'Generic tourism' in Canada is 5 times the official statistics
Some Canadian politicians advocate denying citizenship to children whose parents are not Canadian or permanent residents.
Canada's most popular hospital for international women in labour is located in Richmond, British Columbia. In recent years it has experienced a real boom in maternity tourism. Analysis of hospitals' financial data shows that baby tourism is booming in major Canadian cities, and these figures diverge from official figures.
The term "birth tourism" or "citizenship at birth" refers to non-resident women who give birth in the country in order to obtain citizenship for their children. Discussions about this issue began in Canada in late 2018, when a Richmond MP filed a petition, and members of the Conservative Party supported it and proposed denying citizenship to any child whose parents are not Canadian or permanent residents. In the United States, President Donald Trump has also promised to "close the shop" for birthright citizenship.
Statistics Canada reported 313 non-resident births in 2016. However, the Richmond hospital data exceeded not only Statistics Canada's overall figures for British Columbia, but also those for Canada as a whole, raising serious doubts about their reliability.
Hospitals' financial data show that there are at least 5 times as many women coming to Canada for the purpose of childbirth and citizenship. Hospitals code services covering baby tourism as "self-pay by a resident of another country". Refugee applicants and newly arrived residents are coded separately. However, data for non-residents also include births with temporary resident status (international students or those on business trips). This means that totals based on financial statements are slightly higher than for birth tourism alone.
Nevertheless, there is no doubt that birth tourism is increasing. In 2016, there were 3,323 such births. Figure 2 shows a steady increase in the number of children born to women residing in other countries: the total number of births and the percentage of total births in Canada (excluding Quebec, which did not provide hospital data).
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