St. Catharines saw 6th highest influx of new residents during the early days of the pandemic

Ontarians left the province by the thousands in the early days of the pandemic, seeking more affordable housing.

According to Statistics Canada, from 2020 to 2021, some 89,000 Ontario residents pulled up roots to head elsewhere. A large number of those – 21,000 – went out to British Columbia while some 19,000 travelled east of Quebec.

But there were Ontario cities that also saw an influx of new residents during that time and in Ontario, St. Catharines and the immediate Niagara area welcomed 8,380 within its borders.

That was enough to place the city sixth-highest in Canada for new migration.

In the top spot, Vancouver saw 37,690 newcomers followed by Ottawa with 14,835. In Calgary, 11,995 new residents set up shop while 8,980 put down roots in London, Ontario.

While Halifax welcomes 8,785 new residents, just behind St. Catharines was Victoria, BC, which 7,335 people migrate to it.

Rounding out the Top-10 was Kelowna, BC (6,940), Kitchener-Waterloo-Cambridge (6,890) and Oshawa (6,540).

Rural Alberta centres, including Grande Prairie, Wood Buffalo (home to Fort McMurray) and Red Deer all saw population loss.

Clearly, the movement wasn’t completely dependent on housing affordability as Vancouver, where the price of houses are notoriously pricey, lead the migration influx.