On Canada Day, over a thousand individuals will take their oath as new Canadian citizens.
According to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, ceremonies for 1,130 citizenship recipients are scheduled to be held across the country on Saturday. Passing a citizenship test is one of the requirements for officially becoming a Canadian, and recent data from IRCC indicates that the majority of test takers this year were successful.
Between January and May 2023, a total of 119,053 tests were completed, with a passing rate of 92 percent. This success rate mirrors the previous year’s results, where 91 percent of approximately 260,000 citizenship tests were passed.
In comparison, recent polling suggests that Canadians themselves would have a lower success rate. A survey conducted by Leger among 1,512 Canadian adults revealed that only 23 percent would pass the citizenship test based on their responses to 10 randomly selected questions. The average score among the surveyed Canadians was 49 percent, falling short of the 75 percent required to pass the test.
The citizenship test evaluates knowledge of Canada’s history, geography, economy, government, laws, and symbols. Administered in English or French, the test consists of 20 multiple-choice and true or false questions. To pass, applicants must answer at least 15 questions correctly. Those who fail on their first attempt have the opportunity for at least two more tries before their application is rejected and they must re-apply.
Canada’s population has recently surpassed the 40-million mark, driven by increased immigration. In the previous year, the country welcomed a record number of immigrants, accounting for nearly a quarter of the total population. The federal government has set a target of welcoming 1.45 million new immigrants over the next three years, with a goal of 500,000 newcomers in 2025.
Furthermore, data from IRCC indicates a rise in citizenship numbers. In 2022, a total of 375,413 people became Canadian citizens, marking a 63 percent increase compared to the previous year. As of April 2023, 100,161 people have obtained Canadian citizenship. Among them, individuals born in India represent the highest proportion of new citizens, followed by natives of the Philippines and Nigeria.
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