Hospital data in Canada indicates a rise in births to foreign visitors and non-residents in the past year, sparking renewed interest in the topic of birth tourism. Immigration expert Andrew Griffith, a former director-general at the federal immigration department has analyzed this data, revealing several fascinating trends that have reignited the political debate over the citizenship rights of children born to temporary residents in Canada.
Increasing Births to Temporary Residents
Published in a research report on Wednesday, the data shows a modest increase in births at Canadian hospitals to temporary residents, including international students and individuals on work permits. Although the percentage of these births compared to overall births in Canada is relatively small, the increase stands out as the number of temporary residents in Canada has been declining due to federal immigration policies.
Implications of Birth Tourism
The data indicates a possible increase in birth tourism, which refers to women coming to Canada on visitor visas to give birth, thus ensuring Canadian citizenship for their children. Birth tourism has been a contentious issue, sparking political debates over the appropriacy of granting citizenship rights to children of temporary residents born in Canada.
Automatic Citizenship Rights
Under Canadian law, anyone born in the country automatically becomes a Canadian citizen. This differs from other countries, such as Australia and Britain, where at least one parent has to be a citizen or a permanent resident for their child to automatically acquire citizenship at birth. The rise in the number of non-resident births, coupled with a decline in the number of temporary residents, suggests that many of these births may be due to visitors to Canada.
A Closer Look at the Numbers
Statistics Canada’s estimates suggest a higher number of births to non-residents than Mr. Griffith’s data. In the 2024-25 fiscal year, there was a 4% increase in births to temporary residents in hospitals, coinciding with a 31% decrease in international student visas and a 21% drop in the number of temporary foreign workers. Mr. Griffith’s analysis of the Canadian Institute for Health Information data shows that non-resident self-pay births – those born to parents from abroad who cover delivery costs – have generally returned to pre-pandemic levels.
The Political Landscape
As the number of non-resident births in Canada is relatively small compared to overall immigration numbers, it has not been a central political issue. However, the Conservative Party has recently urged Ottawa to restrict birth tourism and remove the automatic right to Canadian citizenship from babies born to parents in the country temporarily. Despite this, an amendment to a citizenship bill proposed by the Conservative immigration critic did not gather enough support to pass.
Tracking Births Among Non-Permanent Residents
Statistics Canada does not track births among non-permanent residents, as birth certificates do not include information about parents’ citizenship or residency status. However, using demographic-modelling techniques, it is estimated that there were significantly more births to women who were non-permanent residents than Mr. Griffith found. Approximately 35,000 of the total 366,000 births in Canada in 2024 were to women who are non-permanent residents, according to Statscan.
Concentration of Non-Resident Births
The research by Mr. Griffith found that births to foreign nationals without permanent status were concentrated in ten hospitals, including four in the Montreal area. These ten hospitals accounted for about a third of non-resident births in Canada last fiscal year. There was a 44% increase in such births at North York General in Toronto and an 80% increase at Maisonneuve-Rosemount hospital in Quebec compared to pre-pandemic levels.
