A recent study by the Technology Councils of North America (TECNA) and Canada’s Tech Network (CTN) found that between April 2022 and March 2023, over 32,000 global tech workers moved to Canada for work. This indicates that Canada is an attractive tech destination for new immigrants.  

Let’s delve deeper into the report from TECNA and CTN to discover what it says and discover some of the most popular destinations for tech workers in Canada, as well as more details about the country’s tech industry.  

The overview of the TECNA and CTN Report 

The TECNA and CTN Report suggest that Canada has largely drawn a considerable number of tech workers due to the immigration-friendly policy and labor cost benefits of the country.  

As per the TECNA and CTN, the expansion of remote work has led to the migration of tech-talented workers more frequently away from traditional tech centers. This provides insight into how globalization has impacted the shift of tech occupations in North America. According to the report, this is partly due to the Covid-19 pandemic. 

According to the report, the global net immigration of tech talent workers to Canada remains high, particularly from India, Brazil, and Nigeria. This poses Canada as an attractive tech destination for new immigrants.  

Also, the growing investment by the US-based tech companies in Canada is another cause for the country’s thriving tech industry. To some extent, geographical proximity and positive salary inconsistency are the driving forces behind these growing investments.  

Last year, Canada had over 400,000 software developers in the country. The rise in the country’s tech workforce has not been confined to the larger Canadian markets. In reality, the smaller provinces, such as Saskatchewan and Newfoundland and Labrador, have had the fastest growth in their tech workforce, with an annual rise of 16.3%. 

In addition to this, over the past year, smaller rural cities in Canada like Ontario and Windsor have also recorded the highest increase in tech workers. This highlights a shift away from the urban areas, particularly due to the increase of remote work across North America. The report shows that Windsor has experienced a 28% rise over the past year in the tech workforce.  

Finally, according to the report from both TECNA and CTN, the most in-demand tech skills in Canada are Amazon Web Services, Customer Experience, Data Science, GitHub, Microsoft Azure, Analytical Skills, Jira, React.js, Customer Relationship Management, and Customer Satisfaction. 

This information may help global tech talent considering relocating to Canada in the future.  

Canada’s top tech centers 

In addition to the above data, the TECNA and CTN report also discussed the most appealing cities in Canada for tech workers. The top three cities in the list include two cities in Ontario (ON) and one in Quebec (QUE). Mississauga (ON) ranked at first place, Montreal (QUE) at second, and Waterloo (ON) at third. Here’s what makes each of these and Canada an attractive tech destination for new immigrants.  

Mississauga 

Mississauga is a part of North America’s second-largest information and communication (ICT) technology hub, where more than 300,000 tech professionals work. A city where about 1,000 companies in the information technology (IT) sector are located.  

Tech innovation in Mississauga is also actively fostered by strong local government initiatives such as the Mississauga Innovation and Technology Acceleration Program (MITAP), which is home to the operations of globally renowned IT corporations such as Microsoft, Oracle, IBM, HP, and Cognizant. 

MITAP is a technology sector program in Mississauga that offers funding, guidance, support, and resources to regional start-ups. The city is also a host of many rising tech corporations such as Infosys, Guidewire Software, SOTI, and HCL technologies. A population growth projection predicts that by 2025, Mississauga will have 995,000 individuals, which is a 33% growth from 2016. As per this, Canada’s Mississauga expects to create a steady supply of tech workers, both in the immediate and distant future.  

Montreal 

Montreal, a Quebec City, is home to one of the most powerful tech ecosystems in Canada, which has grown 31 % from 2015 to 2020. With Canada’s second-largest tech market, the city is a popular, major hub for Information Technology (IT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI). It is a preferred location for global corporations such as Google, Microsoft, Meta, Samsung, and Intel. Also, in Montreal, there are over 200 game development studios, including Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, and WB Games.  

In terms of development, the city is also regarded as the starting place for various successful tech corporations, including CGI, Hopper, Element AI, Imagia, and Nuvei.  

Moreover, Montreal also sponsors various significant start-up-focused events such as Startupfest and MTL Connect: Montreal Digital Week. In terms of Academics, Quebec offers significant academic support for the tech industry. Notably, almost 18,000 students around the city enrolled in tech programs.  

Waterloo 

Waterloo is listed among the top twenty start-up ecosystems worldwide. It’s a dynamic tech center that hosts more than 1,570 tech-related organizations, which also includes popular names such as BlackBerry and D2L.  

In addition, the University of Waterloo, Wilfrid Laurier University, and Conestoga College have a significant academic influence in this city, which helps build and develop a skilled tech workforce in the region.  

Waterloo also has a great Quality of life that enables it to keep attracting and retaining outstanding talent. This is one of the reasons why Waterloo has nearly double the global industry average survival rate for ICT start-ups. Furthermore, Waterloo also gets significant venture capital investment, attesting to its status as a growing Canadian innovation center.  

Canada’s Efforts to Attract International Tech Workers 

Understanding Canada’s efforts to attract tech talent across the globe will also help you better comprehend the above-discussed TECNA and CTN report. The Canadian government’s new Tech Talent Strategy and Category-based Express Entry draws are expected to contribute to the growth of the Tech Sector throughout the country. This can be achieved by attracting increased numbers of talented workers in tech professions across Canada. 

Canada’s Tech Talent Strategy 

Canada’s Tech Talent Strategy is an effort of the Canadian government that intends to build on Canada’s progress towards being a leader in hiring international tech talent. This can be achieved by the following measures:  

  • Establishing a new Innovation Stream under the International Mobility Program (IMP) 
  • Marketing Canada as a digital nomad destination 
  • Establishing a facilitated work permit for H-1B specialty occupation visa holders in the US to enhance labor mobility in North America 
  • Enhancing current programs that serve workers in high-skill tech professions 

Express Entry Category-Based Draws for Tech Occupations 

The Department of IRCC, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada started holding the Express Entry new category-based draws to invite federal immigration Candidates who can help Canada in addressing the top economic and demographic needs of the country. For this year, one category among the six new categories is science, Technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) occupation. This will help meet Canada’s desire to admit the increasing number of skilled tech workers to the country.  

As of now, one category-based draw for the STEM category has been conducted by the IRCC on July 5, 2023. In this draw, a total of 500 candidates received the invitation to apply for permanent residence who had a minimum Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score of 486.