Canada Pledges to Welcome Record-Breaking Number of Immigrants

To address the country’s huge labor shortage, the Canadian government announced its intention to encourage an extraordinary 1.45 million immigrants over the next 3 years.

The Immigration Levels Plan of the federal government seeks to fill 1 million vacant positions by recruiting immigrants to support the country’s most impacted industries — health care, manufacturing, engineering, and trades. The plan also includes long-term economic growth strategies, advancements in provincial applications, and faster family reunification.

Canada has long sought immigration as a means of dealing with an aging population and low birth rates. The United States, too, is dealing with a decline in native-born population — recent studies suggest that by 2043, U.S. population increase will be driven entirely by immigration. However, unlike the United States, where immigration rates have fluctuated, Canada has maintained high levels of immigration since the 1990s. According to new Statistics Canada census data, one in every five Canadians is now an immigrant, the highest percentage in nearly a century.

There is also evidence that more immigrants are choosing Canada over the United States for higher education and employment opportunities, due in large part to Canada’s apparently friendlier immigration policies, such as the most recent Immigration Levels Plan.

Sean Fraser, Canada’s Immigration Minister, mentioned that the plan will target 465,000 immigrants in 2023, 485,000 in 2024, and 500,000 in 2025.

The country is already on track to exceed its 2022 newcomer target. “We welcomed the newest arrivals in a single year in our history last year,” Fraser said. “This year’s Immigration Levels Plan will assist businesses in finding the workers they require, while also trying to put Canada on a path that will make a significant contribution to our long-term success.”