The majority settle in large population centres

Immigrant women, like immigrant men, tend to settle in Canada’s large population centres. In 2006, 90% of immigrant women lived in the country’s 33 census metropolitan areas (CMAs). In comparison, 68% of the total female population lived in these areas.
Among Canada’s CMAs, Toronto, Vancouver and Montréal were home to the largest share of immigrant women: 63% of all immigrant women and 69% of recent immigrant women resided in these three CMAs in 2006. In comparison, a much smaller proportion of Canada’s total female population, 35%, lived in these CMAs.
Among these three CMAs, Toronto was home to 38% of all immigrant women and 41% of recent immigrant women. Montréal and Vancouver had the second and third largest shares of recent immigrant women, at 14% each.
Toronto and Vancouver had notably larger shares of recent immigrants than of their population share in Canada. For example, in 2006, Toronto was home to 16% of the total female population in Canada, but 41% of recent immigrant women. Thus, Toronto’s share of the population of recent immigrant women was 2.5 times more than its share of the total female population. This was also the case for Vancouver, where its share of the population of recent immigrant women was 2.1 times its share of the total female population. In comparison, Montréal’s share of recent immigrant women was only slightly higher than its share of the total female population, 1.2 times higher in 2006.
While Toronto, Vancouver and Montréal were still the three largest population centres where immigrant women settled, the smaller Toronto and Vancouver had notably larger shares of recent immigrants than of their population share in Canada. For example, in 2006, Toronto was home to 16% of the total female population in Canada, but 41% of recent immigrant women. Thus, Toronto's share of the population of recent immigrant women was 2.5 times more than its share of the total female population. This was also the case for Vancouver, where its share of the population of recent immigrant women was 2.1 times its share of the total female population. In comparison, Montréal's share of recent immigrant women was only slightly higher than its share of the total female population, 1.2 times higher in 2006. CMAs such as Calgary, Edmonton and Winnipeg saw increases in their shares of recent immigrant women. In 2006, 5.2% of recent immigrant women chose to live in Calgary compared with 3.8% in 2001. The shares of recent immigrant women who settled in Edmonton increased from 2.2% in 2001 to 2.9% in 2006 and in Winnipeg from 1.4% to 2.1%.
However, the share of recent immigrant women settling in Ottawa–Gatineau declined, from 3.9% in 2001 to 3.2% in 2006.