Lilit Chilingaryan (11) l STAFF REPORTER
Immigration has played an integral role in the building of nations, a paradigm being Canada. However, there always lingers the question of how this aspect should be dealt with; public opinion, the economy, global issues, and the population are all interrelated when it comes to the formulation and alteration of such policies. Especially today, the question seems pressing: should alterations be made to Canada’s immigration policy?
A society must maintain and increase its population; however, as is the case for countries in North America, fertility rates are low, so the population cannot increase naturally. The reliance, therefore, is on immigration, which accounted for almost 80% of population growth between 2016 and 2021. The federal government has recognized that immigration cannot be restricted due to this simple fact, as well as for other reasons.
The labour force is also heavily supported by immigrants. Both high-skill and low-skill jobs have been taken up by immigrants, and today, the demand is paramount. However, the lack is found in labour jobs that do not require a high level of education. Immigrants and citizens alike find themselves in the same situation where they are “over-educated:” The demand for educated, high-skilled professionals is less than the human resources that enter the workforce with higher education. Immigrants, especially, are vulnerable to this; there is much competition among citizens in professional sectors, and foreign education may be undermined.
So, the problem is this: there are not enough labour workers and too many overqualified people. Changes to the policy can be made to fix this. For example, incentives can be offered to potential immigrants through specific programs that bring people, temporarily or permanently, to Canada for labour or trade jobs. Such programs are in place; they must simply be promoted and altered. Another option is to decrease the significance of education level in the point system (the criteria that Canada uses to analyze each applicant) so as to bring in immigrants who will not end up struggling with over-education. However, this could have several implications; for example, this may not be fair to educated potential immigrants.
The argument that is often made for decreasing immigration is the housing crisis. There is not enough housing available, and it certainly isn’t affordable. However, can immigration be put on pause due to a problem that will not recede soon? It shouldn’t, but it will be difficult to deal with this matter. The housing crisis is mainly prevalent in Toronto and Vancouver, where it would be best to avoid immigrating for that reason. Of course, I’m not saying that every other city in Canada is living in a housing utopia, but it would be best to direct immigrants to provinces and cities that are less pressed with this matter. This could possibly be done with the Province Nominee Program, whose purpose is “to distribute more immigrants…outside the three major cities, and to help meet the workforce needs.” The PNP could possibly be manipulated in a way that directs more immigration towards these provinces.
Ultimately, it becomes clear that immigration is vital for Canada’s economy and culture, and that the immigration policy should adapt to the needs and changes in the country. The policy has been augmented over the past years to include such changes and promote immigration in the right direction, but novel alterations can be made to further enhance immigration as well as the lives of the immigrants themselves.
