Despite the strained relations between Canada and India, Canada continues to be a favoured settlement and livelihood destination for Indians looking for greener pastures beyond traditional destinations in West Asia or the Far East.
Around 15.10 lakh Indians have received Canadian citizenship status over the years, the highest after the United States, according to the data available with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).
As per MEA data, the highest number of ‘persons of Indian origin’ (PIOs) is in the United States with 31.80 lakh, Malaysia 27.60 lakh, Myanmar 20 lakh, Sri Lanka 16 lakh, and Canada 15.10 lakh.
Speaking to The Hindu, former diplomat Muraleedharan Nair says, “The relatively high number of PIOs in Malaysia, Myanmar, and Sri Lanka indicates mainly the pre-Independence immigration to these countries. But the high number of PIOs in Canada reveals that despite the soured relations, Canada continues to be a major attraction of Indians”.
“I believe that organised migration to Canada began after the Independence of the country, which strengthened during the 70s and 80s.”
“Punjabis are the main immigrants and Keralites joined in the late 90s and in the first of this millennium. For an average Punjabi, Canada is like the UAE for an average Malayali, who accounts for the lion’s share of Indian immigrants in UAE. The only difference is that those who emigrate to Canada are unlikely to return to India,” says Mr. Nair.
The increasing number of PIOs also paints a distressing story of immigration. Despite the Gulf countries together employing 89.63 lakhs Indians, only 12,202 Indians have PIO status in these countries as per the MEA data, and the rest are NRIs (non-resident Indians). Whereas, of the 16.89 lakh Indians in Canada, only 1.78 lakh fall under the category of NRIs and the rest have Canadian citizenship. This will lead to reverse remittances — money which families earned here being sent to their emigrant members — in the future, says K. Harikrishnan Namboothiri, NoRKA-Roots Chief Executive Officer.
There are only a few hundred Keralites who migrated to Canada registered with the NoRKA-Roots, the field agency of Department of Non-Resident Keralites (NoRKA). However, it is estimated that thousands have migrated to Canada over the last few years for education and career.
