Citizenship and Immigration Canada, under Immigration Minister Jason Kenney, tabled its annual report on immigration, which outlined its plans to maintain overall current levels of immigration.
The report outlines the government's objective to further pursue current strategies and maintain immigration target levels in 2011. The government hails immigration as a vital element in Canada's socio-economic make-up and emphasizes a renewed commitment to those values.
“[Citizenship and Immigration Canada] CIC's challenge is to manage this movement of people while balancing economic, social, cultural development goals, and also protecting the health, safety and security of Canadians,” says the Minister.
It also reiterates the department's objective to reduce the 640,000 application backlog in the skilled worker stream and by selecting new applicants with education and skills are in high demand in Canada. This objective was outlined in new policy implemented In June of this year when the government unveiled a substantial reduction in new applications by creating a list of 29 occupations that were deemed to be a priority through consultations with identified stakeholders. Only applicants whose occupation falls within one of those categories are permitted to submit skilled worker applications. The process was also streamlined by having all applications now filed through one Central Intake Office in Sydney, Nova Scotia.
Since implementation of a new process which features an annual cap and an occupational cap for each of the demand listed occupations, the volume of new applications has been substantially reduced.
The report confirms how new initiatives have helped the government to reduce the backlog by 40 percent, and process most new federal skilled worker applications in approximately six to 12 months.
While the report reiterates the government's intention in 2011 not to further reduce annual immigration numbers from the current levels ranging from 240,000 to 265,000 for the year, certain streams are being affected. The vast majority of these spots are designated for Economic-class migrants (which includes Federal Skilled Worker stream, Provincially Nominated workers and Quebec Selected workers). The range in the Economic category for 2011 will be 150,600 to 161,350, which includes the principal applicant as well as their spouses and dependants. These figures are slightly down from last year when the range of Economic-class migrants was 156,300 to 166,800 applicants.
The decrease in Economic-stream migrants will be compensated for by an increase in both Family class and Protected Persons class. The former will go from 57,000 to 63,000 in 2010 to 58,500 to 65,500 while the latter will go up from 19,600 to 26,000 last year to 23,200 to 29,000 in the coming year. This represents the beginning of a new shift in government policy from previous years when intake in the economic class represented 60% of the annual numbers.
The Harper government emphasises that these figures demonstrate its continued commitment to reuniting families and preserving Canada's reputation as a welcoming and safe haven for people in distress.
The report refers identifies that China is Canada's top source of immigrants, while the Philippines and India are second and third, respectively. Canada accepted permanent residents from over 200 countries in 2009.
Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia were the top three choices, respectively, for immigrants to settle. The territories were the least likely places for resettlement in 2009.
The department also intends to continue with its commitment toward providing resettlement services for new Canadians.
“CIC-funded settlement programs and services include language instruction and skills development, information and orientation, and initiatives to support social engagement, community connections and labour market participation.”
Overall although it appears that the current report represents minimal changes in the government's immigration report of 2011 stakeholders expect a continued decline in new applications within the economic class and particularly the Federal Skilled Worker category. The projected decrease in Economic-class migration will be compensated by an increase in family class immigration and humanitarian cases.
Criticism is already brewing over the decision to decrease Economic-class numbers, as well as the recent policy changes which have dramatically reduced the number of new immigration applications accepted by the government each year.
However, Minister Kenney argues in the report that the Department's position will help the Canadian economy by providing the labour it needs, through the temporary foreign worker program. This further endorses a shift in policy which began in 2007 under the current government that features increased reliance on the temporary foreign worker program and less reliance on the permanent residence program to address labour requirements.
“CIC is strongly committed to recruiting the best and brightest people to meet the current and emerging demands of the Canadian labour market, while also reaching out to help those most in need and successfully integrating all newcomers on arrival in Canada.”
Source: Citizenship and Immigration Canada
