The London region is now more diverse than ever. Here's why one family chose to move here

Since moving to London almost three years ago, Tarandeep Singh, 35, has been raving about the Forest City to others back home in Punjab, India. 

"I recommended it all the time. I encourage people to come to London. I love it. It's my kind of city," said Singh, who moved here with his wife, Ramanpreet Kaur, and daughter, Harseerat Kaur, who is seven.

The family is among more than 20,000 new immigrants who came to the London region, which includes St. Thomas, Strathroy, and parts of Elgin and Middlesex Counties, according to new census numbers released by Statistics Canada Wednesday. 

"We see it all around us in the city. We're much more diverse and where we used to be less diverse compared to the rest of Ontario and the rest of Canada, we are much closer to resembling the national proportion," said Howard Ramos, a political sociologist with Western University. 

The latest census numbers reveal that 20,495 newcomers settled in the London region between 2016 and 2021. About 20 per cent came from India and 20 per cent from Syria, with many also coming from the Americas and Africa. 

About 22 per cent of Londoners identify as immigrants, and of those, about 20 per cent are recent immigrants within the last five years. 

"I think there are a number of things at play. Some of that is the city's growth as a whole," Ramos said. "We also saw that London is considered kind of big enough and small enough. We're big enough that we have a lot of amenities, we have diversity, we have access to all the major things that one would need access to, but at the same time we can still have livable areas, we are close to beaches, and housing affordability is likely a part of the draw as well."

With cousins who live in Mississauga, Singh moved to London because an uncle lives here. He prefers the smaller size of London, the fact that he can get what he needs here, and the growing number of people from India means he has a community here. 

Living in southeast London, Singh is also close to the Gurudwara Sikh temple, an important gathering place. 

The census data also shows that while half of Canadians identify as Christian, nearly 40 per cent of Canadians have no religious affiliation, with the population of Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs increasing. 

Planning for more newcomers

The increase in newcomers should be heeded by city planners and policymakers, Ramos said. 

"This growth has practical implications for our infrastructure, on our roads, on our services, on the services we offer and the languages we offer them in," he said. "These are things we all have to think about when we're growing as a city and, in particular, growing because of immigration."

The newcomers that are arriving are in their prime working years, but there is a mismatch between the skills people have and the jobs they're landing, Ramos added. 

"It begs the question of, what's the value proposition for newcomers? It's something to be cautiously aware of."