While China’s numbers have largely recovered to pre-pandemic levels, they have declined as a share of total immigration, compared to India in particular. And not convinced that attracting the “ultra-rich” will benefit Canada and Canadians (part from Realtors, luxury car dealerships etc):
China is in turmoil.
The once-roaring housing market of the world’s second-largest economy is collapsing.The regime’s harsh zero-COVID restrictions are causing bitterness and anger.
Beijing’s stepped-up quest for “common prosperity” has many worried their savings and assets aren’t being treated as actually theirs — and could be confiscated by Communist party rulers in the name of equality.
More people, especially the rich, want to escape.
In the past 30 years, Canada has been one of the top destinations for people from China seeking a financial haven and more stable lifestyle. China has long been Canada’s second-largest source country, after India, for new immigrants.
And the country’s recent outbreaks of both financial and social chaos are igniting more desire to get out. A global investment migration consultancy, Henley & Partners, estimates 10,000 to 13,000 ultra-wealthy residents of China are seeking to pull $48 billion out of the country this year.
Canada is a big draw. The Migration Policy Institute found two years ago that Canada was the third most-popular choice for Mainland’s China’s migrants. That was before this summer, when China’s real-estate sales dived by 59 per cent compared to 12 months earlier.
Now, the 2022 Hurun Report, which surveys the desires of high-net-worth Chinese, has found their No. 1 choice for a country to move to is Canada.
But there’s a problem. The people of China, population 1.4 billion, face increasingly strict homegrown barriers to starting a new life abroad.
The Hurun Report, which each year measures the desires of rich people from China, found that this year that Canada had risen to become their No. 1 destination for immigration. (Source: 2022 Hurun Report)
That’s even while there is an emerging term for the exit-minded phenomenon in China — “run-ology.” It’s used widely online to capture both the desire to leave the country and tips on how to do it.
While many Chinese are no doubt happy to stay in their country of birth, many are seeking another shore because of intense frustration over the country’s COVID-19 restrictions.
And that’s not all. A deeply felt mistrust of Chinese leaders came to the fore his month when video emerged of tanks blocking the entrances to some banks in China, ostensibly to stop people from withdrawing their money.
While debate ensued between official Chinese media and Western news outlets over the exact purpose of the tanks, few disputed that China’s police have crushed mass demonstrations after depositors’ funds were frozen as banks have been investigated for fraud.
The backdrop to the bank-savings anxiety has been President Xi Jinping’s stepped-up efforts to develop a patriotic “common prosperity.” It’s already lead him to crack down hard on, among others, the country’s more than 600 billionaires.
One of many notorious cases centres on billionaire Xiao Jianhua, a Canadian passport holder who disappeared after being abducted in Hong Kong five years ago. He is now apparently facing a secret trial in China
China doesn’t recognize that Canada has any diplomatic influence in regard to Xiao. Even though Xiao gave up his Chinese passport because China does not allow dual citizenship, China is still treating him, roughly, as one of its own.
In a related move, Beijing has announced strict 2022 curbs on all “non-essential” overseas travel, purportedly because of COVID. In the face of a spike in outbound trips, leaders have cut the number of travel passports and visas it will issue to a fraction of previous levels.
It’s also harder to get money out of the country.Canadian legal specialist David Lesperance, who specializes in migration for the rich, says he’s receiving three times as many requests from China that he had last year. And Jenga, a firm that handles international money transfers, reports it has seen demand from China double in 12 months.
That’s especially worrying for China in light of its troubled economy. The mammoth speculative bubble that was China’s real estate market, which accounts for an incredible 30 per cent of the nation’s GDP, has been bursting.
China’s Evergrande, the world’s most indebted real-estate developer, is on the verge of bankruptcy. Construction on its new residential towers has halted. China’s housing crisis has wiped a trillion dollars off the value of the sector.
The U.S. Federal Reserve has expressed concern the dramatic downturn in China’s housing market will spillover into Western economies, as many Chinese citizens’ debt grows and an economically weakened China is forced to retrench. The vacancy rate in major Chinese cities is now 15 to 35 per cent, according to the journal Foreign Policy.
Many Chinese nationals who have held onto their assets and wealth are looking elsewhere to invest, even as their leaders make it a challenge. China is talking tougher about enforcing its foreign exchange controls, which allows citizens to send offshore only US$50,000 a year.
But Canadian mortgage broker Ron Butler is among those who share the “growing belief that more capital from China will flow out to other countries’ real estate.”
Yes, we are hearing capital controls are running hot in China. But we know that a workaround is always found and tightness eventually slackens.”
In addition, people from China who obtain foreign residency or citizenship can move money out of their country more easily. Immigration lawyers and consultants say that’s a prime reason for the attractiveness of Canada, which already has 1.8 million people of Chinese ancestry, about half of whom are from China, mostly living in greater Toronto and Metro Vancouver.
Ottawa has long generally welcomed outside money, which typically goes into real estate rather than other businesses. B.C., through its foreign-buyers tax, beneficial ownership registry and speculation tax, is now one of the only provinces trying to monitor such offshore wealth.
Last year, Canada approved 31,005 individuals from the People’s Republic of China as permanent residents. While by no means are all well-off enough to immediately buy a dwelling, that was a jump from 16,525 migrants in the pandemic year of 2020. It was similar to 2019. The pace of immigration from China in the first half of 2022 appears more rapid than ever.
Meanwhile, others from China who want to put money into Canadian real estate, but don’t want to give up their Chinese citizenship, have been opting for Canada’s popular 10-year multiple-entry visas, which permits them to live here six months at a time. Although the Immigration Department didn’t provide the latest figures, Canada had previously issued more than three million 10-year visas to Chinese nationals.
Whichever way you look at it, recent developments confirm that what happens in China matters to Canada.
Good initiative. Now the haggling over multi-year levels can begin :).
Seriously, same planning logic that led feds to multi-year planning to assist settlement agencies and others also applies at the provincial level:
The Forum of Ministers Responsible (FMRI) for Immigration met in Saint John, New Brunswick on July 28 to discuss a host of major immigration policy issues.
Topics on the agenda included Canada’s Immigration Levels Plan, a more agile economic immigration system, regional economic immigration, settlement, and refugees resettlement.
The big takeaway is that Canada’s immigration ministers agreed to develop a multi-year Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) allocation plan. Currently, even though Canada sets its permanent residence targets over a three-year period, PNP allocations are determined on an annual basis. Moving forward, the ministers agreed that PNP allocation targets will also be set on a three-year basis. The ministers agreed to determine the multi-year PNP plan by March 31, 2023.
The FMRI is comprised of Canada’s federal, provincial, and territorial immigration ministers. They meet each year to discuss immigration issues of national importance. The FMRI is a decision-making body with the goal of supporting a flexible, timely, and effective immigration system for Canada.
Canada’s Immigration Minister Sean Fraser added in the post-meeting press conference that there is no certainty at the moment on the precise numbers on the increased PNP allocations for each province and territory. The reason, he said, is the federal government needs to have follow-up conversations with provinces and territories to ensure they have the settlement capacity necessary to welcome more newcomers.
The rationale for a multi-year PNP plan is similar to why Canada re-introduced a multi-year Immigration Levels Plan back in 2017. The rationale for the Immigration Levels Plan 2018-2020, and subsequent plans, has been to allow stakeholders including government, the settlement sector, and employers the ability to plan in advance for higher immigration levels. Canada is now guided by the Immigration Levels Plan 2022-2024 and Minister Fraser is set to table the 2023-2025 plan by November 1st of this year.
At present, Canada’s PNP targets over a three-year period are contained in the levels plan. However, each province and territory’s PNP allocation is set on an annual basis. The federal immigration minister sends a letter to their provincial and territorial counterparts each year with their respective allocation, typically in the first quarter of the calendar year.
However, the country’s immigration ministers have now agreed that by the end of March 2023, the federal minister will inform each province and territory of their PNP allocation over a three-year period. This will allow each province and territory to plan ahead, including identifying how to best use their allocation to achieve their economic development goals, as well as to identify what operational steps they need to take to be able to process PNP applications as efficiently as possible. As a province or territory’s PNP allocation increases, they need to ensure they have enough staff and the requisite technology in place to process higher PNP volumes within their service standards.
The PNP has grown in prominence since it was introduced in 1998 to promote a broader distribution of immigration across Canada. Prior to its introduction, most immigrants settled in Ontario, Quebec, and British Columbia, which made it challenging for the Atlantic and Prairie provinces to support their economic development through immigration. The PNP only contributed to about 400 new immigrant arrivals in 1999, but it is now set to welcome over 80,000 new immigrants in 2022 and over 90,000 by 2024. The PNP, next to the federal Express Entry system, is among the two major pathways for economic class immigrants to land in Canada.
The post-meeting press release noted the immigration ministers also discussed assisting Afghan refugees, supporting Ukrainians, improving application processing times, taking steps to strengthen public support for immigration in Canada, among other topics.
Good reminder of a good program, one that has benefited both the refugees and Canada:
On Aug. 5, 1972, within two years of overthrowing the elected Ugandan government of Milton Obote, General Idi Amin Dada made the following decree: “All British Asians numbering about 80,000 will have to be repatriated to Britain—they must leave within 90 days. Non-citizens of other nationalities (other than Uganda) must also leave within three months.”
Although Amin’s decree supposedly targeted only British and other non-Ugandan South Asians, the reality was that it affected all South Asians; citizens as well as non-citizens. Random incidents of harassment, robbery, arbitrary imprisonment, and intimidation targeted the entire South Asian community—regardless of their status or citizenship. In effect, South Asians in Uganda—who were long-settled and included Hindus, Muslims, Sikh, and Christians—became stateless. While many of the Asians carried British passports, and therefore were the responsibility of Britain, others needed to find countries to accept them.
Canada responded. On Aug. 24, 1972, then-prime minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau announced Canada’s intervention and the expeditious dispatch of a Canadian mission to Kampala with the following statement: “For our part, we are prepared to offer an honourable place in Canadian life to those Uganda Asians who come to Canada under this program. Asian immigrants have already added to the cultural richness and variety of our country and, I am sure that those from Uganda will, by their abilities and industry, make an equally important contribution to Canadian society.”
A Canadian team was quickly assembled and sent to Kampala under the leadership of Roger St. Vincent, whose instructions stated: “Your Mission is to proceed to Kampala and by whatever means undertake to process without numerical limitations those Asians who meet the immigration selection criteria bearing in mind their particular plight and facilitate their departure for Canada. Your mission must be accomplished by November 8.”
From Sept. 6 to Nov. 7, 1972, Canadian officials worked non-stop to process, interview, carry out medical exams, arrange transport, and grant visas to more than 6,000 South Asians.
Those families who were unable to gain acceptance by any state were assisted by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and transported from Uganda into refugee camps in Europe including Austria, Sweden, Italy, and Malta. Subsequently, more than 2,000 of these refugees were accepted by Canada.
On Aug. 24, 1972, then-prime minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau announced Canada’s intervention and dispatched a mission to Uganda that granted visas to more than 6,000 South Asians by the end of the year.
In the end, between 1972 and 1974, Canada accepted more than 8,000 South Asian Ugandans, many of whom were Ismaili Muslims and Goans, as they were mostly Ugandan passport holders. Fearing what happened in Uganda, many South Asians from Kenya, Tanzania, and the Democratic Republic of Congo subsequently immigrated to Canada.
Beyond the obvious humanitarian relief it provided, Canada’s response in the Ugandan South Asian exodus holds important political and historical significance. Although Canada had responded to many refugee movements in the past, this was the first time that it responded to a large-scale non-European refugee crisis, and it came on the heels of the adoption of Canada’s Multiculturalism Policy in 1971.
The successful integration of the Ugandan South Asian community over the last 50 years has been a testament of this policy, which supports linguistic, ethno-cultural, and ethno-racial pluralism.
Today, the Ugandan South Asians, most who fled their homeland with virtually the clothes on their backs, are well represented in all walks of Canadian life due to their pursuit of education, tradition of self-reliance, business acumen, and strong work ethic. After five decades, the community’s social and cultural integration may be explained, in part, by an ongoing reference and dedication to the values of the country which gave it asylum and a permanent home.
In the corridors of Parliament, Senator Mobina Jaffer was the first South Asian woman appointed to the Upper House in 2001, and Liberal Arif Virani has served as Member of Parliament for Parkdale–High Park, Ont., since 2015 and is currently the parliamentary secretary to the minister of international trade. In Alberta, the Honourable Salma Lakhani was installed as Alberta’s 19th lieutenant governor in August 2020, and in the Canadian foreign service, Arif Lalani has served as Canada’s ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.
In the world of news media, Omar Sachedina, whose parents fled Uganda, is a well-known national affairs correspondent and also serves as a fill-in anchor on CTV National News. After working on Parliament Hill for a number of years, Farah Mohamed went on to be a founder of G(irls)20, and previously served as the CEO of the Malala Fund.
One of the world’s largest transportation engineering software companies is co-founded and led by Milton Carrasco. Dax Dasilva, whose parents also fled Uganda, founded Lightspeed Commerce, which is one of Canada largest publicly traded technology companies in Canada.
In business-philanthropy, Pyarali and Gulshan Nanji and their children have exemplified giving back to Canada, including significant donations to many hospitals. Recently, to mark the 50th anniversary of the South Asian exodus from Uganda, the Nanji Family Foundation announced that it would be providing university scholarships to 50 young refugees across the world with a $1-million family donation to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees.
In opening its doors to the Ugandan Asians in 1972, Canada gained a community, which has since become renowned for both entrepreneurial enterprise and community service. The process of their settlement and integration has left an indelible mark upon the conscious of the community, including civic responsibility, pride in culture and community, ethically compassionate, and pursuing the public good. Uganda’s loss was Canada’s gain.
Michael Molloy was a member of the team that travelled to Kampala and arranged for 6,000 Ugandan Asians to come to Canada in 1972. He was subsequently involved in redesigning Canada’s refugee-resettlement system and was senior co-ordinator of the program that brought 60,000 Indochinese refugees to Canada in 1979-80. Salim Fakirani is a senior lawyer with the Department of Justice. Fakirani’s family fled Uganda when he was two years old. His family immigrated to Canada after spending almost a year in a refugee camp administered by the UNHCR in Italy.
Not convinced by the additional value of obtaining race-based data given that country of citizenship provides enough information in most cases to assess trends and impacts.
It would, of course, be interesting, particularly with USA and European immigrants, given that many of those may be visible minorities.
The practicality of how it would be collected (visible minority definitions, ethnic ancestry or other?) is another is another issue. More tick boxes on an already long form and process?
A higher priority, IMO, is to have regularly monthly updates on backlogs, broken down by citizenship (IRCC used to provide updates on “inventory” but this stopped with the shift to monthly data):
Many applicants raised concerns about IRCC taking longer to process their applications based on their country of citizenship.
CBC News obtained data from IRCC breaking down more than 2.4 million applications by country of citizenship.
Of more than two million temporary and permanent residence applications, nearly a million came from India.
“In the case of India, country-specific restrictions during the pandemic made it harder for individuals to submit documents, obtain medical appointments, provide us with their biometrics and for us to finalize applications,” IRCC said.
Aside from France, Ukraine and the U.S., the 30 countries with the most pending applications are in the global south.
India also has the most temporary residence applications in the backlog with 430,286, followed by Ukraine at 329,920.
“There’s systemic racism and discrimination within IRCC,” Amir Attaran, professor of law at the University of Ottawa, said.
Toronto-based immigration lawyer Lou Janssen Dangzalan said the department lacks transparency and accountability. He said since many countries have very diverse ethnic and racial demographics, “collecting race-based data is very important.”
A report of the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration released in May recommended that IRCC collect race-based data.
The government has directed the Department of Home Affairs to devote more staff to clearing the visa backlog, naming it an ‘urgent priority’.
Minister for immigration, citizenship and multicultural affairs Andrew Giles cautioned the backlog would not be cleared overnight.
“People reallocated to dealing with the visa applications on hand need to be trained and skilled before they can go about this important work,” Giles said.
Since May 2022, 140 new department staff have been placed in visa processing roles.
The minister added the number of applications in June was 6.5% higher than in May, with a 10.6% increase in applications finalised. Since June 2022, 745,000 visa applications have been finalised.
Giles was also critical of the previous government, saying the backlog had risen to nearly one million under it.
Former immigration minister Dan Tehan — now shadow minister for immigration and citizenship — has said the visa backlog was due in part to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“One of the commitments that we had when we were in government was obviously to make sure that we got rid of that backlog and we had put extra resources to ensure that would happen,” Tehan told SBS Hindi.
The Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) is currently assessing the Department of Home Affairs’ management of family reunion and partner-related visas, due to be tabled in November. The ANAO is currently taking contributions from the public on this matter.
On student visas, Department of Education secretary Michele Bruniges is working alongside Department of Home Affairs secretary Michael Pezzullo to clear the backlog of student visas, as previously reported in The Mandarin.
Last week, education minister Jason Clare said Home Affairs had brought on more than 100 staff to deal with the backlog.
Recently, there has been increasing concern over the growing number of encounters (the number of people apprehended) reported on the southwest border. U.S. Custom and Border Protection (CBP) data show 207,416 encounters in June 2022 — a record high. Many anti-immigrant groups misinterpret — or purposefully misuse — this data, suggesting encounters are akin to admissions or arrests. But citing that number alone to demonstrate the need for more robust deterrence policies ignores the impacts of Title 42 expulsions and discounts historical migration trends.
CBP tracks the number of noncitizens apprehended each month, known as “encounters.” Anti-immigrant groups have cited the high number of encounters in June 2022, stating that it is a dramatic departure from the typical amount of migrants entering the U.S. in other years — but that’s not the case.
The number of migrants at the southwest border demonstrates a return to regular migration trends. In a study of migration trends over the last decade, researchers found that there is consistently an increasing number of encounters between January and May, with a sharp decrease after June.
The Covid pandemic significantly disrupted these patterns. As a result, between March and June of 2020 the U.S. saw the lowest rate of encounters in years. In 2021, that number steadily increased, but the overall was still drastically lower than average. This year, we have seen a return to regular patterns, with numbers increasing in the spring and decreasing starting June.
Since March 2020, a significant portion of migrants at the southwest border have been subjected to rapid expulsion under Title 42. Although the administration has attempted to terminate the health order, the courts blocked its termination. The result is a recidivism rate for border crossers that is more than triple what it was before the pandemic. Moreover, the encounter data alone does not account for the continued rapid expulsions nor the amount of people who repeatedly attempt to enter the U.S.
Indeed, the number of people that CBP is processing now is comparable to FY 2019, before the implementation of Title 42 in response to the pandemic. There is only an eight percent difference in the number of people processed in FY19 compared to FY22. In February and May, the Trump administration processed more people in FY19 than the Biden administration in FY22.
CBP Southwest Land Border Enforcement data for FY 2019-2022. CBP Title 42 Expulsions data for FY 2022.
Whenever there is a “surge” at the border, anti-immigrant groups use it as an excuse to call for and implement deterrence policies. Citing numbers of encounters without additional context has led to administrations repeating the mistake of using previously failed deterrence measures.
To counter this pattern, we should learn to anticipate when there will be higher numbers of people arriving at the border and improve processing capacity to efficiently and humanely process those seeking admittance to the U.S.
One idea that has been suggested by some is the Provincial Nominee Program should be used for regulated professions (e.g., healthcare, some trades) given that regulatory bodies are provincial, not federal.
Definitely worth consideration as the federal government’s progress on foreign credential recognition appears to have been more about process and consultations than concrete action. Making the provinces directly responsible for selection of applicants in regulated professions might simplify accountabilities:
Across B.C., “Help Wanted” signs are ubiquitous. Labour shortages have forced businesses to drastically cut their hours, hospitals and emergency rooms to close, as well as planned and unscheduled cancellations of B.C. Ferries sailings.
Despite grumbled anecdotes about people not wanting to work, B.C. has one of Canada’s highest workforce participation rates.
Bear in mind that last year, B.C. also had the highest number of new arrivals recorded in 60 years — 100,797 people. International migration was the second-highest recorded, while cross-country migration was the highest in nearly 30 years.
Even with that, and despite a seemingly intractable, affordable-housing crisis, the fact is B.C. needs more people to fill essential jobs.
And that is exactly why the provincial government wants Ottawa to give it more control over who comes here, and is asking for more money to help settle all the newcomers.
Last year, only 6,750 people came under the provincial nominee program that allows provinces to select applicants whose skills and training match labour needs. Next year, it wants 8,000 nominees, and 10,000 three years from now.
It made the request ahead of Thursday’s meeting of federal and provincial immigration ministers.
Nathan Cullen is B.C.’s municipal affairs minister and has responsibility for immigration. He describes the program as “more precise” than other immigration programs, noting that B.C.’s priority last year was health-care and long-term care workers.
“(The nominee program) is not a blunt instrument, which is what a federal immigration program is by its nature,” he told Postmedia before leaving for the federal-provincial meeting in New Brunswick.
“We’ve just heard from Ontario and they’ve been making similar requests of the feds to gain a little bit more control over what happens.”
As a former MP, Cullen isn’t certain how much of its “cherished authority” Ottawa is willing to give up. But he hopes to convince Federal Minister Sean Fraser that expanding the nominee program, which has a much faster turnaround time than myriad other immigration streams, will help clear the backlog of applications that is nearing two million files.
The benefit isn’t just a bureaucratic one. With skills matched to jobs, it should also mean that highly skilled newcomers don’t end up driving taxis instead of doing the jobs they are trained for.
Of course, there is a huge caveat that Cullen readily acknowledges. Canada is glacially slow in recognizing internationally obtained credentials — especially for physicians and surgeons. Here, he said it can take up to three times as long as in other G20 countries — “And if you’re slow in this kind of world, it means you just don’t get the person at all.”
The minister plans to raise that at Thursday’s meeting, along with concerns about what might best be described as Canada’s “do-it-yourself” immigration offer to Ukrainians.
Within days of the Russian invasion, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau offered safe haven and a pathway to citizenship to all Ukrainians who could find their own way here.
“We’re not ready for them, and we need the feds to be,” Cullen said. “(Federal politicians) have had time. There’s no more excuses like, ‘It’s all happening so fast.’ That’s done. They’ve had the time and the program has not been set up properly yet.”
With the usual processes waived, Ukrainians are arriving and often there is no one to meet them. Nobody knows when they are coming, where they are landing, or even how many of the six million who have fled might end up here as Russia intensifies its attacks.
Earlier this year, B.C. shored up settlement societies with nearly $15 million because the number of immigrants and refugees arriving is beyond the capacity that Ottawa has funded them for. And last month, the province set up a hardship fund for Ukrainians offering up to $1,770 a month for a family of four.
Ukrainian-Canadians have also stepped in to fill the gaps since the only federal help Ukrainians get is a two-week housing allowance.
Still, with no contact point with any agency or government, vulnerable women, children and unaccompanied minors are open to exploitation. It’s something that keeps Cullen awake at night.
Already, his officials had to rescue one family who had found rental accommodation on social media. When they arrived, the landlord confiscated their passports and tried to restrict their movements. Fortunately, they had a contact in the Ukrainian community who got in touch with the ministry.
Meanwhile, immigrants are enduring months-long waits in overcrowded hotel rooms in dangerous neighbourhoods because there is nowhere else to go until settlement societies or concerned citizens manage to scrounge something better. Sometimes, it’s from developers waiting for demolition permits.
Cullen insists that recent increases in housing starts and measures his government has taken to get unused housing into the rental pool is starting to make a difference. But he said it is still going to take more time to even out.
Immigrants also need health care and schools for their children. Those, too, are provincial costs.
So far, the federal government has failed to match its immigration promises and targets with the money necessary to properly fulfill them.
Small wonder that the provinces want more control and more money.
“We have to match the story we want to tell about ourselves as being a generous, open country … with the resources and the determination that’s required,” Cullen said.
Standard general call for more immigrants without considering the externalities and costs:
Canada is a vast beautiful country with an economy that has a huge potential to grow, provided it has sufficient labour markets. That is why I argue for more immigrants. Canada needs more immigrants if it wants to maintain and improve its standard of living.
The labour shortage that has been aggravated during the pandemic is not over. According to Statistics Canada, there were 915,500 unfilled positions in the fourth quarter of 2021. That’s up by 63 per cent compared to 2020. Jobs are also staying vacant for longer periods. Shortages were large before COVID but made worse during the pandemic.
The obvious reason is: Canada’s population remains small and must grow to meet economic growth needs. It is a reality that Canada’s population growth comes from immigration — addressing labour shortages in key sectors such as health care. Immigrants make up 37 per cent of the country’s pool of pharmacists, 36 per cent of physicians, 39 per cent of dentists, 23 per cent of registered nurses, and 35 per cent of nurse aides and related occupations.
Although, it has the highest population growth of any G7 country, Canada has under 0.5 per cent of the world’s population, with one of the smallest population densities on Earth (about four people per square kilometre). In fact, it is more than an order of magnitude smaller than the world’s average population density which is about 50 people/square km. India, China, and the U.S. have 464, 149 and 121 people/square kilometre respectively. Bear in mind that Canada is the second-largest country, geographically, in the world. Although huge parts are inhabitable, there is a plenty of room for those four/square km to grow manifold times.
The U.S. is the leading economy worldwide, but most economic forecasts predict a great shift in world economic power. Some estimates suggest that by 2050, China’s and India’s economies will surpass that of the U.S., while Indonesia, Brazil and Mexico will surpass Japan, Germany, the U.K., Russia, France and Canada combined. The overwhelming factor in this is population growth.
Many western countries are aging with a rate proportional to their level of advancement. People are living healthier and longer while younger people tend to either not get married or not have large families. This leads to a shrinking workforce and will have a direct impact on economic growth. Japan, for example, is becoming greyer than ever, with about 30 per cent of its population over 65 years of age. Its population actually dropped by some 640,000 in 2021. Italy is not far behind, at 23 per cent, and Germany is third at 21 per cent. They represent the most aging countries in the world and are a direct example to watch to see the effect this will have on economic growth and wellbeing: facing severe shortages in the labour market, and higher social-service costs.
Japan happens to have a near-zero immigration policy and if that continues, soon enough it will face dire consequences. Canada’s over-65 population is not small either. In 2020 it was more than 18 per cent and within eight years is expected to reach 23 per cent. Clearly, current policies are not good enough to address this issue and population growth must be accelerated.
Of course, it is imperative to reconcile population growth with limiting our per capita carbon footprint. Economic growth and wealth production are the key for such reconciliation. Migration is also a historic mechanism for reducing high population growth in low-income countries, through which we can adjust imbalances that help stabilize economic growth everywhere.
Last but not least, in addition to the economic and humanitarian reasons, immigrants make Canada stronger — as they embrace the richness of equity, diversity, and inclusion of our character and values.
Mustafa Bahran is a visiting professor and instructor of physics at Carleton University.
The Ministry of Justice will open a bureau to facilitate immigration as South Korea struggles to cope with falling birth rates and an aging population.
After briefing President Yoon Suk-yeol on Tuesday morning, Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon told reporters that the plans for a central bureau overseeing policies relating to immigration will begin to take shape over the remaining year.
Since taking office in May, Han has said that during his term, he would make it his mission to institute an immigration-friendly system within the government. “Building forward-looking, effective immigration policies is critical for the country’s future,” he said.
The ministry is trying out new programs for attracting and retaining immigrants.
One of them is a “fast-track” path to citizenship and residence for highly-skilled applicants, set to open in October. Another is a “region-specific” visa to encourage foreigners to settle in regions with steeper population declines.
The ministry will also set out initiatives for removing barriers for children of immigrants in accessing education, health care and other social services.
In the same briefing, Han said the ministry plans to crack down on serious, widespread crimes in South Korea, as prosecutors are about to lose their powers to investigate and prosecute most crimes. Once the Democratic Party of Korea-backed laws come into effect in September, prosecutors can no longer be involved in the investigations of the crimes that they prosecute.
He said the ministry will zero in on crimes targeting vulnerable populations such as minors and women. Child maltreatment surveillance will be increased. Power-based sexual violence will be dealt heavier penalties. GPS tracking anklets will be used on those convicted of stalking.
More investigations will be encouraged against corporate and white-collar crimes such as tax evasion, as well as fraud rings perpetuating phishing and cryptocurrency scams, he added.
Han said key goals of the ministry under his leadership would be establishing a judicial system that is adaptive to future challenges; criminal justice collaboration with police and concerned ministries to reduce violence and corruption; and promotion of human rights and a victim-centered approach in the administration of justice.
L’administration canadienne est-elle en train de s’écrouler sous le poids de sa propre incurie ? Dans l’ombre de la crise des passeports et des longs reports déplorés par d’infortunés prestataires de l’assurance-emploi, d’autres crises — celles des visas, des permis d’études pour les étudiants étrangers et des permis de travail pour les travailleurs étrangers — font rage. Les chiffres et les témoignages colligés par Le Devoir ces derniers jours montrent que tous les indicateurs sont au rouge. Un rouge très foncé.
L’Orchestre de la francophonie a dû se résoudre à faire le deuil de plusieurs stagiaires estivaux, faute de visas obtenus à temps. Une première depuis que l’académie s’est ouverte au monde, en 2009. Le Festival international Nuits d’Afrique, lui, a vu la porte se refermer au nez de sa tête d’affiche. Ces dernières semaines, le passeport de la vedette pop nigériane Yemi Alade l’aura fait voyager en Grande-Bretagne, en France et en Belgique. Pas ici, on a eu trop peur qu’elle et son orchestre s’enracinent au pays.
Dans le milieu culturel, on est familiarisé avec ce type d’embûches, qui n’ont cessé de se multiplier, notamment pour les festivals, force vive et carte de visite mondiale de la culture d’ici. Immigration, Réfugiés et Citoyenneté Canada (IRCC) compte sur une Unité des événements spéciaux avec laquelle les organisations ont douloureusement appris à travailler. Elle aurait même développé une certaine expertise, blaguent mi-figue, mi-raisin, certains programmateurs.
Mais à l’image de l’administration canadienne, la fameuse Unité connaît « des délais plus longs que d’habitude », admet candidement IRCC. Avec pour effet que de nombreux invités internationaux du congrès mondial en agroforesterie à l’Université Laval, en majorité des Africains, n’ont pas pu faire le voyage jusqu’au Québec. On craint maintenant la même chose pour la venue de centaines de spécialistes africains à une conférence internationale sur le sida qui s’ouvrira vendredi, à Montréal. Un point commun entre ces déconfitures en série ? Les voyageurs recalés viennent en majorité d’Afrique, ou de certaines zones d’Amérique du Sud ou d’Asie.
Pour un pays qui se drape dans les vertus d’un multiculturalisme tous azimuts, cette frilosité étonne. Elle a toutes les allures d’un système discriminatoire. Une compilation du Devoir montre que le Canada met jusqu’à cinq mois pour traiter une demande dans certains pays. Du jamais vu. Les disparités par pays sont énormes, avec des pics évidents au Moyen-Orient et en Afrique. Si on attend son visa entre 10 et 20 jours au Royaume-Uni ou au Suriname, à l’autre bout du spectre, l’Arabie saoudite remporte la palme des pires délais avec 219 jours d’attente. Le Bénin suit avec 177 jours.
IRCC nie tout parti pris : les demandes seraient examinées de « façon uniforme », et avec « les mêmes critères ». Un exercice semblable mené par Le Devoir pour décortiquer les délais auxquels se heurtent les travailleurs étrangers pour l’obtention d’un permis de travail expose pourtant une répartition en tous points semblable à celle des visas, avec des pics vertigineux de plus d’un an dans certaines régions du monde. Sur le terrain, les employeurs s’arrachent les cheveux, au point de faire parfois une croix sur les pays qui affichent les pires bilans. Trop long, trop incertain, trop paupérisant.
Il est consternant de constater combien la machine canadienne est aveugle à ses propres turpitudes. Non, elle ne voit pas le déséquilibre que nos cartes permettent de voir en un clin d’oeil. Pire, elle s’illusionne en publiant des délais estimés de traitement qui n’ont parfois rien à voir avec la réalité. Les voyageurs qui ont attendu leur passeport ont déjà joué dans ce mauvais film. C’est le cas aussi pour des étudiants étrangers en attente d’un permis d’études. IRCC évalue leur traitement à 12 semaines. Le Devoir a montré ce week-end que des dizaines d’étudiants francophones africains admis dans des universités canadiennes attendent plutôt leur précieux sésame depuis de longs mois, certains depuis plus d’un an.
Le gouvernement Trudeau admet que ses services sont surchargés, mais il refuse l’idée qu’ils soient rendus dysfonctionnels. Il préfère se réfugier derrière le commode paravent pandémique. Sclérosante pour toutes les organisations, la COVID-19 a certainement mis du sable dans l’engrenage. Mais cet engrenage, on le savait déjà passablement mal huilé. En 2017, une étude du World Economic Forum plaçait le Canada 120e sur 136 pays en matière de visa, voyant sa politique en la matière comme l’une des plus alambiquées et opaques au monde. En 2019 ? 125e sur 139.
Avec la pandémie, cette étude annuelle a été mise sur pause, mais on peut parier qu’avec les délais que l’on connaît cette année, le Canada n’a pas pu améliorer son score. Le contrôle des frontières est légitime, mais il y a la manière. Ce n’est pas la première fois qu’IRCC se fait rappeler d’être plus transparent et, surtout, plus juste. À force de reporter ce chantier, le Canada joue sa réputation.
Multicultural Meanderings 