Atlantic Canada has seen a dramatic increase in its immigrant retention since the introduction of the Atlantic Immigration Program (AIP) five years ago. Now, more immigrants are choosing to stay and build their lives here than ever before. In the five years from 2010 to 2015, immigrants who planned to stay in Ontario, British Columbia or Alberta were more likely than those bound for other provinces to remain in these three provinces. While retention rates of these areas generally remained stable over time — except for a downward trend observed in Alberta between 2014 and 2015 (from 88.9% to 84.5%) — immigrants proved most loyal when settling into the provinces mentioned above. Prince Edward Island demonstrated the most significant growth among new admission cohorts despite having the lowest retention rate over a five-year period.
