Internal migration of Canadian immigrants, 1993–2004: Evidence from the Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics

Combining the 1993, 1996, and 1999 six-year panels of the Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics Master Files, the purpose of the paper is twofold. First, it examines the migration and distribution patterns of the foreign-born across Census Metropolitan Areas (CMAs). Second, it examines how internal migration modeling results may differ when pre- and post-migration measures are used. Results suggest that internal migration of the foreign-born generally does not increase their dispersion across Canada, with the foreign-born primarily choosing one of the three immigrant gateway cities of Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver, or moving to other relatively large CMAs.