Canada’s Immigration and Citizenship website was down for hours Tuesday and Wednesday.
People interested in visiting the Citizenship and Immigration Canada website were instead met with the error message “this page isn’t working.” The website provides information about immigrating to Canada, settling in Canada, and Canadian citizenship.
In the last four hours, “Canada immigration” was the top trending Google search in the US, followed by “Dow futures,” “Michigan electoral votes,” “Dow Jones,” and “Wisconsin electoral votes.” (The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped over 700 points in futures trading as Trump inched closer to the White House.)
In the past 24 hours, Donald Trump has had 57% of search interest compared to Hillary Clinton’s 43%. In the past hour, “Make America Great Again” was searched 22 times more than “I’m with Her”.
Dejected voters aren’t just turning to Canada. New Zealand’s immigration website has also seen a spike. The New Zealand Now website has received 1,593 registrations from US citizens since Nov. 1—a 50% increase of a typical month’s registrations in just seven days. Visits from US citizens increased by almost 80%—to 41,000—from Oct. 7 to Nov. 7, compared to the same period last year.
On the eve of the result, the Canadian government has reaffirmed its support for immigrants, in what’s largely been seen as a rebuke to Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric, on its official Twitter account. Canada had recently announced plans to take in 300,000 skilled immigrants and refugees; the biggest official pledge in a century.
Agencies/Canadajournal