[A picture of the tent that was meant to house asylum seekers in Barrhaven, Photo Credit: Nathan Kim]

In the usually quiet suburban town of Barrhaven, Ottawa, the successful November 5th protests against the city-planned tents meant to house asylum seekers tainted the town’s identity as a place welcoming migrants while also highlighting the general emergence of an anti-immigration sentiment across Canada.

A force disturbing its peace and tranquility emerged last month in the form of protests on Highbury and Greenbank Road. 

The city had deemed Barrhaven as one of the potential sites for building two tents to temporarily accommodate up to300 asylum seekers for 90 days at a time.

Known as Sprung Structures, hundreds of Barrhaven residents rallied together to veto the tents that were to be deployed with reasons ranging from the protection of national identity to the fact that it is an inappropriate way to house the asylum seekers.

One of the City Councillors strongly opposing the tents, Wilson Lo, was quoted in a CBC interview, stating that this "is not an appropriate way to house people, even if it's temporarily, here in Barrhaven, in Ottawa, frankly anywhere."

The protests have successfully halted the city of Ottawa’s efforts, and the structures have been relocated to the Kanata South Ward and Knoxdale-Merivale Wards.

With the disappearance of the tents from Barrhaven’s backyard, the protests and much of the voices condemning inadequate housing for asylum seekers have also vanished.

Mass outcry of this nature is nothing new, and this reaction is becoming increasingly common within Canada. 

In July 2024, the Take Back Canada March swept across the streets of Toronto, where the protestors voiced their opinions on the mass-immigration policies and solidified their stance as a nation-wide issue.

It is no secret that Canada is one of the most pro-immigration countries of this decade, with the Trudeau administration deeming immigration as the solution to meet the needs of the labour force and the generally aging population in Canada, explaining the increasing number of immigrants flocking to Canada in recent years.

Policy-wise, it appears that Canada is still clearly in favour of mass immigration, as from the 2020/2021 year to the 2021/2022 year, the number of immigrants nearly doubled, according to a report by Statistics Canada.

Despite this or perhaps because of it - it has become increasingly clear that there is growing dissent among the Canadian public towards excess immigration.

According to polling done by The Environics Institute for Survey Research, 32% strongly agree and 26% agree that there is too much immigration in Canada.

The overall 58% of people agreeing with this more conservative viewpoint was an increase of 17% from 2022.

Despite the good intentions behind the decision to allow an influx of skilled immigrants, the end result appears to be disastrous for the housing market. 

Canada’s failure to keep up with housing supply has led to incredibly difficult living conditions, especially in metropolitan areas such as Toronto and Vancouver.

In a report by Rent Panda in January of 2024, it was shown that the average person in Toronto and Vancouver was spending 124% and 119% of their income, respectively, on rent.

This is echoed in nationwide data as the harsh living conditions faced by many Canadians were symptomatic of the sharp increase in the housing price index from 2021 - 2022.

According to Statistics Canada, in their report for the new monthly housing price index, the HPI went from the early hundreds in January of 2020 to 121.9 by January of 2022.

The failure to create adequate housing before the accommodation of new  immigrants created a situation where too many people were chasing too few homes,  which naturally led to an inflated housing market.

With Trudeau presenting a 21% cutback on immigration in 2025 amidst the heavy backlash, immigration has become an important and controversial topic for the upcoming election.