Adams et al: Writing a new immigration story for Canada

It’s both, the contribution immigrants make and the limits of absorptive capacity:

…The Canadian success story about immigration we celebrated just a few years ago has changed, and we are now writing a new chapter. The world is changing rapidly in ways that we cannot expect to avoid, and the path forward will be like navigating rapids in a surging river. Sustaining public and political support for the multicultural and immigrant-welcoming society that Canada has built over the past half-century will require a careful balance between the immigration inflow necessary for economic growth and labour market demand, and our collective capacity to ensure a place (that is, a home, a job, health care, education and other essential public services) for everyone, native-born and newcomer alike. The newly-released federal budget appears aimed in this direction, and time will tell whether it helps us reach such balance.

This new chapter calls upon our leaders across all sectors to reframe the narrative around how we think about newcomers who arrive in our country. The tendency is to think of them primarily as people who require housing, jobs and other supports like language training – as a drain on government funding and places pressure on existing resources. Instead we need to focus more on newcomers as an essential influx of talent and needed skills that can help energize our communities and maintain our current standard of living now and into the future.

Source: Writing a new immigration story for Canada