Question 1

What is the practical application of the CIMI?

Accepted Answer

The CIMI is an evidence-based tool used to inform policy, service and program delivery as it relates to immigration and integration in Canada.

Question 2

How does the CIMI compare the outcomes of immigrants to the Canadian-born population?

Accepted Answer

Two approaches are used: (1) Examining outcomes while adjusting for socio-demographic differences, and (2) Using descriptive/unadjusted data to show raw differences. Control variables include sex, age, official language knowledge, education, visible minority status, and occupation.

Question 3

How should the CIMI rankings be interpreted?

Accepted Answer

Rankings reflect integration outcome gaps between immigrants and Canadian-born populations. The smaller the gap, the better the region ranks relative to the rest of Canada.

Question 4

What is the difference between a dimension and an indicator?

Accepted Answer

Four integration dimensions (economic, social, civic/democratic participation, health) contain multiple specific indicators. Employment rate exemplifies an economic indicator.

Question 5

How are the CIMI indicators selected?

Accepted Answer

Selection criteria include immigrant integration concepts, methodological considerations, data reliability across regions, and Expert Advisory Committee recommendations. Home ownership was excluded as not meaningfully measuring integration success.

Question 6

What is the overall CIMI ranking?

Accepted Answer

Overall rankings combine dimension scores with weights: economic 40%, social 30%, civic/democratic participation 20%, health 10%. Users may adjust weights on the rank page.

Question 7

What regions are included in the CIMI?

Accepted Answer

The CIMI examines the 10 Canadian provinces and 41 selected cities/Census Metropolitan Areas (CMAs). Northern territories excluded due to insufficient immigrant sample sizes.

Question 8

Why is my region not represented in the CIMI?

Accepted Answer

Regions excluded due to low immigrant population counts or failure to meet CMA criteria.

Question 9

Why are there only 20 cities/CMAs on the rank page, but more on other pages?

Accepted Answer

Minimum baseline of 15 immigrants per geography required. Rank page shows only 20 CMAs with complete four-dimension rankings; 41 CMAs appear in economic analysis; 24 in health analysis.

Question 10

What data sources are used to compile the CIMI?

Accepted Answer

Statistics Canada Public Use Micro Data Files and Master data from Census, General Social Survey (GSS), and Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) across time periods 1991-1995 through 2016-2021. In addition, Statistics Canada Labour Force Survey (LFS) Public Use Microdata Files from 2006 to 2026 are used for the CIMI's interactive tools.

Question 11

What is the CIMI study population?

Accepted Answer

Sub-population includes those aged 18 to 64 who are Canadian-born or immigrants (non-permanent residents are not included).

Question 12

What methodological approach is used to construct the CIMI and why?

Accepted Answer

Multivariate regression analyses model indicators across four dimensions, allowing equal comparisons between populations. Descriptive analyses complement this.

Question 13

Why are rankings and data missing for certain time periods?

Accepted Answer

Missing data results from: unavailable survey questions, insufficient immigrant counts (below n=15), or poor data quality/statistical reliability.

Question 14

Why is there duplicated data and/or content for some geographies?

Accepted Answer

Geographies combine when source data reporting requires it due to small population sizes. Affects Atlantic provinces, Sherbrooke-Trois-Rivières, Greater Sudbury-Thunder Bay, Regina-Saskatoon, and several others.

Question 15

Why does CIMI data slightly differ from Statistics Canada sources?

Accepted Answer

CIMI focuses on adults aged 18-64 (excluding non-permanent residents) and uses either Public Use Micro Data Files or Master data files which contain minor discrepancies.

Question 16

Where can I access data on additional themes incorporated into the new CIMI edition?

Accepted Answer

Resources page contains provincial rankings comparing recent immigrants (5 years or less) to established immigrants (more than 5 years), plus city/CMA economic rankings. Intersectionality data by sex, visible minority status, admission category, and arrival time on Search page and Resources spreadsheets.

Question 17

Why does the CIMI look at "sex" instead of "gender"?

Accepted Answer

Statistics Canada datasets historically collected only sex data. The 2021 Census will collect both sex at birth and gender.

Question 18

Within the social dimension, why do "number of close friends" values change between survey years?

Accepted Answer

The 2003 survey used categorical ranges (none, 1-2, 3-5, 6-10, 11-20, 20+), while 2008 and 2013 used actual friend counts — requiring caution comparing across years.

Question 19

Within the social dimension, why do Quebec and its CMAs lack "sense of belonging to Canada" rankings?

Accepted Answer

The historical and political conditions of Quebec has resulted in a lower sense of belonging to Canada amongst its Canadian-born French population, creating conceptual and empirical issues when measuring immigrant-native gaps on this indicator.

Frequently Asked Questions