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Is "return migration" or emigration common among Toronto's immigrant communities?

wild goose chase

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I was just thinking about the fact that occasionally, I will try and keep in touch with old Torontonian classmates/friends/neighbours who I grew up with or went to school with during the last couple of decades, and find out some of them have moved not just outside Toronto, but outside of Canada. Some of them may be expats in another country (especially the US) but a large number seem to have been people who themselves were immigrants (or have immigrant roots) making a "return" migration to their place of heritage.

The kinds of people I've met who've done this range from young people who returned in their teenage years, to older people who retire back to the place of origin, and these former Torontonians moved back to places all over, from the UK, Europe, Asia, the Caribbean and the Middle East.

I've never seen any stats (indeed I hear though there are lots of stats on immigration and arrivals, of course, to a city, very little information is taken about emigration or people who leave the city), but I'd still imagine that immigrants who stay in Toronto for the long haul still outnumber those who return. There are claims that 21st century "immigrants" are far more mobile and connected to their homelands than those of the past and so immigration is no longer as "one-way", though I have no idea how often earlier 20th century immigrants to Toronto returned (I know many made their way to the US). Nonetheless, I'm still occasionally surprised when I see that someone I knew growing up who seemed like they'd not be one to leave the country has his or her current location in Jamaica or Hong Kong.
 
Some of the people I went to high school with moved back to Hong Kong where there were more jobs for them (a lot of it due to connections from parents, I believe). They all seem to have a slightly easier life there than they would here, as well. Help is MUCH MORE AFFORDABLE and EVERYONE seems to have a nanny.
 
There are some groups who have high rates of return to their home country if the opportunities end up being greater back home later on. I'd imagine this would be have been true for Americans throughout Toronto's history.

Toronto received a lot of "draft dodgers" during the Vietnam War, many of them living near Kensington Market, forming a community near Baldwin street, but it's possible that many, half or even most of them returned after Jimmy Carter pardoned all draft dodgers in 1977. The actual number of them who arrived is unknown (estimates range usually in the tens of thousands Canada-wide), and out of them how many stayed is also unknown -- a Chicago Tribute article from 1985 which, talking about Canada as a whole, mentions in one line "By one estimate, two-thirds left after the amnesty." However, this book estimates that it's likely that more than half of them remained thirty years later. I'd imagine this would be reflected in Toronto too, which was one of the hotspots for the draft dodgers.

Farther back in history, I've heard it said that many Black Americans that arrived to southern Ontario during the time of the Underground Railroad also returned to the US after the Civil War, but I haven't seen specific estimates of whether the majority who made it up to Toronto stayed or not.

Going farther back, I'd guess the Loyalist settlement after the American Revolution in Toronto probably produced a lot of permanent settlement.

When it comes to British immigrants, I also wonder if return migration was also significant, after Britain recovered in the post-war period, and British immigration tapered off. I have heard of older Brits returning "home" after decades in Toronto.

When it comes to more recent immigration, return migration can still be high. This isn't Toronto, but here's a Vancouver Sun article mentioning one third of young to middle aged Chinese immigrants leaving Canada. I wonder how Toronto compares.

I'd imagine the typical returnee nowadays is a young economic migrant from a more developed country who has not settled down (or married/raised a family) in Toronto. I'd imagine people who've been here for decades but have children or grandchildren who were born or raised here and "assimilated" to not likely return. I wouldn't imagine it likely that the residents in Chinatown, Danforth Greektown, Little Portugal etc. plan on emigrating back to the "old country". Also, I'd imagine many refugees tend to have low rates of return if they've set up a new life here "from scratch", even if say, decades later, the old country's war/conflicts are over.

It would be interesting to know if people have done more surveys or studies on rates of immigration versus emigration to Toronto by various groups over time. There must be some because Statistics Canada has used emigration (alongside births, deaths, internal migration etc.) for model projections in its population predictions (eg. predicting the nation and cities' demographic diversity in 2031 has made assumptions that some groups such as South Asian immigrants to Canada would be less likely than say Europeans or Chinese to emigrate back). But I don't seem to be able to easily track down sources for emigration data.
 
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Yes, it is very common to hear in the Polish community of people moving back to Poland.

My own father has discussed it often, about retiring in Poland because he sees no realistic way to retire in Canada and afford a decent standard of living.
 

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