Saskatchewan population jumps thanks to international immigration

Between April and July this year, Saskatchewan saw its largest-ever population jump — 6,465 people.

Immigration Minister Jeremy Harrison said that’s very good news.

“To see the growth that we have had is a remarkable thing. Historically, we haven’t seen that growth. Prior to the last 15 years … we had seen population outflows. Our population really had been stagnant. Between about 2007 and the mid-1950s, we’d been around a million people,” Harrison said Wednesday.

Harrison said the growth to Stats Canada’s estimate of 1,194,803 people now is a reflection of the policies his government has put in place that helped jobs be created and attracted people from around the world.

The vast majority of those people coming to Saskatchewan were from out of the country — 7,365 as a net number — and that trend followed in the rest of Canada as well.

Harrison dismissed questions about the loss of 1,948 people to other provinces, the third-highest interprovincial net loss among the provinces. The minister said the net increase to the population is what matters.

“People are looking to relocate here internationally. They have made their home here (and) made the choice. They could go to any province in Canada. I mean, there is a lot of competition amongst provinces for where folks are going to be relocating to around the world,” said Harrison.

The minister said the fact migration is coming from outside of Canada is a positive thing.

Harrison said the government is doing more to attract people from outside of Saskatchewan, pointing to the work done on labour mobility and credential recognition. He said the bill passed in the spring sitting was the most assertive in the entire country.

“There are newcomers from outside of Canada that are driving Ubers or taxis who should be practising in health-care fields who are not. And why is that? Because of the difficulty in having those skills and credentials recognized,” he said.

Harrison also teased an announcement on that topic coming in the next few weeks. Saskatchewan is looking to get the province’s population up to 1.4 million by 2030.

Ukrainians

A good chunk of those who bolstered Saskatchewan’s population in the second quarter are likely Ukrainians fleeing the war with Russia, but Harrison couldn’t say exactly how many. The two direct flights from Poland filled with refugees arrived after the second quarter was over.

Harrison said recently, Saskatchewan had 1,900 Ukrainians apply for health cards.

The province has made a deal to have more planeloads of Ukrainians come to the province, with the third one expected in late October.