Immigration to Canada

Immigration to Canada is the process by which people migrate to Canada and become nationals of the country. As Canada is a relatively new country, a formal immigration process has not been around for very long. Nevertheless, people have been migrating to the geographic region of Canada for thousands of years, patterns varying. After 1947 domestic immigration law went through many major changes, most notably with the Immigration Act, 1976 and the current Immigration and Refugee Protection Act from 2002.

In Canada there are three categories of immigrants: family class (closely related persons), independent immigrants (admitted on the basis of skill, capital and labour-market requirements) and refugees. When processing applicants, immigration officers are instructed to give priority to persons seeking family reunification and to refugees. Independent applicants without family but with required skills or capital are considered next.

Currently Canada is known as a country with a broad immigration policy which is reflected in Canada's ethnic diversity. According to the 2001 census by Statcan Canada has 34 ethnic groups with at least one hundred thousand members each, of which 10 have over 1,000,000 people and numerous others represented in smaller amounts. 13.4% of the population belonged to visible minorities: most numerous among these are Chinese (3.5% of the population), South Asian (3.1%), Black (2.2%), and Filipino (1.0%).

In 2004, Canada received 235,824 immigrants. The top ten sending countries, by state of origin, were People's Republic of China (37,280), India (28,183), Philippines (13,900), Pakistan (13,011), Iran (6,491), United States (6,470), Romania (5,816), United Kingdom (5,353), South Korea (5,351), and Colombia (4,600).

Immigration and Births in Canada from 1850 to 2000

History

Main articles: History of immigration to Canada and History of Canadian nationality law

After the initial period of British and French colonization, four major waves (or peaks) of immigration and settlement of non-aboriginal peoples took place over a period of almost two centuries, the fifth wave is currently ongoing.

The first significant, non-aboriginal immigration to Canada occurred over almost two centuries with slow but progressive French settlement of Quebec and Acadia with smaller numbers of American and European entrepreneurs in addition to British military personnel. This wave culminated with the influx of British Loyalists fleeing the American Revolution, chiefly from the Mid-Atlantic States.

The second wave from Britain and Ireland was encouraged to settle in Canada after the War of 1812, which included British army regulars who had served in the war by the colonial governors of Canada, who were worried about another American invasion attempt and to counter the French-speaking influence of Quebec, rushed to promote settlement in back country areas along newly constructed plank roads within organized land tracts, mostly in Upper Canada (present-day Ontario).

With the second wave Scottish and Irish immigration to Canada had been increasing when the Irish Potato Famine occurred from 1846-1849 resulting in hundreds of thousands more Irish arriving on Canada's shores, although a significant portion migrated to the United States over the subsequent decades. By 1867, over 80 percent of immigrants arrived in Canada by steamer. Although overall out migration to the more populous United States has exceeded immigrants coming from the US, there has been sustained immigration from the US over last two centuries and short periods of heavier migration in addition to the loyalist settlement, for example during 19th century Gold Rushes to British Columbia and later the Yukon; land-seekers to the Prairies in the early 20th century and also during periods of political turmoil, for example the Vietnam War. During the 20th century, heavy waves of immigration, mostly from continental Europe peaked in 1910-1913 (over 400,000 in 1913) and again 1957 (282,000) making Canada a more multicultural country with substantial non-English or French speaking populations. For example, Ukrainian Canadians account for the largest Ukrainian population outside of the Ukraine and Russia. Periods of low immigration also occurred during the first and second wars, in addition to the Great Depression period.

Come to Stay, printed in 1880 in the Canadian Illustrated News, which refers to immigration to the "Dominion".

Immigration since the 1970s until present has overwhelmingly been visible minorities from the developing world since restrictions on non-white immigration were altogether removed, starting when Lester B. Pearson was Prime Minister with the revised Immigration Act, 1967 and this continued to be official government policy under his successor, Pierre Trudeau. During the Mulroney government, immigration levels were increased further by the late 1980s which have been maintained with slight fluctuations since (225,000-275,000 annually).

Prior to 1885, restrictions on immigration were imposed mostly in response to large waves of immigration rather than planned policy decisions, but not specifically targeted at one group or ethnicity, at least as official policy. Then came the introduction of the first Chinese Head Tax legislation passed in 1885, which was in response to a growing number of Chinese working on the Canadian Pacific Railroad. Subsequent increases in the head tax in 1900 and 1903 limited Chinese entrants to Canada. In 1923 the government passed the Chinese Immigration Act which excluded Chinese from entering Canada altogether between 1923 and 1947. For discriminating against Chinese immigrants in past periods, an official government apology and compensations were announced on June 22, 2006.

Canadian citizenship was originally created under the Immigration Act, 1910, to designate those British subjects who were domiciled in Canada. All other British subjects required permission to land. A separate status of "Canadian national" was created under the Canadian Nationals Act, 1921, which was defined as being a Canadian citizen as defined above, their wives, and any children (fathered by such citizens) that had not yet landed in Canada. After the passage of the Statute of Westminster in 1931, the monarchy thus ceased to be an exclusively British institution. Because of this Canadians, and others living in countries that became known as Commonwealth Realms, were known as subjects of the Crown. However in legal documents the term "British subject" continued to be used.

Canada was the first nation in the then British Commonwealth to establish its own nationality law in 1946, with the enactment of the Canadian Citizenship Act 1946. This took effect on 1 January 1947. In order to acquire Canadian citizenship on 1 January 1947 one generally had to be a British subject on that date, an Indian or Eskimo, or had been admitted to Canada as landed immigrants before that date. The phrase British subject refers in general to anyone from the UK, its colonies at the time, or a Commonwealth country. Acquisition and loss of British subject status before 1947 was determined by United Kingdom law (see History of British nationality law).

On 15 February 1977, Canada removed restrictions on dual citizenship. Many of the provisions to acquire or lose Canadian citizenship that existed under the 1946 legislation were repealed. Canadian citizens are in general no longer subject to involuntary loss of citizenship, barring revocation on the grounds of immigration fraud.

Statistics Canada has tabulated the effect of immigration on population growth in Canada from 1851 to 2001.

Immigration rate

In 2001, 250,640 people immigrated to Canada. Based on the Canada 2001 Census total population of 30,007,094 people, immigration represented 0.834% population growth that year. On a compounded basis, that immigration rate represents 8.7% population growth over 10 years, or 23.1% over 25 years (or 6.9 million people). Since 2001, immigration has ranged between 221,352 and 262,236 immigrants per annum. 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 show 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. The three main official reasons given for the high level of immigration are:

A. The social component – Canada facilitates family reunification.

B. The humanitarian component – Relating to refugees.

C. The economic component – Attracting immigrants who will contribute economically and fill labour market needs (See related article, Economic impact of immigration to Canada).

The level of immigration peaked in 1993 in the last year of the Progressive Conservative government and was maintained by Liberal Party of Canada. Ambitious targets of an annual 1% per capita immigration rate were hampered by financial constraints. The Liberals committed to raising actual immigration levels further in 2005. All political parties are now cautious about criticising of the high level of immigration, because, as noted by the Globe and Mail, "in the early 1990s, the old Reform Party was branded 'racist' for suggesting that immigration levels be lowered from 250,000 to 150,000."

Immigrant population growth is disproportionally concentrated in or near large cities (particularly Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal). These cities are experiencing the strains that accompany strong population growth causing some residents to express concern about the declining livability of those cities. For example, a Toronto Star article published on 14 July 2006 authored by Daniel Stoffman noted that 43% of immigrants move to the Greater Toronto Area and said "unless Canada cuts immigrant numbers, our major cities will not be able to maintain their social and physical infrastructures". Most of the provinces that do not have one of those destination cities have implemented strategies to try to boost their share of immigration.

According to Citizenship and Immigration Canada, under the Canada-Quebec Accord, Quebec has sole responsibility for selecting most immigrants destined to the province. Quebec has been admitting about the same number of immigrants as the number choosing to immigrate to British Columbia even though its population is almost twice as large.

Immigration categories

There are three main immigration categories:

• Economic immigrants - Citizenship and Immigration Canada uses several sub-categories of economic immigrants. The high-profile Skilled worker principal applicants group comprised 19.8% of all immigration in 2005. In 2001 (the date of the last immigrant employment study) Skilled worker principal applicant landed immigrants had a 34% unemployment rate. Spouses and children of Skilled workers comprised an even larger percentage of the Economic immigrant category at 29.3% of all immigration.
• Family class - Under a government program, both citizens and permanent residents can sponsor family members to immigrate to Canada. While this program has proven to be popular with recent immigrants, it has also been criticized by some for being too open-ended (i.e., a never-ending cycle of people related to yet more people which ultimately extends well beyond the original sponsor), a non-citizen can be a sponsor, and it allows retirees to immigrate who have not contributed significantly to the funding of the Canadian infrastructure, medical or social services system (the free rider problem). This category of immigrants also has a much lower labour force participation rate than economic immigrants.
• Refugees - Immigration of refugees and those in need of protection. This immigrant population has a high unemployment record (51% in 2001) of an already small labour participation rate (44%), resulting in extended financial dependence on government assistance for the vast majority of refugees.

Under Canadian nationality law an immigrant can apply for citizenship after living in Canada for 1095 days (3 years) in any 4 year period.

Illegal immigration in Canada

There is no credible information available on illegal immigration in Canada. Some estimates suggest that there may be up to 500,000 illegal immigrants in Canada. A further unsubstantiated claim is that most are refugee claimants whose refugee applications were rejected by the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada. If already in the country, Canada does not ask any type of immigration applicant to re-enter the country for any extension or approval of their status. This differs from the U.S. which insists on re-entry for most types of applications, and denies entry if an application is declined.

It stands to reason that there may be very few illegal immigrants who enter the country without first being admitted by the Canada Border Services Agency. The reason for believing this is that Canada is physically very difficult to get to, with the exception of crossing the Canada-United States border. And in this case, since the U.S. is itself a prime destination for illegal immigrants, not many illegal immigrants then attempt an unauthorized border crossing into Canada.

See also

• Category:Immigration to Canada

External links

• Moving Here, Staying Here: The Canadian Immigrant Experience at Library and Archives Canada
• Going to Canada Immigration Portal on the Government of Canada site
• Legal Resource for Foreign Brides