Ahmed D. Hussen, Canadian Minister of Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship, announced a three-year immigration plan which increases the influx of immigrants to 350,000 by 2021.
Criticism on the issue is currently revolving around uneducated opinions about immigrants, which are fueled by a discriminatory rhetoric that says immigrants generally have “anti-Canadian values.” According to research released by the Angus Reid Institute this year, 49 per cent of Canadians wanted the previous federal target of newcomers—310,000 immigrants—reduced.
The division between Canadians on this issue is due to the lack of education about the historical significance of immigration to the establishment of Canada. English and French colonizers—who were immigrants that are considered the pioneers of our country by seizing control over the lands of Indigenous peoples, that is—are often relieved of the blame for enslaving Africans and building infrastructure using their unpaid labour. (Yes, African immigrants built this country.)
In addition, Canada hosted the majority of its Irish immigrants during the Great Irish Famine. Aside from the accomplishments of Irish immigrants and their descendants, they historically served as a bridge between French and English Canadians, because they shared the language of the former, and the religion of the latter. Our failure to acknowledge the struggle and impact of various immigrant groups in Canada has not only proved the discrimination behind anti-immigration sentiments, but the lack of understanding of the crucial role immigrant Canadians play in the socioeconomic growth of Canada.
There also seems to be a lack of understanding of the sense of Canadian identity that recent immigrants of colour feel in comparison to third- and fourth-generation European immigrants. In a study done by the Provincial Diversity Project, when Canadians were asked about their “attachment” to Canada as opposed to their perception of the visible minority immigrants’ attachment to Canada, they scored an eight for themselves on a scale of 10, and scored 5.8 on average for immigrants. However, the immigrants’ “attachment” score was 8—just as much as the wider Canadian population.
The significance of immigration to Canada is an important aspect which Canadians who are critical of increasing immigration tend to be ignorant about as well. Seventy per cent of the new immigrants that are planned to settle in Canada by 2021 are to be economic migrants. Their skills will be crucial in filling the gaps in the labour market—not only for metropolitan cities such as Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal, despite these cities’ higher levels of ethnic diversity, but across Canada as well. With the documented impact of immigrants on the growth of Canada, and with its crucial need to solve issues arising in our society today, it is simply ignorant for Canadians to oppose the immigration boost due to their lack of understanding of the importance of immigration.
If we assume that immigrants will only benefit from our generous system, let us think about how much more they will give back to the country that they soon will call home.
It is our ignorance to many of the positive implications of immigration in Canada that sadly shape our divided opinions about immigration today.
