L'immigration au Canada

                                                         Term Paper

Imane Keddam

Concordia University

Introduction to Canadian Politics

Antoine Bilodeau

April 4, 2016

2100 words

Canada is known for being a welcoming land and many people all over the world dream of living there. According to Statistics Canada, the country accepted 252 179 immigrants in 2009 which represents a 25% increase since 1999 (2010). Although, these high numbers were not always accurate. The main changes concerning immigration occurred during the 1960s when the country, quickly developing economically, “abandoned its previously discriminatory approach to immigration, under which the world was divided between preferred and non-preferred countries” (Beach, Green and Worswic, 2011) and started using the point system to choose its immigrants. More recent changes in immigration policies include the enhancement of temporary foreign worker, the provinces power to choose their own immigrants (Provincial Nominee Program) and the establishment of a new immigration class (Canadian Experience Class). Immigration is strongly seen as a solution to deal with some social and economic problems but concerns about it have been strongly debated over the last years. To some, the country’s trouble to properly integrate newcomers into the economy, the type of newcomers that arrives in Canada, the inability to fully use immigrants’ skills, the international competition Canada must face with other countries such as the United Kingdom, the United-States and Australia for skilled labour, the earning gap between immigrants and Canadian-born citizens and the time it takes to close that gap, the idea that immigrants pose a threat to the welfare state and all that happening in a still fragile economy, should absolutely lead to a decrease in the number of immigrants Canada brings every year. Especially since, according to the same people, there is no clear and well documented case for either increasing or decreasing further the number of immigrants. I strongly disagree with this statement. Yes, challenges concerning immigration have emerged over the last decades. But still, the situation is far from being as catastrophic as some groups make it look. The number of immigrants should not be decreased; the very low birth rate of the country combined with a large aging population and the important values of ethnical diversity and multiculturalist Canada has make immigrants and the purpose they bring too important to be reduced. Instead, some of Canada’s current immigration policies could be reformed.

To better understand how immigration works, it is accurate to know that most immigrants, 63 % of them (Thestar, 2013), come to Canada through the Economic class (Permanent resident program). It includes, amongst other classes, the Federal skilled workers class, which uses the point system, the Canadian experience class, which is for people who have experience working in Canada and the Federal skilled trades class, for people with job offers or appropriate certification to work in certain occupations. All three categorises are processed by the Express Entry system since January 2015 which eliminates the requirement to process applicants in these programs through a first in, first out method and its goal is to manage 80% of complete Express Entry applications in six months or less. Applicants are chosen on the basis of their capacity to become economically established and independent in Canada (Government of Canada, 2015). The second most important class through which immigrants enter Canada, with 26.1% (Thestar, 2013), is the Family Class Sponsorship class, which is a non-economic class. Canadian citizen or permanent resident aged over 18, can sponsor certain family members to become Canadian permanent residents.

Firstly, the number of immigrants should not be reduced because of the low birth rate combined with the constant aging population. This phenomena has negative consequences on Canada’s social and economic well-being and brings up challenges that if not faced fast and efficiently, will result in bad outcomes. Canada has one of the largest number of baby boomers in the world. Indeed, Approximately 14% of the Canadian population is aged 65 and over and this is expected to double in the next 25 years and the numbers of people aged 85 and over are increasing most dramatically (Andrews, Campbell, Denton, & McGilton, 2009, pp.141-142). Moreover, the advances made in the field of health and the free, easy access to good health and social services over the past decades across Canada, amongst other things, caused the life expectancy rate to increase; the average number of years people are expected to live is 81. 1 (Statistics Canada, 2012). In brief, there is a very high number of people in their golden age that will must certainly leave long lives. With this reality, health problems amongst this generation is a serious issue. Chronic and degenerative diseases have increased replacing the acute and infectious diseases people used to suffer from. Conditions like arthritis, hypertension, diabetes, obesity and dementia have risen across the entire country. These are long-term chronic conditions that requires long-term treatment. Also, paradoxically, even though seniors can expect to live longer, “most Canadians retire before the age of 65; the average age for men to retire being 62 and women being 60” (Andrews, Campbell, Denton, & McGilton, 2009, p.143). These issues will require constant increase of large number of qualified worker to take care of the constant aging population and to take their place in the job market.

However, Canada cannot count on its own habitant to accurately do that. Indeed, with the current birth rate of the country being at 1.67; below the minimum of 2.0 needed for natural population replacement (The Huffington Post, 2012), the current and future generation is going to be smaller than the previous one making it harder to support retirees, social and economic programs. Different solution can be used to try to increase the birth rate and make Canada a more  “large-family friendly” country such as a larger tax breaks per child, child assistance payment, Universal Child Care Benefit, registered education savings plan, etc. Unfortunately it is not enough. For Canada, expanding the population means depending on immigration, which accounts for two-thirds of population expansion (The Huffington Post, 2012). Immigration, as it turns out, is probably the key to Canada's prosperity. When coming to Canada, immigrants are determined to take advantage of the new and positive opportunities the country is offering and they usually do very well in the job market. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) estimates that employment for Canadian citizens born abroad has increased since 2008, when it stagnated for native-born citizens. Immigrants in Canada's employment rate in 2012 was the third highest in the OECD (The Globe and Mail, 2013). Immigrants can efficiently take over the places left by the large baby boomers generation in the job market and contribute to increasing population growth in the country. They are important for Canada’s population and labour force growth. For that, the number of new comers Canada brings each year should not be reduced.  

Moreover, diversity and immigration are important parts of Canada’s past, present and future. The country has been considered as model when it comes to immigration for a long time. It is a multiculturalist nation and should be proud of this as it brings many positive things to society. Reducing the number of immigrants goes against this idea and therefore should not be done.

Multiculturalism in Canada is used to designate a society characterized by ethnic or cultural heterogeneity, to describe an ideal of equality and mutual respect between ethnic and cultural groups in a population, and to refer to measures implemented by the federal government in 1971 and then adopted by several provinces (Burnet & Driedger, 2011). Canada was not always so keen to welcome immigrants from all over the world and to be such a welcoming land. Indeed, the idea of nation is fairly new in the country and being an “immigrant friendly” land was a choice the country deliberately made. In 1971, the federal government of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau declared its commitment to the principle of multiculturalism, and in so doing, was committed to protecting and promoting diversity. Therefore, the Department of Multiculturalism and Canadian Multiculturalism Council was created in 1973. The concept was once again recognized in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms in 1982, which states that "any interpretation of this Charter must be consistent with the objective of promoting the maintenance and enhancement of the multicultural heritage of Canadians” (Burnet & Driedger, 2011). On July 21st 1988, the government announced the Canadian Multiculturalism Act, by which the government is formally committed to establish laws to protect the ethnic, racial, linguistic and religious diversity in Canadian society as well as promote full and just participation of people and communities from all origins. Diversity is strongly encouraged. Multiculturalism is welcomed as a new vision of Canadian identity, which provides a comprehensive understanding of all ethnic communities and is an essential aspect of Canadian identity on several levels (Burnet & Driedger, 2011). Reducing the number of immigrants because they bring too many problems completely goes against the choice Canada made more than half a century ago. Immigrants that come to Canada, also deliberately choose this country to begin a new chapter in their lives. Leaving their country of origin is often not an easy decision to make that is to be taken lightly.  One must be determined to live a successful and good life in the new country in order to make the difficult decision of living the country of origin. This is the typical profile of Canadian immigrants. If one chooses, among all the other countries in the world that are also in great need of immigrants, to come to Canada, it means that the person want and choose to be a positive part of that precise society; and indeed it is the case as research shows that “Canadian immigration has been unarguably successful in economic and social terms. The education-based skills level of immigrants is high, translating into a considerable degree of employment success, and the national celebration of cultural diversity seems to indicate a smooth social integration of minorities within distinct communities and in the wider society” (Reitz, 2012, p.521). Adding to that that the majority of Canadians view multiculturalism as an important thing to Canadian’s identity. The multiculturalist choices the nation of Canada made is a reflection of its population’s openness, hospitality and comprehension of the important role immigrants actually play in Canada’s economy and future. For that, the number of immigrants that come to Canada should not be reduced at all.