Looking back on 2023 and forward to 2024

Best wishes to all for 2024.

The major development this year has been a sharp reversal in attitudes towards immigration, given the ongoing increases until 2025 of permanent residents and the much larger increases in temporary workers and international students and the consequent impact on housing avilability/affordability, healthcare and infrastructure. 

When I first started raising these and other concerns some five years ago (reviewing Doug Saunders Maximum Canada) and subsequent articles), I was largely a voice in the wilderness. But now, it seems that every week there is another article pointing out the fallacies and problems with the current approach, with virtually all polls showing a significant drop in public support.

Federal and provincial governments, business stakeholders, organizations like Century Initiative and other immigration advocates have largely been caught flat footed by this change given their almost ideological fixation an aging population, their particular interests, and a blindness to broader implications.

While the federal government scrambles to adapt to public concerns on housing, none of the overdue changes to increase housing will have a material impact before the next election. 

The one area I expect to see a meaningful rethink in 2024 is with respect to international students and the “puppy mills” of private colleges to use Minister Miller’s words. Whether the government will similarly restrain or cap temporary foreign workers will be another test of whether it is more attuned to general public and productivity concerns or to business interests in having a larger labour pool for lower skilled workers, along with other special immigration interests.

Most of my time this year was spent on citizenship issues, analyzing citizenship operational data to better understand the declining naturalization rate, opposing the proposed self-affirmation of the citizenship oath and my annual update on birth tourism (non-resident self-pay). 

The petition I launched to oppose the change to the oath and for a return to more in-person ceremonies along with related commentary by others received largely a non-response by the government although it remains to be seen whether they will implement the proposed regulatory change (Minister Miller appears more aware of the importance of citizenship meaningfulness than his predecessor).

Other areas included analysis of employment equity hiring, promotion and separation data, indicating that the government continues to make progress in increasing the representativeness of the public service, annual update of Order of Canada diversity, and a census-driven analysis of riding level demographic, economic and social characteristic.

Next year will likely be more of the same given some of the annual data that I follow. While I will continue my monthly statistical updates, will trim some of the data that has proven less significant (e.g., web traffic) or overtaken by events (e.g., RCMP interceptions given expansion of the STCA).

Top 10 Posts on www.multiculturalmeanderings.com: 

• McWhorter on Redlining (the highest by far)
• No-shows, dropouts and asylum requests — these 10 schools have Canada’s highest rates of ‘non-compliance’ among international students
• ‘I respect myself too much to stay in Canada’: Why so many new immigrants are leaving
• ICYMI: How Canada’s foreign-student boom is creating a host of problems
• Lederman: What a former principal’s suicide tells us about what our workplaces owe us
• Gerson: Want to ease Canada’s housing crisis? Let’s start by being responsible about international student visas
• Ottawa urged to clamp down further on immigration employment scam
• IRCC Operational Data – Occupations – Shift toward lower skilled
• What I wish someone told me about working in Canada when I first immigrated
• Rosenberg: Ottawa should consider a less ambitious immigration policy to help ease this epic housing affordability crisis

Articles and citations

Citizenship 

• Birth tourism is rising again post-pandemic (Policy Options, 2023)
• A one-click citizenship oath isn’t the way to go (Policy Options, 2023)
• Griffith and Omidvar: Canadian citizenship by individual click? That’s not a good idea (Ottawa Citizen, 2023)
• Citizenship in decline: The role of dual nationality, immigration category, and wait times (ICC, 2023)

Citations

• Will the federal government go ahead with a one-click citizenship oath? (New Canadian  Media, 2023)
• Ottawa reviewing virtual citizenship ceremonies as petition calls on government to pull the plug (CBC, 2023)
• Author starts petition against self-affirmation of citizenship oath or ‘citizenship on a click’ (Hill Times, 2023)
• Konrad Yakabuski: Cliquer pour devenir Canadien (Le Devoir, 2023)
• John Ivison: The Liberals are too eager to erode the singular power of the citizenship oath (National Post, 2023)
• Why Canada’s ‘citizenship on a click’ is proving controversial (Toronto Star, 2023)
• Curry: Removing one of life’s most memorable days with a Zoom call (Bay Today, 2023)
• John Ivison: Ottawa might have been duped into rescuing ‘Canadians of convenience’ from Sudan (National Post, 2023)
• Triple-glass effect and language barriers erode Canadian charm, say experts (New Canadian Media, 2023)
• Does Canadian citizenship mean anything? (The Hill Times, 2023)
• Douglas Todd: 10 ways Ottawa diminishes Canadian citizenship (Vancouver Sun, 2023)
• Un serment de citoyenneté en ligne déprécierait le rituel, soutient l’opposition (La Presse, 2023)
• Citizenship oath at the click of a mouse would cheapen tradition: Tory critic (Canadian Press, Moose Jaw Today, 2023)
• Soon a Canadian citizenship oath could be just a scroll and click away (Toronto Star, 2023)
• Canada Sees Surge in Birth Tourism Post-Pandemic (VisaGuide, 2023)
• Canada should deny care to pregnant ‘birth tourists,’ doctor argues (National Post, 2023)

Immigration 

• What changes a Conservative government might make to Canada’s immigration policies (Hill Times, 2023)
• Griffith: Canada badly needs an immigration reset (Ottawa Citizen, 2023)

Citations

• The Liberals’ immigration blueprint is unsound, and will hinder the economy it seeks to help (Globe and Mail, 2023)
• Will reining in the number of international students in Canada help the housing crisis — or bring more harm? (Toronto Star, 2023)
• Despite end to visa program Ukrainians will still seek refuge in Canada, group says (National Post, 2023)
• Canada is getting bigger. Are we setting the country and its newest citizens up for success? (Toronto Star, 2023)
• John Ivison: Ottawa’s tech-talent drive finally puts some economic elbows up (National Post, 2023)
• Nearly $100M earmarked to study how tech can help immigrants integrate over next seven years (New Canadian Media, 2023)
• Ukrainians who fled to Canada in ‘grey area’ of immigration system (The Globe and Mail, 2023)
• Liberal MPs say they’re frustrated over high rejection, slow processing of visitor-visas, welcome Trudeau calling out Immigration Canada (The Hill times, 2023)
• Liberal minister says Canada needs more immigration as targets get mixed reviews (National Newswatch, Globe and Mail, 2023)

Multiculturalism, Diversity and Employment Equity

• How well is the government meeting its diversity targets? An intersectionality analysis (National Newswatch, 2023)

Citations

• The Handbook of Ethnic Media in Canada (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2023)
• Annual public service report to PM should prompt ‘serious conversation’ about bureaucracy’s future, says former PCO clerk Wernick (Hill Times, 2023)
• Order of Canada appointees far less diverse than the population, analysis shows (CBC. 2023)

Political Representation 

• Diversity lags in provincial and territorial legislatures but is improving (Policy Options, 2023)
• The Political Impact of Increased Diversity: What the Census Shows (National Newswatch, 2023)

Citations

• Domestic political calculus shapes federal response to Israel-Hamas conflict (Hill Times, 2023)
• Douglas Todd: How to woo immigrant voters in Canada. And how not to (Vancouver Sun, 2023)