Professional Documents
Culture Documents
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Immigration is increasingly preoccupying politicians, policy-makers and citizens
around the world. For the most part, however, the focus has been on the economic impact
and social integration of new migrants Migration serves as the foundation for continued
economic growth, which brings people, customs and traditions, rituals and culture to the
forefront of current Government policy. Canada is the second largest country in the
world; Canada has a history of immigrants which makes its culture rich and vast.
Immigrants play a major role in Canadas economy and so Canada welcomes migrants
from all over the world.
The study of migration to Canada includes the causes for migration. It has
covered all the positive and negative aspects of migration to Canada. The Canadian trend
is included to know the mindset of Canadians.
The history of immigration to Canada extends back thousands of years.
Immigrants have contributed greatly to the development and cultural fabric of our
country.
Immigration now accounts for more than 70 percent of net growth in the
labour force and Statistics Canada projects that by 2011 it will account for 100 percent of
that growth. The mix of our nations skills, education and productivity is increasingly
determined by the attributes of foreign-born individuals.According to the most recent
census, the number of immigrants in Canada reached almost 6.2 million. Immigrants look
to Canada for opportunities to gainfully employ their skills and talents to achieve a better
future for themselves and their families.
Introduction to Migration:
Migration is primarily a labour issue. It concerns the movement of workers who cross
borders to find employment, as well as the necessity of equal treatment, good working
conditions and rights for these workers. The purpose of this manual is to guide the trade
union movement's participation in shaping migration policies by promoting sound labour
migration practices and reaching out to migrant workers. It aims to ensure that migration
benefits the countries of origin as well as destination countries, and both migrant and
non-migrant workers.
Across the world, millions of people are on the move - doing jobs ranging from menial
labour such as harvesting to computer programming. Combined, their numbers would
equal the fifth most populous country on the planet. The number of migrants crossing
borders in search of employment and human security is expected to increase rapidly in
the coming decades due to the failure of globalization to provide jobs and economic
opportunities. The ILO sees todays global challenge as forging the policies and the
resources to better manage labour migration so that it contributes positively to the growth
and development of both home and host societies, as well as to the well being of the
migrants themselves. In 2004, the International Labour Conference of the ILO adopted a
Multilateral Framework on Labour Migration which is part of a plan of action for migrant
workers agreed by ILO constituents. The Framework is part of an ILO plan of action
which aims at better managing labour migration so that it contributes positively to the
growth and development of both home and host societies, as well as to the well being of
the migrants themselves.
The United Nations defines migrant as an individual who has resided in a foreign country
for more than one year irrespective of the causes, voluntary or involuntary, and the
means, regular or irregular, used to migrate. Under such a definition, those travelling for
shorter periods as tourists and businesspersons would not be considered migrants.
However, common usage includes certain kinds of shorter-term migrants, such
as seasonal farm-workers who travel for short periods to work planting or harvesting
farm products." Also, human migration happened when the Paleo-Indians entered
America.
According to International Organization for Migration, The term migrant was usually
understood to cover all cases where the decision to migrate was taken freely by the
individual concerned for reasons of "personal convenience" and without intervention of
an external compelling factor; it therefore applied to persons, and family members,
moving to another country or region to better their material or social conditions and
improve the prospect for themselves or their family.
There are almost 200 million migrants in the world today. The majority of people leaving
their home countries are migrating for work and almost of half of them are women. The
contribution of these migrant workers to the world economy is undeniable, yet many
work in some of the worst conditions, with no access to social protection and denied their
labour rights.
Today, labor migration often occurs due to the expansion of a business into a new
geographical area, or the relocation of existing facilities to a new area. In both situations,
it is not unusual for employers to offer certain employees the opportunity to migrate to
these new locations, and become associated with the newly opened facilities. Often, a
portion of this type of labor migration will involve employees who have been with the
firm for some time, and have proven their competency within their respective positions.
With labor migration involving the opening of a new location, it is not unusual for a
business to offer qualified managers, IT specialists, and other employees with a firm
grounding in company policies and procedures the option of relocating to the new area.
This is beneficial for the company, as it places a core group of fully trained individuals in
a position to successfully train new employees and thus increase the chances of a
successful launch.
When the labor migration involves the closing of a facility and the opening of a new
facility in another location, there is a good chance that the majority of the employees will
be offered the chance to move and fill open positions at the new facility. Depending on
the nature of the position and the standing of the individual employee, the company may
offer incentives to make the migration, such as paying moving expenses or offering an
increase in salary or wages to make the move. Assuming that most of the employees
respond positively, the company benefits from not having to train new personnel to take
over the open positions at the new location, thus saving a great deal of money and time.
A labor migration may involve the massive migration of large numbers of individuals to a
new location over a period of time, or involve the movement of a selected few in
a migrationthat is intentionally planned and executed with precision and in a very small
window of time. In both situations, there is a good chance that the movement will have
some degree of impact on the economic conditions of both the locations that are left
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behind and the areas where the migrants finally settle. While there is speculation that the
establishment of the World Wide Web and the increased opportunities for telecommuting
will inhibit future mass migrations to some degree, not many experts believe that modern
communications will prevent migration from happening from time to time, even if
that migration is no more than a move from one side of town to the other.
Migration is the result of the availability of land on planet Earth, the people who inhabit
the planet now and in the future, and the movement of persons from one part of the planet
to another.
There are many causes behind migration. One of the commonest cited is skill shortages.
But as liberal economists argue, thats often a misnomer. All that is in fact happening is a
wage shortage: raise the wages and sufficient skilled workers will appear.
Never before have there been so many people living far away from their native countries.
Poor living conditions, violence and armed conflicts, environmental problems, a lack of
economic perspectives and the growing gap between rich and poor countries: all these
factors play their part. Global mobility and the new media likewise have a great influence
on current migration trends.
Employment Opportunities:
In the last few centuries, mainly I the 19th and 20th, large scale migration taken place from
Western Europe to North America- USA and Canada, Australia and within Europe from
less well to do countries to better off countries. The main reason was the availability of
employment opportunities in more developed economies.
Rapidly developing countries during the 19th and early 20th century experienced scarcity
of labour, specially unskilled and semi-skilled labour. This situation provided scope to the
labour class in the poor countries to migrate.
Voilence and the abuse of power force people to flee
The term refugee is used to describe people who are persecuted on account of their race,
religion, ethnic group or political conviction. Persons whose freedom or lives are
threatened in this sense have a right to protection by foreign countries on the basis of
international conventions.
Displaced persons are not fleeing from individual persecution but from escalating
violence threatening large parts of the population in a certain region or country. Those
affected by such conflicts mostly flee in large numbers to safe regions in their native land
or in a neighboring country. In order to prevent unrest, hunger, disease and other
problems, they are frequently accommodated in refugee camps. The reception and care of
large influxes of refugees severely undermine the resources of the states concerned.
Refugee camps with tens of thousands of strangers often arouse feelings of insecurity in
the host countrys population. This can lead to political instability in the country
concerned, provoking new conflicts.
In such situations, nations living at peace and in stable economic conditions are called
upon to show their solidarity and share the burden (e.g. with measures such as the
temporary admission of displaced persons, peace missions, material and reconstruction
aid).
Colonial powers:
A good number of labour class migrated from the colonies to countries of their colonial
masters. Hence we find Indians in UK, Algerian in France and people from different
colonial countries in the Western Colonial power nations.
Early Industrialization:
Western Countries which have undergine early industrialization have attracted labour
from the periphery. Industrialization has led to prosperity which in turn provided
opportunities for employment. Prosperity in Gulf countries due to petroleum products
provided employment. Prosperity in Gulf-coutries due to petroleum products provided
employment to a good number of workers fromAsian coutries.
Military Involvement:
Korean and Vietnamese people are found in U.S.A, primarily due to the involvement of
USA in the war in these coutries.
Poor living conditions generate the urge to migrate:
The term migrant denotes a person living outside his or her native country. Many leave
their homes because there are not enough fertile pastures and arable land, food, water,
work or other fundamental requirements. The consequences of environmental
catastrophes, such as drought or floods, can also force thousands to leave their native
countries. Today roughly two thirds of the worlds population live in economically poor
countries.
The growing gap between rich and poor is the most significant driving force for global
migration. In 1960 the income of the richest fifth of the worlds population was on
average 30 times higher than the poorest fifth. By the year 1990 it was already 60 times
higher.
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(7,195); South Korea (5,909); Colombia(5,382); and Sri Lanka (4,068).[2] The top ten
source countries were followed closely by France(4,026), and Morocco (4,025),
with Romania, Russia, and Algeria each contributing over 3,500 immigrants.
The Canadian governments first attempt to restrict immigration from India was to pass
an order on January 8, 1908, that prohibited immigration of persons who "in the opinion
of the Minister of the Interior" did not "come from the country of their birth or citizenship
by a continuous journey and or through tickets purchased before leaving their country of
their birth or nationality." In practice this applied only to ships that began their voyage in
India, as the great distance usually necessitated a stopover in Japanor Hawaii. These
regulations came at a time when Canada was accepting massive numbers
of immigrants (over 400,000 in 1913 alone a figure that remains unsurpassed to this
day), almost all of whom came from Europe. Though Gurdit Singh, was apparently aware
of regulations when he chartered the Komagata Maru in January 1914, he continued with
his purported goal of challenging these exclusion laws in order to have a better life.
The Komagata Maru, a Japanese steamship that sailed from Hong
Kong to Shanghai,China; Yokohama, Japan; and then to Vancouver, British
Columbia, Canada, in 1914, carried 376 passengers from Punjab, India. The passengers
were not allowed to land in Canada and the ship was forced to return to India. The
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passengers consisted of 340 Sikhs, 24Muslims, and 12 Hindus, all British subjects. This
was one of several incidents in the early 20th century involving exclusion laws in Canada
and the United States designed to keep out immigrants of Asian origin.
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gold rush. Chinese came too for the same reason, and to escape war and famine in their
own country. The Irish came to escape the Great Potato Famine.
The Great Migration had profound impact on Canadian culture. At the beginning of the
Great Migration, the Canadians, Canadians of French descent, outnumbered those of
British descent. By the end of the Great Migration, and even partway through it, the
British population was more than double that of the French. As these new emigrants were
coming, they expanded into French land, which caused many disputes.
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2. Secondly, the immigration rules are not as stringent when compared to other countries
such as Australia and hence, are easier to qualify. In addition, despite the prevalence
of recession, Canada has not cut down on its Immigration quota. In comparison,
Australia has recently cut down on its immigrant quota by 14%. Many other countries
too have been using direct and indirect means to control Immigration numbers.
3. Thirdly, Canada offers a great choice of immigration and visa programs for the
employed, self-employed and businessmen categories. This includes federal and
provincial nominee programs as well. For those not qualifying under the Immigration
programs, Canada offers non-immigrant options such as work permit and student
programs. Majority of these programs offer permanent resident visa and Immigration.
4. Fourthly, Canada offers the most supporting social security benefits program for
immigrants and their families first on landing and in normal process. The countrys
educational and health facilities are among the best in the world and highly
subsidized. Post retirement and old age benefits ensure that one looks forward to
growing old and is not dependent on their children. During the economy downturn,
the countrys unemployment allowance policies help its residents to feel and live
better.
5. Fifthly, Canada offers a citizenship resulting in the claimant of its national passport. A
Canadian passport holder enjoys a visa free travel for almost all major countries
across the world. This in fact is one of the main reasons why businessmen, high net
worth individuals and investors apply for Canadian Immigration. With their current
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status in the (developing) country of origin, they are subjected to extensive visa
restrictions.
6. Sixthly, Canada Charter of Rights and Freedom permit the residents to live and work
anywhere in Canada. Canada offers right to religion, culture, language choice and the
freedom of expression.
7. Canada is the next door to the USA and the NAFTA treat between Canada, USA and
Mexico. It provides excellent trade and personal growth opportunities. The physical
movement across borders is easier and hassle free. As a matter of fact, the treaty and
visa regulations offer Canadian citizens more than one ways to make USA, legally,
their permanent home.
8. Canada is also a member of the Group-8 countries which ensures a certain status in
the developed world.
9. With immense wealth of natural resources and minerals, including water and oil,
Canada offers a strong emotional and personal security blanket for immigrants and
their next generations.
10. Finally, Canada offers a corruption free environment that is among the least polluted
in the world.
It is one of the oldest and the most popular immigrations destinations in the world. It is
easy to find people from different ethnicity and nationalities residing in the country. All in
all, Canada finds such people an asset and an important part in building its economy.
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following categories: skilled workers, Canadian experience class, entrepreneurs, selfemployed, investors and provincial nominees. In total, 30,252 Indians gained permanent
resident status in Canada in 2010, an increase of more than 4,000 compared to 2009. In
terms of source country for immigrants, India was second only to the Philippines. For
skilled Indian professionals, the economic categories are very attractive. Many Indians
have done very well in this country as entrepreneurs, executives, academicians and in
public life.
In addition to skilled workers, another popular Canadian immigration route for Indians is
the student category. Recent initiatives from Canadian immigration like the postgraduation work permit programme and Canadian Experience Class have become
attractive options for Indian students. In 2011, around 13,000 Indian students studied in
Canada.
The Canadian Experience Class fast-tracks permanent residency visa applications for
skilled temporary foreign workers and graduate students who have spent time in Canada
on temporary visas.
In order to be eligible for this visa class, applicants must be either: a temporary foreign
worker with at least two years of full-time skilled work experience in Canada, or a
foreign graduate from a Canadian post-secondary institution with at least one year of fulltime skilled work experience in Canada. Applicants must also be fluent in English or
French and apply while working in Canada or within one year of leaving their job in
Canada.
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are far more likely than native born Canadians to initially have low incomes, with income
and employment rates increasing towards the national average with more time spent in
Canada.
According to Canada's Immigration Program (October 2004), Canada has the highest per
capita immigration rate in the world, although statistics in the CIA World Factbook shows
that a number of city states and small island nations, as well as some larger countries in
regions with refugee movements, have higher per capita rates. In 2004, Canada received
235,824 immigrants. Canada is also unusual among western nations in the widespread
popular support for high rates of immigration, and in recent years support for
immigration has increased in Canada. All of Canada's major political parties support
either sustaining or increasing the current level of immigration. While its predecessor
the Reform Party expressed concern about immigration the current Conservative
government has no plans to reduce immigrations levels. Prime MinisterStephen Harper,
on announcing changes to the immigration act assured Canadians that "on immigration
generally I want to be clear that this government favours an aggressive immigration
policy. We are bringing in more immigrants than any previous government." The previous
Liberal government was even more strongly in favour of a high immigration rate,
proposing increasing immigration by some 20,000 people per year. The high immigration
policy is most often justified through economic arguments. Former Prime Minister Paul
Martin, for instance, argued that immigration rates should be increased to make up for the
shortage of skilled workers and to compensate for an aging population.
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Canada has thus faced acute labour shortages and has responded by actively searching for
immigrants. In the late 19th century this included bringing Chinese migrants to build
the Canadian Pacific Railway and actively advertising in Europe to find farmers with
the Last Best West campaign. Today similar recruitment efforts are needed to staff the oil
sands projects in Alberta.
Another factor that may lead Canadians to support high immigration levels is Canada's
low birth rate. The theory is that new residents can assist in meeting future government
obligations relating to pay-as-you-go liabilities. The economic dangers of population
decline are not universally accepted. Organizations like the Fraser Institute, a
conservative think tank, question whether a declining population would reduce or
increase per capita income, noting that in the short term, with a stable economy, fewer
people would increase the per capita income simply because you divide the income
among fewer people. The study's authors conducted a series of studies using large
amounts of census data (844,476 individuals) and conclude that immigrants who arrived
from 1987-2004 paid only 57% of the taxes paid by average Canadian in 2006, with the
effect that taxes from immigrants do not exceed the government expenses relating to
them (a gap of $23 billion annually according to their numbers). A study by the C. D.
Howe Institute, another conservative think tank, suggests that immigration cannot keep
Canada's population young and could possibly contribute to population ageing in the near
term. Employment statistics also bring into question whether skilled worker immigrants,
with a 34% unemployment rate, are successfully meeting existing labour market needs in
Canada. Many developed nations have much lower fertility rates than Canada but have
not embraced immigration.
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A wide array of scholars and organizations have supported Canada's immigration policy.
In 1995 economic research firm DRI-McGraw Hill Inc. react with alarm to proposed
reductions in immigration levels. They acknowledged that immigration comes with short
term costs, but argued that in the long run immigration boosts employment and economic
output. One of the most ringing endorsements of a high immigration rate came from the
1991 report by the Economic Council of Canada, the first detailed analysis of Canadian
policy. It called for immigration to be increased to eventually bring Canada's population
to 100 million. While it found that the economic benefits to Canada of immigration were
fairly small, the benefits to the newcomers themselves were extremely large. The report
concluded that "it would be hard not to recommend an increase when immigrants can
gain so much and Canadians not only do not lose but actually make slight economic
gains." In 2005 a report by the Royal Bank of Canada called for boosting Canada's
immigration rate by 30% to 400,000 per year to ensure continued economic growth.
On the other side of the debate, there is a movement to reduce immigration to Canada.
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The Canadian system puts great emphasis on finding skilled immigrants, however this
system does not always work. Immigrants to Canada are more skilled than immigrants to
the United States.
Within the Canadian economy, immigrants are most found at the highest education levels.
In Canada, 38% of male workers with a post-graduate degree are immigrants to the
country. 23% of Canadians are foreign born, but 49% of doctorate holders and 40% of
those with a masters degree were born outside Canada. A persistent problem for skilled
immigrants is the recognition of foreign credentials. While Canada recruits people to
come based on their degrees, many newcomers arrive to find employers and professional
organizations not recognizing their foreign education. As the percentage of skilled
newcomers as a share of total migrants has increased, so has this problem. From 2001 to
2006 56% of immigrants who arrived in Canada held a university degree, a sharp
increase over the 28% who arrived prior to 2001. In other nations immigrants also find
difficulties getting their credentials recognized. An international study by the Migrant
Integration Policy Index, sponsored by the research division of the British Council and
100 other signatories, assigned its highest score (3 out of 3) to Canada for the "State
facilitation of recognition of skills and qualifications"indicator in their 2006 study of
27 European countries and Canada. The sheer number of skilled migrants to Canada does
make the problem a more significant one in that country and politicians of all parties have
called for change in this area.
The setting of standards for, or recognition of, almost all professional credentials does not
fall within the federal government's control and are therefore not determined by either
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federal laws or Citizenship and Immigration Canada policies, but Citizenship and
Immigration Canada established the Foreign Credentials Referral Office to provide
something like a directory assistance service for immigrants. The Government
of Ontario enacted the Fair Access to Regulated Professions Act, 2006 to help immigrants
qualify for 34 provincially regulated professions.
Wages:
One important effect of this steady influx of highly skilled immigrants is the reduction
of income inequality in Canada. A steady stream of doctors and engineers into the
economy reduces wages for these professions. In the United States immigration patterns
are reversed, and income inequality is much higher as a partial result. In terms of the
impact of immigration to economy-wide wage levels, Statistics Canada estimates that for
every 10% increase in the population from immigration, wages in Canada are now
reduced by 4% on average (with the greatest impact to more skilled workers, such as
workers with post-graduate degrees whose wages are reduced by 7%).
In part because of the credential issue, many immigrants are forced to find work below
their education level and at lower wages. However, even for doing work of the same skill
level, immigrants are much less well compensating than their native born counterparts.
Immigration scholar Jeffrey Reitz calculated that in 2001 native Canadians were
benefiting from, and immigrants were losing out on, between $2 and 3 billion per year
due to this imbalance.
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There are a number of possible explanations for why newcomers earn less than native
Canadians in the same jobs with the same skills. Lower hourly wages might be an
indication that the labour productivity of immigrants is lower, and employers thus have
reason to pay them less. New workers are also less familiar with the Canadian labour
market and will thus not be able to maximize their salaries. Employers will also be less
familiar with an immigrant's background and thus less willing to offer the same salary as
to a native.Immigrants, especially visible minorities have different values than nativeborn Canadians as they tend to favour living in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver as
opposed to other places much more than native-born Canadians. Due to lower mobility,
they do not access better paying jobs, such as in Alberta and Saskatchewan. This has been
changing with Calgary already surpassing Montreal in terms of percentage of visible
minorities. Visible minorities in Saskatchewan earn higher wages than native-born
Canadians.
Employment:
In recent years the unemployment rate for newcomers has also increased. In 1981 those
who had just arrived had a high rate of unemployment, but those who had been in the
country five years were more likely than average to be employed. By 2001 the transition
period had expanded, and now it takes ten years before newcomers reach the same
employment rate as those born in Canada. In 2006, the unemployment rate of recently
arrived immigrants year was 11.5%, considerably above the native Canadian average of
4.9%. For more established immigrants who had been in Canada between 5 and 10 years
the rate fell to 7.3%
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One of the most important studies of the economic impact of immigration to Canada
is Morton Beiser's Strangers at the Gate. This study looked at the arrival of
the Vietnamese boat people who began to arrive in Canada in 1979 to much controversy.
The total number of refugees was 60,000, the largest single group of refugees to ever
arrive in Canada. Beiser first studied the boat people upon their arrival, finding that few
spoke English or French, that most were farmers with few skills useful in Canada, and
that they had arrived with no assets with which to establish themselves. Beiser then
followed the progress of the boat people to see what effect they would have on Canada.
Within ten years of arrival the boat people had an unemployment rate 2.3% lower than
the Canadian average. One in five had started a business, 99% had successfully applied to
become Canadian citizens, and they were considerably less likely than average to receive
some form of social assistance
Income:
Higher rates of unemployment and lower wages combine to give newcomers less income
than the Canadian average. Analysis of census data as of 2000 shows that immigrant
incomes were at 80% of the national average after 10 years of residing in Canada. In
previous decades, immigrant income levels did rise to the national average after 10 years,
but in recent years the situation has deteriorated. A 2003 study published by Statistics
Canada noted that "in 1980 recent immigrants had low-income rates 1.4 times that of
Canadian born; by 2000 they were 2.5 times higher, at 35.8%." The study noted that the
deterioration was widespread and affected most types of immigrants. The 2003 study
explains that the low-income rate among non-immigrants declined in the 1990s, but this
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was more than offset by the income profile of new immigrants, resulting in a net rise in
Canada's total low-income rate. An updated January 2007 study by Statistics Canada,
explains that the deterioration continued into the next decade, with the low-income rate of
recent immigrants reaching rates of 3.5 times that of Canadian born in 2002 and 2003,
before edging back to 3.2 times in 2004.[1] The 2007 study explains that this deterioration
has occurred even though Canada implemented changes in 1993 to encourage more
highly educated immigrants, with 45% of new immigrants having university degrees as
of 2004.
In 1991 the Economic Council of Canada found that periods of immigration were not
directly linked to periods of high growth. They noted that "a historical perspective gives
little or no support to the view that immigration is needed for economic prosperity. In the
19th and early 20th centuries, the fastest growth in per capita real incomes occurred at
times when net immigration was nil or negative. Later in the 20th century, the opposite
linkage is seen but, clearly, there is no long-term correlation." However, the same report
found that a high rate of immigration was good for Canada's future, and recommended
expanding immigration rates to bring Canada's population to 100 million. A University of
Montreal study published in 2002 by professor Marc Termote used different methods and
studied different countries and concluded that immigration has no statistically significant
impact to the per capita income of a country.
Decline in economic well being:
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Over the last 25 years the economic position of newcomers to Canada relative to the
native population has steadily declined. A number of hypotheses have been advanced to
explain these issues.
1. The selection process is flawed;
2. Government and corporate policies deliberately shift immigrants to secondary
sector occupations. These are jobs characterized by high instability, hazardous
work environments, and low pay. Inherently those involved in these sectors will
have lower wages and more periods of unemployment. In several European
countries the immigration system is almost fully designed to try to fill these
positions. This is less the case in Canada, but significant recruitment programs
for sectors such as agriculture and oil and gas recruit many workers to perilous
jobs.
3. Newer immigrants from outside of Europe are victims of racial discrimination.
4. Canada's social programs create incentives that conflict with the employment
objective; and/or
5. Increased job competition among even native-born Canadians has increased the
importance of relying on networking to access the "hidden market," putting
immigrants at a disadvantage given their lack of deep and broad networks.
A January 2007 study by Statistics Canada analyzed the drop in income of economic
immigrants from several perspectives.Economic immigrants are now more likely to begin
their stay in Canada with a "low-income" (less than 50% of the median income) than an
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immigrant in any of the other immigration classes. This drop occurred during the 1990s
and early 2000s despite the percentage of immigrants arriving with degrees in the
economic class (including principal applicants, spouses, and dependents) rising from 29%
in 1992 to 56% in 2003.
Stating an intention to reduce a backlog of immigration applicants of all classes, and to
better target the required skills needed in Canada, the federal government passed a law in
2008 that gave the immigration minister new powers to alter immigrant selection. Many
expected that these powers would be used to favour workers in skilled trades over
immigrants selected on the basis of education through the points system.
While the well being of immigrants has declined in recent years, this has not affected
second generation immigrants, or those who came to Canada as a child. This group is one
of the most successful in Canada, with education and earning levels well above that of
their parents and also above the Canadian average.
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A review of public opinion polls conducted in Canada over recent decades clearly shows
strong support for high immigration levels. Most respondents said they would support
either keeping the number of immigrants at the current level or increasing it. In fact, the
highest level of support was in the most recent year in the series: 2005. The positive trend
continued to 2010, according to poll results obtained between 2004 and 2010 by EKOS
Research Associates using a similar question. In July 2004, the proportion who supported
current levels or higher was 63 percent, compared to 31 percent who thought there were
too many immigrants. In April 2010, following a short but sharp recession, the proportion
supporting current levels or higher was 67 percent, compared to 23 percent who thought
there were too many immigrants. The most recent poll , showed a slight upward trend in
agreement that there is too much immigration, but still a clear majority (58 percent)
disagreed with the statement.
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Wider Effects:
Government assistance:
The government has a large department and a number of programs to try to ensure the
well being of immigrants to Canada, and ameliorate their economic condition.
The Citizenship and Immigration Canada department employs 5,000 staff, which on a per
capita basis is 3 times more than the 15,000 U.S. Citizenship and Immigration
Services employees. Citizenship and Immigration Canada recoups some of its department
costs through landing fees. In 2006, the Canadian government reduced the landing fee per
immigrant by 50%.
New immigrants are also entitled to settlement assistance such as free language training
under provincial government administered programs usually called Language Instruction
for Newcomers to Canada (LINC), for which the federal government budgeted about
$350 million to give to the provinces for the fiscal year 2006-2007. The majority of the
$350 million was allocated to Quebec under the Canada-Quebec Accord, at $196 million
per year, even though immigration to Quebec represented only 16.5% of all immigration
to Canada in 2005. The $350 million is budgeted to increase by an additional $90 million
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The presence within Canada of people representative of many different cultures and
nations has also been an important boost to Canada's international trade. Immigrants will
often have expertise, linguistic skills, personal connections with their country of origin
that can help forge international trade ties. Studies have found that Canada does have
greater trade relations with those nations that have provided large numbers of
immigrants. Canada's economy is heavily centered on international trade, which
accounted for 36% of GDP in 2006. 86.9% of Canadian exports go to the United States.
Negative Effects:
Immigration can have positive and negative impacts on both the host (recipient) country,
and the original country.
Immigrants can be exploited for their cheap labor;
Developing countries may suffer brain drain as the limited resources they
spend in educating their students amount to very little if that talent is enticed
to another country. Human capital flight, more commonly referred to as
"brain drain", is the large-scale emigration of a large group of individuals
withtechnical skills or knowledge. The reasons usually include two aspects
which respectively come from countries and individuals. In terms of countries,
the reasons may be social environment (in source countries: lack of
opportunities, political instability, economic depression, health risks, etc.; in
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Conclusion:
The analysis in this study points some main conclusions. There are certain positive
effects of migration to Canada, as we have seen above. Some of them are wages, welfare
effects, supply of labour, employment, migrant students, remittance...etc.
But there are also numerous drawbacks like brain drain, problem of social integration,
illegal immigrants, cheap labour, fiscal imbalanceetc.
Canadian public opinion continues to support immigration quite strongly. Across the
country, there is broad support in the contexts of region, urban and rural communities.
This support has been particularly strong in the past 15 to 20 years, when immigration
levels have been relatively high. Second, there are both economic and cultural
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motivations for this support. A large proportion of Canadians seems convinced of the
economic benefits of immigration; they also accept multiculturalism as part of the
national identity and accordingly support the continuance of relatively high levels of
immigration. both social and economic views of immigration are rooted in some of the
more basic outlooks that prevail in Canada. On the economic side, Canadians tend to take
an optimistic and expansionist view of their economic future as citizens of Canada and as
private individuals. This optimism is a basic feature of their support for immigration. On
the social and cultural side, Canadian multiculturalism is related to other socially
progressive views that prevail in the country.
Bibliography:
Immigration: Its Evils and Consequences By Samuel Clagett Busey
Websites:
www.globalissues.org
www.bfm.admin.ch
www.bbb.co.uk
www.worldsavvy.org
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