Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen |
Canada will take in 350,000 in 2021, 40,000 more immigrants than it plans to
accept this year, Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen said Wednesday.
The figures were announced Wednesday as part of government’s updated
multi-year immigration levels plan, which covers the next three years.
The target rises annually from 310,000 this year, counting all classes
of new arrivals.
The vast majority of these newcomers are coming under economic
programs designed to address skills shortages and gaps in the labour
market.
Hussen says economic immigration is badly needed in areas
across the country that are short on workers and long on older
residents.
‘Hunger for workers is huge’
“In certain regions the hunger
for workers is huge,” he said. “This plan is making us very competitive
in the global market. It enables us to continue to be competitive, it
enables us to continue to present Canada as a welcoming country and to
position us to continue to be (a leader) in skills attraction.”
Many immigration advocates and economic groups had called for bigger
increases to Canada’s immigration numbers. The government’s own economic
advisory council suggested admitting 450,000 people in a report in 2016.
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Hussen
says the Liberal government is taking a measured approach, keeping in
mind the need to ensure newcomers have access to suitable settlement
services.
“You need to be able to house them, you need to be able
to settle them, you need to be able to provide integration services,” he
said.
The Trudeau government did increase funding for settlement
services by 30 per cent since taking office, but if the immigration
levels plan were increased dramatically, this would require even further
funding increases, Hussen added.
“It’s also a question of gradual
increase so our immigration system can be able to process these things,
communities can be able to absorb them and local immigration
partnerships can do their work,” he said. “We can’t just go to 450,000
at once. You need to build up to that.”
Meanwhile, as the global
number of displaced persons reached a record high 68.5 million last
year, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees has called on countries
around the world to do more to help those being pushed out of their
homes by wars, violence and persecution.
Canada does plan to
gradually increase the number of refugees it will accept under its
humanitarian, family reunification and sponsorship programs from 43,000
to reach 51,700 by 2021.
Nevertheless, the lion’s share of the new
admissions under Canada’s immigration levels plan — 72 per cent — will
be allocated to economic programs in 2021.
Hussen says he
acknowledges that more must be done to help refugees around the world,
and says he fights every single day to increase the number of refugees
Canada admits.
He also noted that Canada has “exported” its
program allowing private citizens to sponsor refugees to several other
countries that previously did not offer a program like that. The United
Kingdom has implemented its own version of Canada’s program, with
Ireland and Germany set to soon do the same.
Additional funding
has also been earmarked to bring 1,000 vulnerable women and girl
refugees to Canada over the next two years, Hussen said.
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