CANADA IMMIGRATION

Immigration to Canada is the process by which people migrate to Canada for the purpose of residing there—and where a  majority go on to become Canadian citizens. As of 2019, Canada has the eighth largest immigrant population in the world, while foreign-born people make up about one-fifth (21% in 2019) of Canada’s population—one of the highest ratios for industrialized Western countries.

In current Canadian law, immigrants are distinguished by four categories:

Family: persons closely related to one or more Canadian residents who live in Canada.

Economic: skilled workers, caregivers, or business persons.

Protected person or Refugee:  Persons who are escaping persecution, torture, and/or cruel and unusual punishment.

Humanitarian or other: persons accepted as immigrants for humanitarian or compassionate reasons.

Following Canada’s confederation in 1867, immigration played an integral role in helping develop vast tracts of land. During this era, the Canadian Government would sponsor information campaigns and recruiters to encourage settlement in rural areas; however, this would primarily be only towards those of European and Christian backgrounds, while others—particularly Buddhist, Shinto, Sikh, Muslim, and Jewish immigrants—as well as the poor, ill, and disabled, would be less than welcome. Following 1947, in the post-World War II period, Canadian domestic immigration law and policy went through significant changes, most notably with the Immigration Act, 1976, and the current Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) from 2002.

In a 2020 poll conducted by Nanos Research Group, 17 percent of respondents said an increase to the number of immigrants accepted into the country (compared to 2019) was acceptable, 36 percent said there should be no change, and 40 percent wanted a reduction.[69] Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) data in 2020 shows that there were 12,122 deportations and out of them 1,657 were administrative removals.

Canada offers Canadian citizenship through naturalization. In 2006, the Canadian government reduced the landing fee per immigrant by 50%. In June 2017, the implementation of the first of a series of important reforms to the Citizenship Act took effect. These reforms restored many of the previous requirements that were in place for over 3 decades in Canada before they were removed and replaced with more stringent criteria by the former Conservative government in 2015. The most important of these changes include:

The requirement of permanent residence for 3 out of 5 years during the period immediately prior to filing the application.

Removal of a physical presence rule.

Persons aged 14 to 54 years must pass a Canadian knowledge test and demonstrate a basic ability in either of English or French, Canada’s official languages.

Revocation of citizenship must follow a more formal and balanced process.