Kelly and Treblicock: Canada needs a coherent immigration policy – not another piecemeal fix

Good op-ed and call for a more serious review and approach. Their recent book, Reshaping the Mosaic, captures the change from previous policy processes to current less comprehensive ones, and is a very useful documenting the changes to immigration-related policies and programs along with the consultative processes:

…Immigration remains a powerful engine of Canadian growth and resilience. Immigrants already make up nearly one-quarter of the population, a share projected to rise to 36 per cent by 2036. But as recent volatility in public opinion underscores, we cannot afford to keep muddling through with fragmented, short-term responses. There has not been a serious, comprehensive review of Canadian immigration policy in more than 30 years. 

It may be too late to influence next year’s immigration levels plan. But the Minister should renew the government’s 2023 commitment to review the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. This review should not be conducted behind closed doors. Like previous major legislative reviews, it must bring together evidence and experience from federal and provincial policymakers, employers, service providers, newcomers, researchers and citizens in a transparent process.

Getting immigration policy right is more than a social or political imperative – it is essential to Canada’s long-term economic resilience in the face of trade instability, demographic aging, and rapidly advancing technology.

Source: Canada needs a coherent immigration policy – not another piecemeal fix