Here's an interesting thing:

According to the UK Office of National Statistics, in 2006 there were 206,000 UK citizens that left the UK. Supposedly Canada was one of the most popular countries to emigrate to (obviously behind Australia, NZ and USA) and certainly if you look on this forum it has one of the biggest communities - in fact the second most popular forum.

However, according to CIC Facts and Figures 2006, only 6500 new permanent residents were admitted from the UK in 2006. So thats only 3% of the 206,000 that left. So did a lot of them dissapear somewhere over the Atlantic on the way?

No, they just didn't come here. The heyday of British migration to Canada is long over, although I believe we still make up the largest group by origin.

An awful lot of those emigrants probably went to other European countries.

Full details here... http://www.statistics.gov.uk/pdfdir/emig1107.pdf

32% Australia, 24% Spain or France, 8% US etc.,...

Remember that an awful lot of people who come here aren't Permanent Residents.

Thanks Novo. Although the above report isnt specific about Canada - it just groups us with Aus, NZ and South Africa as "Old Commonwealth". So according to the report, 32% went to Aus and NZ. And in the tables 42% went to Old Commonwealth. So presumably that means 10% went to Canada or South Africa. I would have assumed Canada would have got the lion's share out of the two countries?

No. The numbers really are that small. I saw some similar Canadian figures a while back. Not that many Brits come to Canada any more.

I'm sure you're right but it seem strange doesnt it? Canada obviously has a much bigger "share of mind" than it does share of market where immigration is concerned

That being said, there are still a lot of Brits in Canada and many people in the UK have friends or relatives here.

I know on some of the stats I have seen for immigrants to Canada it has been the PR applicant that is used, not the total family they actually bring with them, not sure if this could account for some of the difference

Maybe that`s why there are so many emigration exhibitions in the UK these days to once again attract British migration to Canada.