Shifting Grounds: Understanding recent interregional migration to the Maritimes and Northern Ontario
Resource Details
Author(s): Jelena Starcevic, Katie Mazer, Suzanne Mills, Yuchen Li, Bonnie Evans, Taylor Paul, Dennis Soron, Michael Haan
Date: October, 2025
In recent years, particularly during the
COVID-19 pandemic, many people chose to move away from the country’s major urban centres,
reversing longstanding patterns of outmigration for some regions. Although there were many media
stories about this trend, we knew relatively little about the scale of this migration, what was driving
it, or how it was playing out in receiving communities.
This report provides detailed information about this trend based on a study of two regions that were popular destinations for inter-regional migration during COVID-19: Northern Ontario and the Maritimes.
We analyzed census and administrative records and conducted interviews with 67 inter-regional migrants and 47 key stakeholders from receiving communities. This information allowed us to document where people were moving within each region, who was moving to slower-growth regions and why, how migrants were making a living and integrating socially, and how receiving communities were experiencing the influx of new residents.
This report provides detailed information about this trend based on a study of two regions that were popular destinations for inter-regional migration during COVID-19: Northern Ontario and the Maritimes.
We analyzed census and administrative records and conducted interviews with 67 inter-regional migrants and 47 key stakeholders from receiving communities. This information allowed us to document where people were moving within each region, who was moving to slower-growth regions and why, how migrants were making a living and integrating socially, and how receiving communities were experiencing the influx of new residents.