OTTAWA – The federal government is planning a huge increase in the number of immigrants entering Canada, aiming to see 500,000 people arrive each year by 2025.
Immigration Minister Sean Fraser unveiled the new targets on Tuesday, saying the move was necessary to ensure Canada’s economic well-being as the country grapples with a labor shortage that has resulted in 1 million job vacancies.
“Our plan is focused on economic development,” Fraser said during an event in North York, Ont. “And by the third year of this plan, 60 percent of new immigrants will be admitted to the economic immigration categories.”
The plan foresees a flood of new arrivals that will see 465,000 people arrive from outside the country in 2023, rising to 500,000 in 2025, with a strong emphasis on bringing in people based on work skills or experience.
At the same time, Ottawa is planning a more modest increase in the number of family members admitted into the country and an overall reduction in the number of refugees.
Fraser sought to defuse the latter’s criticism by noting that Canada has been a world leader in resettling refugees in recent years, including Syrians, Ukrainians and Afghans fleeing conflicts in their countries.
He also promised that the government is ready to handle an unprecedented influx of applications from prospective immigrants who want to come to Canada, with hundreds of new staff and other changes to speed up the process.
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada has been criticized in the past for piling up applications from immigrants and prospective permanent residents.
The new plan comes just days after Statistics Canada reported that 23 per cent of people in the country are immigrants or permanent residents, the highest percentage and top ever among G7 countries.
By 2041, Statistics Canada predicts that 34 per cent of people in Canada will be immigrants.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on November 1, 2022.
