Canada: Policy Legacies, New Directions, and Future Challenges By Brian Ray Migration Policy Institute Would you like to see more articles on this topic? Yes No Please give us your feedback on this article. You may include your name and email address. (max 250 characters) May 2002 Canada is one of only a handful of nations where social and cultural change fueled by immigration is perhaps the only enduring societal constant. Two recent developments are sure to keep immigration at the center of public debate and policy discussions: Canada's new Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, and the latest census data. The Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, which was signed into law on November 1, 2001, will shape the character of migration flows for years to come. The Act represents a shift away from an occupation-based model for determining admissibility among certain applicants to one that emphasizes education, language, and the flexibility and transferability of skill sets. The 2001 census data, meanwhile, are significant because they highlight a very slow rate of population growth. Census data reveal that Canada experienced one of the smallest census-to-census growth rates in its history (a gain of only 4 percent), bringing the total population count to just over 30 million people (30,007,094). The census also underscored the fact that immigration was the main source of population growth, and would likely retain this role, as the nation experienced a decline of about one-third in natural increase compared to the previous five-year period. Immigration and demographic change are in lockstep as the country debates the ability of younger generations to support an aging population, the proper size of the labor force and tax base necessary to maintain economic growth and an array of social services, and the population's ideal ethnocultural and linguistic composition. Click here for Canada Migration Data Immigrant Origins One of the most vivid manifestations of change in recent decades has been in the origins of immigrants to Canada. Once a country dominated by migration from the UK and Europe, today Canada accepts immigrants from every part of the globe, with the most important flows coming from countries in South, East and Southeast Asia. Between 1956 and 1976, 63.6 percent of immigrants came from the UK and Europe and only 11.9 percent from Asia. By 2000, however, the flows had almost completely flipped, with only 18.9 percent of immigrants coming from the UK and Europe and 53 percent from Asia. An additional 18 percent of immigrants came from Africa and the Middle East, 7.5 percent from South and Central America and the Caribbean, and 2.6 percent from the United States. The high percentage of Asian immigrants is due in large part to the Canadian government's emphasis on skills, education and language abilities in its selection formula for independent applicants, as well as subsequent sponsorship of family dependents. To a significant degree, these changes in where immigrants come from, and their effects on Canada's ethnocultural diversity, are a function of policy decisions made in the decades following World War II. Immigration and Refugee Policy Context Beginning in the late 19th century, Canada began to adopt policy measures to manage immigration. From relatively free entry between 1867 to 1895, a host of Orders-in-Council, the Immigration Acts of 1910, 1919 and 1952, and the Chinese Immigration Act (1923) formalized an immigration system and restricted admission to "white" British, European and American applicants to the exclusion of migrants from the rest of the world who could not trace their racial/ethnic origins to Europe. Beginning in 1962, regulatory changes were introduced that overturned the most blatantly racist dimensions of Canadian policy, while the completely rewritten Immigration Act of 1976 ushered in a new era in immigrant determination processes and officially made Canada a destination for all migrants. The 1976 Act was constructed around three pillars of admission: independent applicants assessed on the basis of points awarded for employment skills, education, and language abilities rather national or "racial" origin; sponsorship by close family members; and refugee status. In 2000, 58 percent of admissions were in the Independent or Economic Class, 27 percent were in the Family Reunification Class, 13 percent were Refugee Class and 2 percent were "Other" (cases determined on humanitarian and compassionate grounds, live-in caregivers or provincial/territorial nominees). The new 2001 Immigration and Refugee Protection Act largely maintains these categories, although there is a shift away from an occupation-based model for determining admissibility among Independent applicants to one that emphasizes education, language, and the flexibility and transferability of skill sets. In response to humanitarian crises, Canada has accepted refugees since the end of World War II. Although Canada did participate in three major refugee movements between 1945 and 1970 -- displaced persons in the years immediately following the war, Hungarian refugees (1956-1957) and Czech refugees (1968) -- and did admit refugees on an individual, ad hoc basis, it did not accede to either the 1951 United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees or the 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees until 1969. It has only been since the early 1970s that refugees have been a constant, rather than episodic, component of the immigration program. Canada formally organized its refugee policies and management structures in the 1976 Act, thereby institutionalizing an ongoing commitment to fulfill legal obligations toward refugees, and the 2001 Act continues this practice by placing an even stronger emphasis on the need for protection and less on an applicant's ability to settle in Canada. In 2000, out of 30,030 refugees, 35.5 percent of claimants were government-assisted, 9.7 percent were privately sponsored, and 43.2 percent were admitted after making a successful application for asylum upon reaching a Canadian border point. An additional 11.6 percent were dependents living abroad of a successful refugee claimant. Recent Flows At the time of the 1996 census, 4,971,070 foreign-born individuals lived in Canada, representing 17.4 percent of the total population. The pattern of immigration to Canada, however, has been far from steady, with numerous spikes and low points punctuating the country's migration history from 1860 to the present. The years 1910 to 1913 marked the high-water point in Canadian immigration history with an average of over 286,000 migrants arriving annually (400,870 in 1913 alone). During the 1990s Canada pursued a moderately aggressive program with about 200,000 people arriving annually, and it is likely that targets will continue to be set at the quarter-million mark for the foreseeable future. The vast majority of immigrants also make the choice to become Canadian citizens -- 72.3 percent (1996) of immigrants are citizens by naturalization and 12.6 percent of the Canadian population is made up of naturalized citizens. Immigrant Settlement Patterns Unlike the 19th and first part of the 20th centuries when many, if not most, immigrants settled in agricultural, rural, or frontier areas, today the vast majority of migrants settle in one of Canada's three largest cities: Toronto, Montréal and Vancouver. Immigration and ethnocultural diversity in many ways are metropolitan, rather than national, aspects of life in Canada. For instance, 42 percent of Toronto's population was born abroad, making it one of the most important sites of immigrant settlement in North America. Similarly, 35 percent of Vancouver's population and 18 percent of Montréal's was born outside of Canada, and in Québec, Montréal is truly the immigration metropolis -- almost 90 percent of all immigrants in the province live in metropolitan Montréal. Immigrant Education Migrants tend to be highly educated, in part reflecting the fact that the majority of immigrants who come to Canada do so through the independent or business streams. For instance, the proportion of men and women holding a university degree is significantly higher among recent immigrants (24 percent and 19 percent respectively) than the Canadian-born population (13 percent and 12 percent). At the other end of the spectrum, the proportion of recent immigrants with less than a grade nine education is higher among recently immigrated women, but not men, relative to the Canadian-born population (Infometrica Ltd 2001, 28). Again reflecting Canadian immigration policy selection criteria, a large majority of recent immigrants reports being able to carry on a conversation in at least one of Canada's two official languages (Infometrica Ltd 2001, 25). Most likely due to a more limited education and workplace opportunities, women who are part of the most recent group of immigrants tend to be somewhat less likely than men to be able to carry on a conversation in English or French. Immigrants in the Workforce In terms of labor force participation, in their first years after arrival, immigrants tend to have lower rates than the Canadian-born population. This is because a number of migrants spend time upgrading either professional, trades, or language skills, and many women take time out from the workforce to raise children. Over time, however, the labor force participation rates of the foreign born not only converge with those of the Canadian-born population, but exceed them. For instance, 81 percent of male immigrants aged 45-64 who arrived in Canada between 1981 and 1990 participate in the labor force, compared to 78 percent of Canadian-born men in the same age bracket (Infometrica Ltd 2001, 48-49). Recent immigrants are much more likely to experience unemployment in their first five years in Canada than those migrants who have been in the country for a longer period of time. For instance, the rate of unemployment among men who arrived in the early 1990s varies from 15 to 21 percent, depending on their age group, and among women it is higher still (20 to 26 percent). The rate drops significantly among people who immigrated during the 1980s, and when sex and age are held constant the rates of unemployment among immigrants and the Canadian-born population converge after the first five years (Infometrica Ltd 2001, 53-54). Looking Ahead Recent census data highlight the important role that immigrants will play in the demographic, economic and social life of the nation in the decades to come. In the period 1981-1986, 52.1 percent of population growth was attributable to immigration, and by the 1991-1996 period the figure had risen to 69.3 percent. Furthermore, throughout the 1990s already low fertility rates dropped even further and the number of deaths increased due to Canada's aging population -- trends that are unlikely to change soon. Although Canada's growth rate of 4 percent is still well above that of other industrialized Western countries, it is clear that where immigration levels are pegged and who ends up migrating will have profound effects on the size and characteristics of Canadian society. Likewise, it also appears that immigrant settlement will continue to be highly localized in a relatively small number of cities. This has implications for the degree to which Canadian society in its entirety shares the benefits and costs of immigration and ethnocultural diversity. Sources Citizenship and Immigration Canada, Strategic Policy, Planning and Research. 2001. Facts and Figures 2000: Immigration Overview. Ottawa: Public Works and Government Services Canada. Citizenship and Immigration Canada, Strategic Policy, Planning and Research. 2001. Facts and Figures 2000: Statistical Overview of the Temporary Resident and Refugee Claimant Population. Ottawa: Public Works and Government Services Canada. Hawkins, Freda. 1989. Critical Years in Immigration: Canada and Australia Compared. Kingston and Montréal: McGill-Queen's University Press. Informetrica Ltd. 2001. Canada's Recent Immigrants: A Comparative Portrait Based on the 1996 Census. Ottawa: Public Works and Government Services Canada. Back to the top

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