Immigration is one of many issues voters heading to the polls in the 2019 general elections have on their minds. Although all major party leaders have made various promises regarding immigration to appeal to their bases, they have mostly restrained from talking about it on the campaign trail.
“The parties that would normally talk about immigration are terrified that they will be presented to the media, as if they are xenophobic,” said Conrad Winn, a professor of political science at Carleton University.
“The Conservatives seem cautious at best and fearful at worst about talking too much about this for fear that the media will present them as against immigrants and xenophobic.”
Canada’s immigration rate has been steadily growing since 1991. According to the 2016 census results by Statistics Canada, 21.9 per cent of the population were or had been immigrants or permanent residents at one point or another.
More recent data released on Sept. 30, showed that immigrants accounted for 80 per cent of Canada’s population growth between July 2018-19.
This is “one of the highest ever recorded,” according to Statistics Canada.
Why Immigration?
Canada accepts a large number of immigrants every year. Although the immigration level in Canada has risen, the process by which people come into Canada has not changed much in the past few years.
Canada uses a point system to determine which people come into Canada. Points are awarded based on things like “credentials, their language, abilities, their age,” and other factors which would help a person fit in the job market, said Howard Duncan, executive head of The Metropolis Project, a network of international migration researchers
“We try to select immigrants who will, by their personal success …contribute to the economy,” added Duncan.
“I think it’s a good country to live in, in terms of school, safety, work, and there are a lot of opportunities here,” said Elbar Batero, a third-year law student at Carleton who came to Canada about five years ago.
Canada needs large numbers of immigrants because the economy depends on them to fill the gap in the labour force, caused by a decreasing birth rate according to Duncan.
“If it were not for immigration, the size of Canada’s population as a whole would start to shrink”
– Howard Duncan, Executive head of the Metropolis Project
“What’s happened to the labor force is that because fewer young people are coming into the labor force in general, the labor force is getting older, the number of people who are retiring is growing rapidly. And so the number of workers who are born in Canada is simply not keeping pace with the number of jobs that are needed to be filled,” he said.
Meanwhile, the population is aging, with more seniors. In the past year, Canada experienced its lowest natural increase in population—the difference between people born in a country and those who die there—ever.
“Our birth rate is about one and a half children per woman,” said Duncan. “And if you think about it, you need just slightly more than two children per woman, just to maintain the size of your population without immigration.
“If it were not for immigration, the size of Canada’s population as a whole would start to shrink,” Duncan said.
There are three different classes of migrants that Canada admits into the country under its immigration system: economic class, family reunion, and refugees.
Anti-Immigration
Canadians are currently divided on the current state of Canada’s immigration levels. Poll data released on Oct. 7 showed that about 13 per cent of people think Canada’s immigration target levels are too low, 39 per cent think they’re just right, and 40 per cent think that they’re too high.
“The general publics in Europe and in Canada are increasingly cautious about the volume of immigrants. And they’re probably a bit more cautious about some immigrants than others.”
– Conrad Winn, political science professor at Carleton University
Conservative Party leader, Andrew Scheer, made an announcement at Roxham Road on Oct. 9 promising to close what he called a “loophole” in the Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA) between the U.S. and Canada.
Meanwhile People’s Party of Canada leader, Maxime Bernier has promised to reduce immigration levels.
According to Winn, people are concerned not only about the volume of immigrants coming into the country, but also about a specific group.
“I think, in reality, there is a cautious, slow increase in misgivings among western peoples—[and it’s] not Western elites, not Western decision makers. Western elites and decision makers are very comfortable with the volume and type of immigrants that Western countries receive,” he said.
“But the general publics in Europe and in Canada are increasingly cautious about the volume of immigrants. And they’re probably a bit more cautious about some immigrants than others.”
Having moved from Ethiopia to Kenya and eventually to Canada, Batero knows the immigrant experience. She said moving to a different country is sometimes the only choice immigrants have.
“Most of us don’t choose to come here. If our countries were good, then we wouldn’t leave in the first place. It’s not really negotiable,” she said. “You can’t negotiate with a war torn country so you really have no other option but to run, and you run to the safest place.”
Public support for immigration may be down but according to Duncan this happens when the public believes the immigration system is not working well.
“Public support requires that Canadians believe that the system is being run well,” he said. “That immigration is in fact being managed and, among other things, that means that we try to prevent undocumented migration.”
“If [the government] are not seen as managing these kinds of flows of things, then the support from the public will diminish, and that could put the entire integration program in jeopardy,” he added.
“Nobody leaves their home willingly.”
– Elbar Batero, third-year law student
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been criticised for his handling of “irregular immigrants” at the Quebec border which has led to a loss of confidence in the immigration system. Data from authorities show that since the beginning of this year 10,076 people have been intercepted at land crossings in Quebec, which is 340 people less than this time last year.
Batero said she wants people to understand that immigrants and refugees who come to Canada are looking for a place to survive.
“I don’t think they should really be all angry that people are coming here because it’s just people trying to survive and if they’re in the same position, I’m sure they would want people to accept them when there is danger coming from a place they call home,” she said.
“Nobody leaves their home willingly,” she added.
Duncan said he expects the public support for immigration to go back up because undocumented migration and economic hardships are the two main factors that drive the support for immigration down, but once the public believes the government has undocumented migration under control, the support for immigration will go back up.
“I think that it is the case that Canadians value fairness,” he said.
After waiting for almost three years before she and her family came to Canada, Batero has some words of encouragement for those making the journey.
“I think just try your best to not give up because sometimes the journey to get here is very hard and sometimes you just feel like giving up, and some people do and they don’t end up in a good place,” she said.
“Depression, mental illness, it’s really not a nice experience to go through, but whatever situation they’re in, there’s always an answer, there’s always a way out. They just have to look harder and look deeper and they’ll make it—just like we did, everyone else in Canada did.”
Feature graphic by Sara Mizannojehdehi.
