40 per cent of recent immigrants send money abroad: StatsCan
Last Updated: Wednesday, July 23, 2008 | 11:29 AM ET Comments0Recommend4CBC News

About four in ten immigrants who recently arrived in Canada have sent money to family and friends, with the average annual amount totalling about $1,450, Statistics Canada said in a report released Wednesday.

"On an annual basis, the average amount was approximately $1,450, accounting for about six per cent of personal and three per cent of family income before taxes," said the report, based on immigrants who arrived in 2000-01.

Immigrants from the Philippines and Haiti were the most likely to send money, with 60 per cent of people reporting doing so within two to four years of arriving in Canada. About 40 per cent to 50 per cent of immigrants from Jamaica, Nigeria, Romania, Guyana and Ukraine sent remittances.

Meanwhile, immigrants from France, the United Kingdom and South Korea were the least likely to send money, the federal agency said.

http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2008/07/23/statscan-money.html

Those are the ones who claim the remittances on their income tax returns..

The ones who get benifits from the government and send remittances abroad cannot lay claim to income tax deductions..