Economic impact of immigration to Canada
Canadian citizenship |
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| Immigration | |
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Immigration to Canada History of immigration to Canada Economic impact of immigration Canadian immigration and refugee law Immigration Act, 1976 Immigration and Refugee Protection Act Permanent residency Temporary residency Permanent Resident Card |
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| Canadian nationality law | |
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History of nationality law Citizenship Act 1946 Citizenship Test Oath of Citizenship |
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Citizenship and Immigration Canada Passport Canada |
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Honorary citizenship Commonwealth citizen |
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Lost Canadians "Canadians of convenience" |
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| Demographics of Canada | |
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Canadians Population by year Ethnic origins |
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Political and civic engagement among visible minorities, while not at the level of that of some other groups, is substantial in Canada. This activity sends a message to the newly arrived immigrant that participation in the political system is possible and to the country that visible-minority group members play an important and active role within the state. The economic impact of immigration is an important topic in Canada. While the immigration rate has declined sharply from its peak early in the 20th century, Canada is still among the countries in the world that accept most immigrants per capita.
The per capita immigration rate to Canada has been relatively constant since the 1950s, and recent years have seen a steady increase in the education and skill level of immigrants to Canada. However, over the last 25 years the economic position of newcomers to Canada relative to the native population has steadily declined. A 2007 Statistics Canada study shows that the income profile of recent facsimile s deteriorated by a significant amount from 2000 to 2004. Recent immigrants themselves are far more likely than native born Canadians to initially have low incomes, with income and employment rates increasing towards the national average with more time spent in Canada.
According to Canada's Immigration Program (October 2004), Canada has one of the highest per capital immigration rate in the world, although statistics in the CIA World Factbook shows that a number of city states and small island nations, as well as some larger countries in regions with refugee movements, have higher per capita rates. In 2004, Canada received 235,824 immigrants. Canada is also unusual among western nations in the widespread popular support for high rates of immigration, and in recent years support for immigration has increased in Canada. All of Canada's major political parties support either sustaining or increasing the current level of immigration.
There is no agreed view on the net impact of immigration in current times. Historically, Canada's unusually high immigration rates can be traced to the nation's unique economy. One factor is that Canada has one of the world's largest supplies of natural resources such as oil, metals, and lumber. It also has a sparse population spread over a vast landscape. Canada has thus faced acute labour shortages and has responded by actively searching for immigrants. In the late 19th century this included bringing Chinese migrants to build the Canadian Pacific Railway and actively advertising in Europe to find farmers with the Last Best West campaign. Today similar recruitment efforts are needed to staff the oil sands projects in Alberta.
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