Canadian governments have not encouraged other countries to develop their own population policies, especially those that are less-developed and have rapidly growing populations.

Canadian governments also do not provide significant aid to those poorer countries to help them increase the availability of birth control. By not becoming involved in the population problems of less-developed countries, our governments avoid potentially high-profile controversy.

However, this attitude contributes little to dealing with the global increase of the human population. Governments within Canada also lack policies to encourage their citizens to have smaller families as a means of slowing the growth of national or regional populations.

In fact, Canadian governments more typically pursue policies that are pro-natalist. This has been true of the government of Quebec, which in recent times has provided cash payments to women based on the number of children they have, and had provided daycare at greatly subsidized costs to parents. In addition, all provinces and the federal government provide substantial income-tax breaks to parents based on the number of children they are supporting.

These tax benefits are intended to help lower-income families with the costs of child-rearing, but they can be interpreted as a pro-natalist aspect of the income-tax system. People living in wealthy countries, such as Canada, use resources intensively and therefore have a high per capita environmental impact. This is a view of the Eaton Centre in Toronto. However, governments in Canada do permit their citizens to choose freely among a wide range of safe and effective birth control options.

But this is not to say that all birth control methods are freely available across the country. For example, the governments of Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick restrict access to abortion by not funding services provided by private clinics, and in Nunavut there are no hospitals or clinics providing abortion. Consequently, many women must travel to another province, or even to the U.

Similarly, reproductive and family-planning education in schools varies considerably across Canada, and is often lacking in the comprehensiveness of its curriculum. As was discussed in Chapter 10, abortion is an extremely contentious issue in Canada and elsewhere. The controversy has resulted in many public demonstrations and confrontations between pro-life anti-abortion and pro-choice pro-abortion groups.

In a few instances, the patrons and personnel of abortion clinics have been illegally harassed or assaulted, and clinics have even been firebombed. In the s, there were three cases of doctors who had provided abortion services being shot in Ancaster, Vancouver, and Winnipeg , and in another was stabbed at his clinic Vancouver.

Nevertheless, although abortion and other means of birth control remain controversial issues, Canadians who desire to control the number and spacing of their children do have relatively easy and inexpensive access to safe and effective means of birth control. While most Canadians take responsible advantage of this opportunity, it is not comparably available to most people in the world. Consequently, the natural rate of population increase in Canada is relatively small, while it is high in almost all poorer countries.

Moreover, immigration is a key contributor to population growth in Canada. Canada has always had a relatively open immigration policy, and this continues today. In , Canada admitted thousand immigrants permanent residents from more than countries, including thousand refugees, equivalent to about 0. If not for its rather vigorous immigration rate, Canada would be close to a ZPG zero population growth condition.

There has always been some controversy over the immigration and refugee policies of Canada, as is true of all countries. Newcomers have contributed enormously to the economic development and cultural diversity of Canada — they have helped to make the country an interesting and prosperous place to live. These benefits must, however, be balanced against some of the downsides of continuing to have relatively open immigration policies, because of their contribution to rapid population growth.

It is obvious that any population policy to reduce the rate of population growth in Canada must deal with the numbers of immigrants that the country accepts. Birth Control and the Issue of Abortion. The key reason for the growth of the human population has been a precipitous reduction of mortality rates, due to great improvements in sanitation and medical science. The most desirable way to slow population growth is to reduce the birth rate — it would never be acceptable to increase the death rate!

Various family-planning options are available see Chapter 10 , including abstinence, the use of ways to prevent conception birth-control pills, condoms, diaphragms, intrauterine devices , sterilization vasectomy of the male or tubal ligation of the female , and termination of a pregnancy by abortion.

All of these methods can result in safe and effective birth control, allowing parents to plan the size of their family and the spacing of births. Such choices generally result in smaller family sizes, and so contribute to decreased population growth. However, all of these methods of birth control are controversial to varying degrees. As a result, powerful interest groups, including major religions, have steadfastly opposed the use of some of the most effective methods of birth control.

This dispute is a critical impediment to family planning, and to the implementation of effective population policies. Abortion is, by far, the most contentious method of birth control.

Many people view abortion as the taking of a human life, while others regard this medical procedure as a safe means by which a woman can choose to terminate an unwanted pregnancy. The situation is sometimes described as pitting the right to life of the fetus against the right of the mother to control her body and make decisions about her own life and lifestyle. Although both positions may share concerns about preventing unwanted pregnancies, the highly polarized views on abortion are essentially irreconcilable and so there is intense controversy.

In Canada, the medical procedure of abortion is no longer a crime, but anti-abortion groups have continued to picket in public places, including hospitals and clinics where the service is provided. Most of the protest actions have been peaceful, but a few have not. There have been cases of violence in Canada and the United States, including arson and bombing of clinics, and physical attacks on doctors and other personnel involved with providing abortion as a medical service.

Henry Morgentaler is the most famous crusader for access to abortion services in Canada. He has been prosecuted several times under provisions of the Criminal Code that had effectively banned abortion services outside of a framework for access decisions in public hospitals.

The consent of a committee of doctors was required before an abortion could be provided, but some hospitals did not have such a committee, and some provinces did not allow them to be formed. However, Morgentaler was never convicted by a jury of any of the charges laid against him in four trials.

Eventually, in , ruling on an appeal by the Crown of a Morgentaler acquittal, the Supreme Court of Canada struck down the criminal code provisions as contravening the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, based on the lack of access for many women to abortion services in hospitals. That decision effectively legalized the availability of the medical procedure in Canada.

In , about Although Henry Morgentaler has been a highly polarizing force within Canadian society, in July he was awarded the Order of Canada. This highest available and prestigious civilian honour was given in recognition of his notable contribution to Canadian society. Not surprisingly, the award was controversial. An important context of the abortion debate is whether women, particularly those living in isolated regions and in poorer countries, should have reasonable access to alternative means of family planning including birth-control drugs, condoms, and intrauterine devices.

Many people believe that a successful population policy requires the education of women about health and reproductive issues, while ensuring that they have access to safe and effective means of birth control. The education of men to take responsibility for pregnancy is also crucial.

However, in most cultures and circumstances, women have traditionally had the primary responsibility for pregnancy and childcare. In addition to family planning, birth control, and abortion, some new issues related to human reproduction are also creating controversy.

These include advances in reproductive technology leading to artificial insemination, test-tube babies, and cloning. Social changes, such as the acceptability of same-sex couples, are also altering the traditional allocation of childcare responsibilities.

Population issues are controversial, and they are uncomfortable for many people to examine and discuss in an objective manner. Yet they are too important to ignore, because sustainable economies will never be developed unless the population of humans is controlled. The Aboriginal population then collapsed due to the effects of introduced diseases, warfare, and social disruption, but it has now increased to more than 1 million. The colonization of New France began in but totaled only a few thousand immigrants; however, the descendants of these people today number more than 7 million.

Immigration of English and other Europeans also began in the 17th century and continued to the present, to be joined in the 20th and 21st centuries by migrants from all parts of the world. Bracq, J. The Evolution of French Canada.

Macmillan, New York, NY. Burger, J. The Gaia Atlas of First Peoples. Citizenship and Immigration Canada. Crosby, A. London: Cambridge University Press. Dumas, J. Report on the Demographic Situation in Canada, Statistics Canada, Ottawa, ON. There are two main reasons for this. The first is that the most hospitable part of Canadian territory is in the south. Summers are warm and winters are not too harsh, making the area suitable for agriculture.

The second reason is the majority of Canada's trade both import and export is with its US neighbor, and it makes sense for the majority of Canadians to live as close to the US border as possible. Canada as a whole has a population density of just 4 people per square kilometers, which makes it the th most densely populated country. The population density is among the lowest in the world, mostly because a great deal of the country to the north is virtually uninhabited.

Toronto, meanwhile, is one of the largest metropolitan areas in the world with a density of 2, people per square kilometer. The largest city in Canada by population is Toronto, home to 2,, people at the time of the census, and 2,, in The wider Toronto metropolitan area is over twice as populous, containing around 6 million people in total.

Canada's second largest city is Montreal in Quebec, where 1,, people live up from 1,, in , followed in third place by Calgary in Alberta with 1,, up from 1,, Calgary is growing at almost twice the Canadian average, so if current trends continue it will no doubt overtake Montreal in the future. Ottawa is Canada's fourth largest city — , The fastest growing large city between and was Brampton , Ontario.

Montreal is the slowest growing major city in Canada, with a growth of just 1. By comparison, Canada as a whole grew by 5. In , the fastest growing large city was Edmonton, which grew by Brampton continued its climb upward, adding The census results also show the population of each Canadian province and territory. More than half of Canadians live in just two provinces: Ontario, where one in three Canadians live, and Quebec where almost a quarter of Canadians live.

The combined population of Canada's three territories Northwest, Yukon and Nunavut is less than the population of Canada's smallest province Prince Edward Island. Canada 's most recent census was conducted in Then you can access your favorite statistics via the star in the header. Profit from additional features by authenticating your Admin account. Then you will be able to mark statistics as favourites and use personal statistics alerts. Please log in to access our additional functions.

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The ideal entry-level account for individual users. Corporate solution including all features. Statistics on " Canada " The most important statistics. The most important statistics. The Yearly Population Growth Rate chart plots the annual percentage changes in population registered on July 1 of each year, from to Definitions Year : as of July 1 of the year indicated. Read More Definitions Share This!

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