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Canadian immigration policy has turned into the nation’s population policy and how this state of affairs is changing and creating a different social and population geography. By looking at the evidence “Fertility levels are below the replacement rate, with no grounds for expecting turnaround. Mortality rates are also in decline but changes into the future are anticipated to be modest…” With this being said, immigration is the main factor of population growth or even decline. Looking back at Canada’s history as a nation state, we see many similarities to the comment stated above. “…just after the turn of the previous century and following World War II, natural increase has been the driving force in population growth…”
Population policy, population projections, and changes in the population geography of Canada are all affected by the results of immigration. In regard this tends to lead us to believe that this will benefit the state’s planning capacity since the ‘management of immigration’ implements two settings. The two settings are entry class regulations of the immigrants and yearly targets. The benefits of this are the fact that “…is more centralized and subject to the steering capacity of the state than the birth rate or death rate.” As luck would have it; so to speak, immigration is so unreliable when it comes to population change in contrast to birth and death rates in both the short and long term. In one example, George et al. (1997) was responsible for the preparation of national population projections. After parameters were set, the mean of the later years seemed considerably low. “The result was that after fifty years, estimates of Canada’s total population based upon the two estimates …a range that makes them of little use…” Canada’s population strategy is making it much more difficult to establish the dimensions of population change. Immigration is often known to be a means of staving off the decline in population in Canada.
There are many implications for public policy and social geography in Canada. Since there is a recent trend of population growth by a means of immigration, we must look are three main issues. These issues are: 1) the geography of immigrant settlement in Canada and their impacts on urban areas and housing, 2) immigrant participation in the Canadian labour force and hard economic times experienced by many immigrants in the early 1990’s, 3) Lastly, the evolution of Canadian identity and citizenship.
When it comes to metropolitan concentration, Bourne and Rose state that there is a large capacity of immigrants entering the ‘gateway’ cities of Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver. This is due to the fact there are many economic expectations and opportunities in these larger cities. There have been increases in the construction and retailing industries, which is leading to a larger workforce. Population growth is linked to the decline in environmental conditions, such as land, water, and urban air pollution. In Canada, immigration is key to population growth in the ‘gateway’ cities.
According to Bourne and Rose, immigration is a main contributor to the Canadian labour force. “…close to 70 percent of labour force growth may be attributed to immigrants.” As for personal incomes it is said that it takes 10-15 years after landing, to reach the national level. After that, some immigrants reach over the national average. Skilled workers earnings exceed the overall population of tax-filers within two years of landing in Canada. For example, Vancouver receives many immigrants that have funds that exceed the Canadian average. On the other hand, many classes of immigrants have a longer wait to the Canadian average. We must also look at the difficulties that immigrants face, in regards to poverty groups. According to Kazemipur and Halli “…immigrants are one of the groups most likely to be living in poverty in Canada (after Aboriginals and female-headed, single parent families.)” There has been much business failure that has been the outcome of the business immigrants whom have tried to join the economy.
Thus, we see that immigration accounts for almost half of Canada’s population growth. This is becoming an important element of the political economy and cultural life of Canada. Immigration plays a vital role in the sustainability of Canada’s economy. It would be hard to imagine many years down the road without immigration, as it would stunt the growing economy. We, as other nations such as the United States and the European nations have begun to recruit the highest skilled workers from overseas.
Canada is likely to be a country of pronounced immigration and emigration. With the effects of both migration patterns it will be interesting to see the redistribution of Canada’s population. The most notable issues still remain unsettled. These include the articulation of immigrant communities and their diverse backgrounds. The relations between immigration and issues of citizenship and national identity are a hot topic. The meaning of Canadian citizenship is changing. Its unclear as to the way and the effect of this change will occur.
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Agreed Emma | Feb 24th, 2004
Nice
Tend to Disagree Charity Fadun | Mar 14th, 2004
In all do respect, I disagree with your piece here. Your final sentence for example,
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