Trump effect? Canada's immigration website crashes amid U.S. election uncertainity
The Canadian government website for immigration crashed Tuesday night as Americans on both side of the political divide experienced anxiety over the presidential election. And Google reported web search terms like “Canada immigration” spiked as the GOP candidate did unexpectedly well in the presidential election.
The website cic.gc.ca went to a 500 Internal Server Error throughout the night Tuesday and into the early hours on Wednesday.
There was no answer at the Canadian Immigration Services headquarters late Tuesday, so it’s unknown if the website’s outage is related to nerves from Americans on either side of the political divide.
The Canadian immigration website has actually crashed. This is not a drill. #electionnight pic.twitter.com/3BsYQ9a0qc
— Melissa Royle (@melissaroyle) November 9, 2016
Canadian immigration website just crashed.. 😳
— Disclosure (@disclosure) November 9, 2016
willing to sponsor a rich American family for their Canadian immigration application. inquire within.
— B O N G O (@bongizzlez) November 9, 2016
What’s more, the Twitter handle @Canada seemed to be inviting Americans in with this tweet at 9 p.m. EST.
In Canada, immigrants are encouraged to bring their cultural traditions with them and share them with their fellow citizens. pic.twitter.com/MOuStZbSX7
— Canada (@Canada) November 9, 2016
According to Google trends, interest in the phrase “Canada immigration” started spiking at 11 p.m.