After a sharp decline due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a new report suggests Canada is experiencing an increase in “birth tourism” rates.
This text is a translation of content from CTV News.
The report, released Wednesday, shows an increase in non-resident deliveries in Canadian hospitals, which can include foreign workers and students.
According to the report, the number of “non-resident fee-for-service” births — the term used by the Canadian Institute for Health Information to refer to children born to temporary residents or visitors who must pay hospital charges — returned to pre-pandemic levels in 2024.
The report suggests that the number of children born to non-citizen or non-resident parents is low compared to the total number of births in the country, less than 2% since 2010.
The Politics Behind Birthright Citizenship
Conservative immigration critic Michelle Rempel Garner attempted to amend Bill C-3 to limit birthright citizenship to children with at least one parent who is a citizen or permanent resident. The amendment was rejected by Liberal and Bloc Québécois MPs.
Birthright citizenship is still intact and pathways to citizenship have been expanded under Bill C-3. “Lost Canadians” now have easier access to citizenship, regardless of where they were born or adopted, as long as their parents are citizens who have spent three years in Canada.
Under the new law, children born to Canadians abroad can claim citizenship just like their children, meaning Canadian grandchildren now have access to citizenship provided each successive generation has spent three years in Canada.
Andrew Griffith, the report’s author, told CTVNews.ca in an interview Thursday that non-resident births were returning to pre-pandemic levels. Although the data shows an increase in non-resident births between 2021 and 2024, which more than doubled from 2,245 to 5,430, Mr Griffiths was not alarmed.
Instead, he called a “primary concern” the lack of “public trust in government and in immigrants,” which he said has “weakened significantly in recent years.”
Last year, Reuters reported a surge in hate crimes against visible minorities in Canada, and according to Amnesty International, migrant workers face “shocking abuse and discrimination.”
While Mr. Griffith says the report’s numbers can help “foster open debate,” the results highlight the value of Canadian citizenship and show how far people are willing to go for their children.
The numbers
Non-resident births fell from 1.6% of total births between 2019 and 2020 to 0.7% between 2020 and 2022, but rebounded to 1.5% between 2023-2024 and 2024-2025.
The pandemic years saw a drop of more than 50% in non-resident births, with almost 5,700 newborns recorded in 2019, compared to just 2,400 and 2,200 in 2020 and 2021 respectively.
Ontario leads the rankings in non-resident births, typically doubling second-place Quebec each year, both before and after the pandemic. British Columbia and Alberta are in third and fourth place, respectively.
Mr. Griffith notes in his report that his data has some nuances, including the fact that about half of international students are covered by provincial health insurance plans.
