Land of Opportunity – Canada: Immigration PoliciesMohit Mamtani, Composition and Rhetoric (ENGL17889GD)Sheridan College Land of Opportunity – Canada: Immigration Policies Canada is amongthe globe’s most open-minded nations for immigrants and has one of the best percapita admission rates.
It has a long andrich experience of immigrants that is engraved within sense of nationhood.On an average ithas offered permanent residency to approximately 200,000 immigrants andrefugees per year. The goal of immigration system has always been to encourageyouthful, bilingual and high-skilled immigration in order to construct itshuman capital against Canada’s aging labour.
Canada has earned a global respectfor an “open arms” attitude. But, after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, U.S. standwas to secure its borders. The terrorists that were arrested in June includedthe Muslims of foreign nationalities.
There were many questions that wereraised about Canada’s immigration system and its capability of absorbing thoseimmigrants in Canada. Canada’s Evolution inImmigration Policies Similar to theU.S., Canada is a few of those countries where immigration has evolved it’ssociety and culture. With its small population and huge area of unsettled land,Canada’s immigration policy was initiated with a desire for expansion.
After providingfree immigration to immigrants from 1867 to 1895, Canada understood the need toput a filter on the immigrants. Canada began to manage its immigration policiesin the late 19th century. It allowed the immigration to “white” American,British and the European applicants and restricted the immigration from rest ofthe world who could not prove themselves to be European. These policiesincluded many Immigration Acts like Immigration Act of 1910, 1919 and 1952.In the early20th century, the regulations of Immigration Policies were overturned as theywere agreed to be racist and not fair criteria to classify individuals.Canada began tolimit the immigrants and adopted policies that did not classify applicantsbased on their ethnic origins.In 1967, apoints system was introduced to determine if an applicant is eligible to enterinto the country.
The preference was given to the people who were educated andspeak either English or French.These policieswere rewritten and Immigration Act of 1976 was made. This act made Canadaemerge out to be the destination for immigrants all over the world.
This newact was built on three admission blocks : independent applicants were assessedon the basis of points awarded for employment skills, education, and languageabilities rather national or “racial” origin; sponsorship by closefamily members; and refugee status.This actemphasized greatly upon family reunification and humanitarian concern overeconomic interest. In 2001, thisAct got replaced by Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. This policyemphasized more on education, language and adaptability. This helped Canadabuild a wall against the unwanted immigrants to the country. This actinfluenced the immigration flow into the country. There were many immigrantsthat Canada was looking forward to immigrate into the country and build thenation.
This Act gave Canada the required skilled work force that could developthe country. This Act influenced many immigrants and in couple of years, 60percent of those immigrants were found to be highly educated immigrants.The number ofEconomic immigrants drastically rose after this Act compared to Families orRefugee status.
Distribution ofImmigration Policies • Economic (57.5 percent): The selection in this category is laid uponthree factors namely :- high level of education, job experience and languageskills. The program that has helped the country the most to bring in Economictype of immigrants is Federal Skilled Worker Program. This program has broughtin more than 81 percent of the economic immigrants to the country.
This programhas set point system criteria including parameters of education, age,proficiency in English or French and adaptabilities. These immigrants may betermed as building blocks of Canada. The economic immigrants are the ripenfruit to the economy• Family reunification (28 percent):This includes spouses and children joining the family members who are alreadyliving in Canada. This may be termed as the second largest group of immigrantsin Canada. These immigrants may or may not affect the country’s economics. Thistype of immigration offer good opportunity to the new citizens by giving them achance to reunite with their family.
• Refugees (14.5 percent): This is thesmallest groups of immigrants that are admitted to Canada. This includes bothhumanitarian resettlement programs and Asylum protection. The Refugees and theAsylum have been a constant component of the immigration program. The countrycategorizes the refugees into two parts namely: – resettled refugees and asylumseekers.
The country remains very careful when dealing with these types ofimmigrants. They must be referred by a trusted organization like the UnitedNations High Commissioner for Refugees. They must clear at least two of theface to face interviews, biometrics, travel history check and database crosscheck.The screening is also done by CSIS, CBSA and the RCMP to make sure that theimmigrants are safe to be granted a refugee status to come to Canada. In 2016,there were 15,000 such applicants, the third of these applicants were rejectedand that’s not even counting the hundreds of applications that were alreadyterminated due to criminal records or they abandoned their claims.
How government helpsimmigrantsCanada providesimmigrants with language training and access to Canada’s national health careand social welfare programs. Canadian government is more concerned about theeconomy of the country and therefore keeps a close eye on the economicindicators. The economic indicators indicate that immigrants arrived in the1990s have had more problems and difficulties coping with the economic successof those who arrived in 1980s.Some studiesalso show that some of the skilled immigrants despite their academic excellencefail in getting a job in Canada.
The reason could be lack of languageproficiency. The other valid reason for this could be that the immigrationpolicies stress more on the academic’s part which are the core knowledge ratherthan the soft skills or the presentation skills. So people are able to sit inthe interview but lack of soft skill go against them getting hired. Canada’simmigration and citizens policies provide them with language classes that arefunded by the government. This helps these immigrants develop their skills andget employed easily.
Another majorproblem that rose was the income level. It was seen that the non-whiteCanadians were hired on a lower income level when compared to their whiteCanadian counterparts. This problem got fade away by time. When the immigrantskept rising, the second or the third-generation immigrants came and thediscrimination got less and less prominent. The attitude of the general publicalso changed and got better year after year. After Justin Trudeau became theprime minister a lot changed in the prospective of the public.
He was able to conveyhis message about immigration and immigrants to the public very efficiently. Canada’s policies onasylum seekers?Since the worldwar II, Canada has admitted refugees. It is known for having relatively liberalpolicies on asylum.
Any person who arrives in Canada is eligible to apply forrefugee status anywhere in the country.There are twoparts to this process. First, the claim is presented to the Citizenship andImmigration Canada(CIC). Then the CIC takes a decision on whether the claimmade by the individual is eligible to be referred to the Immigration andRefugee Board(IRB). Then the final decision is made by this board if the personcan be given a refugee status or not.
If person receives a refugee status thenthe person is eligible to apply for permanent residency.In the pastdecade Canada has become one of the few countries to admit refugees into theircountry. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees have estimated that230,000 refugees and asylum seekers are admitted in Canada. The Validity of theOppositionThere could besome concerns regarding the immigration policies of Canada such as security,threat to economy, loss of culture, illegal work, admitting terrorist anddepletion of resources. However, the openness and law enforcement havecompletely rubbished the concerns and today Canada is diverse community countrysupporting multiple cultures, language and nationalities.
It has also been ableto balance its talent requirement and made the people responsible, bypartnering with them and offering them immigration and citizenship. Thispartnership process has been appreciated by the world and made Canada the bestcountry to stay. Immigration has also helped Canada improve its economy throughinvestments. ConclusionThe world ismoving to a global concept restoring faith in humanity and supporting allshades of life and people.
Canada has emerged as a true example ensuringbenefit of all on a larger platform.Canada has showna constant growth and has invited the refugees and immigrants from all over theworld. Immigration has shown a positive effect on the Canadian economy and itspeople, thus validating the immigration policies. This gives Canada the titleit really deserves – “The Land of opportunity”. References Profile of internationally-educated immigrants aged 25 to 64. (2015, November 27). Retrieved January 23, 2018, from https://www.
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