IRCC conducts an ongoing research program to help the Department develop a better understanding of Canadian attitudes toward the issues surrounding citizenship and immigration.

IRCC has been conducting annual telephone tracking surveys since 1996. In 2018, IRCC started running complementary online tracking surveys, which has allowed IRCC to compare Canadians’ responses to a number of key questions in telephone and online surveys. There have been significant response differences by mode when comparing telephone and online tracking results, so maintaining ongoing tracking both by telephone and online allows the department to:

  • compare and contrast Canadians’ attitudes expressed in telephone and online surveys;
  • validate trends seen in each mode against each other;
  • compare third-party survey findings collected using either mode against known IRCC benchmarks; and
  • leverage lower cost online surveys to conduct a broader range of survey research.

IRCC was interested in comparing the results from an online probability sample to their existing telephone and online annual tracking and observe any differences by mode. The 2024-25 IRCC Telephone-to-Online Tracking Survey project was conducted using the Nanos Insights Lab, which is an online representative panel consisting of Canadians, 18 and over who were recruited by Random Digit Dialled (RDD) dual frame (land-and-cell-line) telephone recruit. This allows for a margin of error to be attributed to the data.

The research objectives of this study include assessing Canadians’ perceptions of:

  • immigration levels;
  • the impact of immigration on Canada;
  • Canada’s immigration system and priorities; and,
  • the settlement and integration of newcomers.

This public opinion research was conducted via an RDD dual frame (land-and-cell-lines) hybrid telephone and online survey, using Computer Aided Web Interviewing (CAWI) technology. The questionnaires were provided by IRCC. Nanos Research used the questionnaires without making any modifications to its format nor to its content.

Fieldwork for the survey was carried out from November 25th to December 17th, 2024. A pre-test of 23 interviews was completed before launching data collection to validate the programming of the questionnaire in both English and French. A total of 2,602 Canadians with demographic characteristics reflective of the Canadian population were surveyed. An average of 14 minutes was required for respondents to complete the survey online.

To view the full report in English, click here

To view the full report in French, click here