June 10, 2021 Share
Officials and experts plotting Canada’s economic recovery from the global pandemic are looking to current and future immigrants as a big part of the solution.
That conclusion is perhaps inevitable, given the oversized role that immigrants already play in the country’s highly pluralistic society.
Canada has one of the highest immigration rates of any country, with first-generation residents accounting for 21.9% of the population, according to the latest census in 2016. Asia is the largest source of immigrants, followed by Africa and then Europe. Canada also hosts more than half a million foreign students.
The flood of new arrivals – which stood at more than 300,000 per year before the pandemic – has been slowed by tough new health-related travel restrictions. But as long-awaited vaccines are finally becoming available to more residents, analysts look forward to a reopening of the immigration doors.
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HE PAST year of lockdowns and travel restrictions has been terrible for migrants. In the first six months of 2020 members of the
OECD, a club mainly of rich countries, issued half as many residence permits as they did the year before, a record decline. But one country is determined to buck the trend. In October Canada’s government said it hoped to admit 1.2m new residents from 2021 to 2023, equivalent to 3% of the population. The targets for this year and next are a total of 100,000 higher than originally planned.
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Even among high-immigration countries, Canada stands out. Australia has kept its annual immigration target steady at 160,000. Employers in New Zealand should give priority to training people already in the country, says its immigration minister. Canada, by contrast, is gung-ho. Immigration is “a key element” of Canada’s economic recovery and its long-term prosperity, says Marco Mendicino, the
Canada s recent move to offer permanent residency to more foreigners living and working in the country is a short-term solution to the economic problems spurred by a pandemic-related immigration slowdown, analysts say.
4 Min Read
TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada’s recent move to offer permanent residency to more foreigners living and working in the country is a short-term solution to the economic problems spurred by a pandemic-related immigration slowdown, analysts say, while critics argue the strategy excludes too many vulnerable people.
FILE PHOTO: Travelers from an international flight are directed to the COVID-19 testing area as part of Canada s new measures against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), at Toronto Pearson International Airport in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada February 24, 2021. REUTERS/Carlos Osorio/File Photo
With travel restrictions in place, visa offices closed and immigration applications stalled, the Canadian government finds itself on the back foot as it attempts to reach its target of attracting a record 401,000 new permanent residents in 2021.