At a time when many developed countries are reacting against immigration, Canada is seeing widespread support for opening its doors to new residents from abroad.
Despite record numbers of immigrants being accepted into Canada in the past two years, all three major political parties support this policy and their disagreements are nothing more than denouncing bureaucratic obstacles to immigration.
Likewise, complaints appearing in the media mainly focus on how difficult it is to emigrate.
Immigration Minister Sean Fraser boasted at a press conference last month that Canada was “on track to exceed the immigration target of granting permanent residence to more than 430,000 people by 2022.” The figure will exceed 401,000 immigrants in 2021, more than any previous year.
By comparison, the United States, with a population nine times that of Canada, took in just 245,000 immigrants in 2021, compared to 477,000 in 2020. In the years before the Trump administration, immigration to the United States hovered around 1 million people annually. .
In Germany and the United Kingdom, which have seen more immigration flows than Canada in recent years, the pace of new arrivals in each country provoked a popular reaction, leading to the rise of influential anti-immigration parties in Germany and contributing to the Brexit vote. in the UK.
But in Canada, opposition to immigration appears to be waning despite rising numbers of immigrants. According to a survey, the percentage of Canadians who think immigration levels are too high has fallen since 2018 from 49% to 39%.
All three major political parties are very supportive of immigration, no doubt bearing in mind the large number of voters who are immigrants as well. Between 21.5% of Canada’s 33 million residents are first generation immigrants and 17.4% are second generation.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s ruling Liberal Party, with strong support from the New Social Democratic Party, has put immigration at the top of its economic agenda, aiming to tackle weak job demand after the pandemic.
“Newcomers enrich and strengthen our communities and work every day to create jobs, care for loved ones, and support local businesses,” Fraser said a few months ago.
“Without them, Canada would not have been able to overcome challenges in vital industries and economic sectors in the past two years,” he added.
There is also no disagreement on this point from the opposition Progressive Conservative Party, which opposes Trudeau’s other policies.
“The Canadian Conservative Party is a pro-immigration party and Canada benefits from an efficient and effective immigration system,” he said. The Voice of America Jasraj Singh Hallan is Parliament’s spokesperson for immigration. “We need to continue to attract and retain skilled newcomers to Canada.”
However, Hallan criticized Trudeau’s liberals, whom he attributed to “a backlog of business and mismanagement in the immigration system that has left many people who want to come to Canada in limbo and insecure.”
Harald Boder, an immigration expert at Metropolitan University of Toronto, wants all newcomers to understand that Canada is a “endemic country” and that the only Canadians who are not descended from immigrants are members of the indigenous peoples.
Powder said to The Voice of America.
“The immigrant also becomes a settler, and in this role they also have a responsibility to integrate, learn about indigenous peoples and their history, and commit to decolonization,” he added.
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