In Canada, 1.5 million new immigrants are planned to be taken in to fill the void left by the so-called “baby boomers” generation born after the Second World War.
Earlier this month, the Canadian government announced a plan to welcome 500,000 immigrants per year by 2025.
However, according to the surveys, the fact that the number announced was so high brought along concerns.
Wanting to protect its population and grow its economy, Canada has tried for years to make the country attractive to non-citizens who have been granted permanent residency for years.
Last year, 405,000 people were granted indefinite residency, the highest number ever.
The reason can be explained with simple mathematics. Canada’s population, which has a low birth rate, is aging like many Western countries. So if he wants to grow, he has to accept immigrants.
Today, a quarter of Canadian citizens are immigrants from another country. This is the highest rate among the G7 countries.
Madeleine Sumption, who studies immigrants at Oxford University, reminds us that Canada, which has one of the largest land areas in the world, has a population of just over 38 million. Therefore, there is also enough space for the growing population.
Many countries, such as Canada, are facing population aging and low birth rates, says Geoffrey Cameron, a political scientist at McMaster University. However, he states that the success of any immigration policy depends on the support of the community.
For example, in the USA, where the number of immigrants coming from the southern border has reached an all-time high, there is concern about the lack of job opportunities.
In the pre-Brexit England, those coming from Eastern European countries had a negative reaction against immigration.
However, Canada has historically had great support for immigration.
Cameron cites the reason for this as the Canadian people’s confidence that the government will manage immigration well and in the best interest of the country. But this of course does not show that there are no immigration concerns in the country.
In recent years, an influx of immigration from the US border has also drawn a reaction in Canada.
Canada’s announcement that it will accept 500,000 immigrants every year has received different reactions in different parts of the country. For example, Quebec, which has set its own immigration admission limit, announced that it cannot accept more than 50,000 people a year.
CANADA SPECIFIC
Another thing that distinguishes Canada from other Western countries is the importance it attaches to economic immigration. Almost half of those with unlimited residency in Canada were accepted into the country because of their talents. The government hopes this will reach 60 percent by 2025.
In the 1960s, instead of the quota system that fed immigrants from different countries to different destinations, Canada switched to a point system that foresees the acceptance of talented immigrants who will contribute to the country’s economy.
Cameron states that this still continues and is a unique method.