Attract instead of deter in Canada

While many countries have taken a defensive approach to immigration, Canada has long adopted a different, more aggressive approach. They don’t try to curb immigration there, but think about which foreigners they want and then specifically recruit them. Because Canada, like many Western countries, is suffering from an aging population and a shortage of skilled workers, the government has now intensified efforts to attract suitable economic immigrants this year.

Not the origin decides, but the number of points

At the beginning of November, the government in Ottawa announced that by 2025 to let 500,000 immigrants into the country every year. This is an increase of 25 percent compared to 2021. Last year, Canada issued permanent residence permits to 405,000 foreigners – a historic record number. Canada has recruited at least 1 percent of its population of 38 million from abroad every year since 2002, regardless of government policies. That means there is a broad, cross-party consensus for the system. Most immigrants came and come from India, Pakistan and China. The Canadian city of Vancouver, for example, is nicknamed Hongcouver because of the many residents who immigrated from Hong Kong in the 1990s.

The points system, which is still in use today, was introduced in 1967 by then Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau, father of the current Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The basic idea was that, unlike in many other countries, it was not the country of origin that was decisive for admission, but rather the qualification. Anyone applying for a residence permit must meet certain criteria. This includes language skills, training, professional qualifications and professional experience. There are points for all of these factors.

If you get at least 67 out of 100 points, you get the green light. A job offer helps and gives points, but is not a mandatory requirement. About half of the immigrants come to the country via this economic points system. The quota is to be increased to 60 percent by 2025. Only a minority of migrants enter Canada as part of family reunification.

Canada vs USA

The system has proven itself so far, even if there are still problems with the recognition of foreign – especially Asian – diplomas. The assessment of work experience and the translation of job references are sometimes difficult. As a result, about a fifth of the perfectly qualified immigrants – teachers, engineers, doctors – could not find suitable work; they ended up in jobs for which they were actually overqualified and eventually left the country again. The government would like to intensify its efforts in this area.

Of the Contrast between the Canadian and American models catches the eye. It is true that both are immigration countries par excellence, and in both Canada and the USA the percentage of residents who were born abroad is higher than at any time in the last hundred years. But the US is experiencing a peak in illegal border crossings, and many Americans – unlike the majority of Canadians – feel they have lost control of immigration. President Biden is under attack from the Republicans, but the immigration issue is also causing disagreements within the Democratic Party.

Different geographical conditions

There are also basic geographic ones differences between the two countries. In contrast to Canada, the prosperous USA shares a long border with an emerging country in the southwest, from which not only Mexicans but also people from numerous other Latin American countries stream to the supposed Eldorado. In addition, Canada has almost unlimited space. In terms of area it is the second largest country in the world, a little larger than the USA, but has only 38 million inhabitants, which is about as many as Poland. The population of the USA, on the other hand, is almost ten times as large, at 332 million.

The USA also has an immigration program for skilled workers, called H1-B. But it is limited to 85,000 visas per year. A large part of legal immigration concerns the family reunification of settled immigrants. On the other hand, Australia and New Zealand, which are also major immigration countries, have similar point systems to Canada.

Aside from migrant workers, Canada also has one of the highest numbers of host refugees of any western country. The intake of 59,000 was planned for 2021, but in the wake of Covid-19 and border closures there were only 20,428, as the Migration Minister Sean Fraser announced. His regretful tone was in striking contrast to attitudes in other countries. He added that the aim is to take in 76,000 refugees by 2023.

Almost half of Toronto’s residents are foreigners

However, even in Canada, things are not entirely without resistance. A new right-wing nationalist party, the People’s Party of Canada (PPC), was founded in 2018 and called for migration to be curbed. However, all candidates had no chance in the 2019 election.

Irregular immigration is far from reaching the dimensions in the United States, but there are also hundreds of illegal crossings every day at the border between Canada and the United States. In general, the acceptance of migrants varies. Big cities like Toronto and Vancouver suffer from a housing shortage and high rents. Many of its residents fear that these problems could worsen as immigration increases. Toronto with its 2.5 million inhabitants is considered one of the most international cities in the world; 49 percent of its residents were born outside of Canada.

A special case is the French-speaking province of Quebec, where almost a quarter of Canada’s population lives. The government there has announced that it intends to take in only 10 percent of the new immigrants. Quebec Premier François Legault expressed concern that a larger quota could weaken the French language. The government there has been trying for a long time to attract primarily Francophone immigrants. But it is primarily West Africans and Haitians who come, and less the hoped-for French, Belgians or Swiss.