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International Relations: Canadian Immigration policy

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Background

Canada ever since its inception as a country has been a net immigration country. The high rate of immigration in the country is attached to its long and wealth of experience from immigration and immigration that is deeply embedded in its sense of nationhood. Permanent residents in Canada who are a foreign born record about 20% of the total population and new immigrants account for about 50%. The present trends in immigration have led the country to an enormous contribution to the country’s ethno cultural composition which is perhaps significant in the country’s industry force. A fundamental goal of the present immigration system universally is to encourage high-skilled, bilingual and youthful immigration for the purpose of building human capital. For the reason of benefiting the country, Canada has erected individual skills, educational and immigrant policies that would attract the right types of migrants in the country.

This expertise and policies only favour a particular class of immigrants who meet the defined abilities from the immigrations board, and this has mounted the question of fairness on citizenship. This development is set to look at the various policies set in Canada regarding immigration, particularly skilled workers. At the same time, this article will also look at how skilled labour are impacted with the existing and new immigration policies in Canada as well as how the larger community of the immigrant and host is also impacted.

Migration

Movement is mostly affected by the transformations in immigration policies in particular countries. A perfect instance includes opening boundaries that were closed initially, conflicts in a certain area in the world, globalization of the economy of a particular nation and political, and environment repression of a countries economy (Sokoloff & Pratt 2005). Looking at the case of skilled workers, the grass is usually greener on the countries they decide to immigrate to. Reactive immigration looks at the political upheavals that give rise to civil wars and conflicts which are evident in the number of displaced individuals leaving a country. As immigrants find a home in their new country, they make the country develop into a more diverse nation. As a consequence of this diversity the ethnic boundaries, its culture and racial identity are transformed. Immigration changes enrich a country. However, the mainstreaming population that keeps on coming in might threaten the activities of the hits country depending on the rate of transformation taking place through immigration, and this is what forces host countries to define levels of acceptance of the new population.

Canada’s developing immigration policy

In the 19th century, Canada initiated policy measures to control immigration. From the free permitted entry into Canada that was in existence in 1867 to 1895; Canada began to develop measures that would exclude every individual who was unable to trace their ethnic origin to Europe. The mid-20th century came with regulatory changes that blatantly got rid of racist dimensions in the immigration policy of Canada. At the beginning of the 21st century, the Canadian Immigration Act begun to increase skilled workers flows in Canada after a public debate in the country being able to manage a larger number of highly skilled immigrants. It was at this time that highly trained immigrants begun to receive quick entry to Canady through the economy class which currently comprises 60% of all immigrants. For the purpose of building human capital in Canada, the Immigration and Refugee Act of 2001 identified new procedures and classes for the 21st-century immigration issues.

The federal skilled worker program

This program according to the immigration policy of Canada accounts for 81% of the general economic immigrant admissions. Skilled workers moving to Canada must ensure they are in possession of nothing less than a year of professional experience in a managerial, technical, vocational or dedicated trade to receive qualifications for a program in the skilled worker program. The immigration policies of the present also evaluate the skilled worker from age, proficiency in English or French, the level of education and adaptability to the new environment criteria. The temporary worker program is initially developed for small and skilled employment provisions for temporary employees.

The Arranged employer opinion policy

The process in this system starts with the company designing a job offer to an international worker. In this policy, the working condition and the wages of the foreign worker must be in full match of a similar employer in the same position in Canada. This means that the employer has first to conduct research to determine if a Canadian could occupy the same situation if he does not want to go through tasking procedures. This policy has developed concerns of fraud and false job claims because of the tendency of foreigners to outperform Canadian residents.

The provincial nominee system program

In this policy, a foreign worker receives a nomination by a province to acquire a work permit basic on the criteria set by the province. Since the end of World War II, Canada has opened its gates for immigrants’ particularly high-skilled workers because industrialization considered this era. The movement until the past decade, Canada has recorded the biggest record in an immigrant settlement after the United States and the United Kingdom. The shift of immigration policy programs during this time emphasized on the skills of immigrants (Kelly, & Trebilcock, 2000). The number of restrictions on skills begun to drop as prospective immigrants was expected to have few qualities to pass. Two official languages were retained for immigrants who needed to work in Canada; an addition of a family member or a relative during work was also added. Immigrants at the same time also received training and education and were given a chance to work with the highest employment areas of Canada.

In as much as the government looked at what could be done to prevent existing discrimination on immigrants, discrimination was still evident in settlement patterns. Very few immigrants were provided with an urban settlement and frontier areas that exposed them to vast Canadian opportunities. Because most immigrants have low skills and education, they are treated as second-hand citizens. It was at this time that immigration began to drift away from social spheres transforming into the demands of the point system. Immigrant workers had no motivation to stay active in production, the economy of Canada begun to fall. It was at this time that the government thought of twisting immigrant treatment so that they can have the same platform as Canadian citizens. To counter the loss of Canadian economy, to become an immigrant, one needed to meet the demand of the point system. With a new immigration ideology, immigrants now had something valuable to offer to Canada as a country. The point system which was introduced in the mid-20th century is operation till to date.

The point system that works as a fundamental policy in the contemporary looks at individual abilities of in contribution to the welfare of Canada and the larger interests of the country (Bloemraad, 2006). That is; you are only allowed in Canada basing on the skills you have and not ethnicity and it was in the past. On the point system, there was eight first section to the immigrant system; age, industrial demand, education, personal assessment, occupational skills, relatives residing in Canada, knowledge of the two core competencies and ultimately the availability of employment. Each section was awarded a particular number of points that led to the total markup point of 100. The point system as a fundamental policy in Canadian immigration was introduced as a pass mark for immigration acceptance where an individual was to attain 50 marks. The point system enabled the immigrant commission to check the attitudes of immigrants before they would be allowed into the country. These immigration policies that were attached to the end systems were deemed appropriate for Canada to gain international platforms that are driven by economic goals (Knowles, 2007).

The point system policy in its implementation was aimed at surpassing racial discriminations that were evident in existing immigration policies. Additionally, the point system enabled the Canadian government only to allow individuals who would be beneficial to the Canadian economy.

Impacts of the point system

It is necessary for any government to look at the interests of its citizens and how their economy will be affected in discussing the matter to do with immigration. Watching the point system, it is evident that this policy would create a balance between the demands of immigrants and the larger interests of the host country (Canada). Canadian role is to stand out from the difficult function of the British Empire through creating a liberal society. However, will the point system continue to lock potential individuals out which are a higher form of discrimination?

Impact to the government

The government might be seriously in need of people who are well endowed with the necessary skills to perform, but what of those individuals who only have the talent to show but miss out on the language aspect, the availability of employment, relatives living abroad and also fail to meet the age criteria? What happens to the economy when Canada loses potential individuals? In this manner, the government stands at a greater point of losing its potential to reach a greater economy target. When the government fails to diagnose other potential immigrants that fail to attain the mark of 50 concerning the point system, the nature to grow the economy further is endangered (Immigration Policy Center 2010). The primary interest of Canada is to stand out and stand apart from the British rule through creating a culture of free democracy. A significant impact that the point system has on the economy lies in the inability to distinguish other potential candidates who do not attain the 50 points.

Impact of the immigrants

The point system, without a doubt, has adverse effects on immigrants. For instance, living in a multi-cultural and a world that is fully manufacturing, I believe we should not be having unnecessary restrictions such as age. It is common to go to Japan and find a ten-year-old who is multi-skilled and can perform functions similar to the ability of a grown up. Because of the growing campaign on diversity, the point system locks of potential immigrants with the capacity to make the country even more diverse (Doyle, 2004). However, for the immigrants who make it to the 50 points feel threatened to continue with the concept of diversity. Immigrants who make it feel tempted to impose uniformity in their day to day interactions. The movement towards uniformity them pushes behind the performance of individual immigrants and threaten the ability of immigrants and hosts to work together collaboratively (Richmond 2002). In this process, immigrants would feel they have little power to influence the society; they will be left out of the vision that makes them better people in the world and thus places Canada at a similar position of global economy loss.

Language can be learnt in new environments because of its imagined nature. When language becomes a requirement to be part of the Canadian citizenship, then immigrants would feel tolerated and not very much accepted in a new environment. A significant impact on the performance of immigrants is when they are referred to as immigrants, or their performance contract read as an immigrant. Being referred to as immigrants would question what the larger Canadian society looks like. The term immigrants would give immigrants much pressure to struggle in a society that they think they are not wanted because of certain societal words that are used to classify and group individuals.

Transnational impact

Because of the social attitudes and beliefs that are evident in the point system, other countries are set to develop similar ideas about what immigrants should have. This will obscure the reality of development universally because of the brutalizing and humiliating feeling that immigrants from other countries when moving to a new country. Because of the term used to refer to immigrants from the point system, discrimination might continue further because host country might provide less housing access to immigrants, limited access to the legal system, immigrants might face violence from the hosts and have no one to fight with them and thus impossibility to end discrimination.

Conclusion

Immigration departments should come up with comprehensive solutions for drawing out talent and not wholly depend on the point system. The point systems equally have its flaws, and it is evident that it locks out potential people from being part of a healthy workforce. Because of the scoring system of Canadian visa application, the government can prioritise specific features and dismiss other irrelevant features for the future success of the country. The new solutions should take into account the language and cultural difference among immigrants instead of prioritising certain issues such as relatives living abroad. I believe that policies are not the significant factors in making immigration decisions. Factors that should be more important in immigration policies should be the role of culture, country’s size and diversity. Many immigrants prefer to choose the United States because of what they describe as ‘a free feeling’ all fifty states in one country offering different regulations that are not compulsory but rather provide an individual with many choices (Lonegan 2007). Because countries with high levels of income and booming economies would remain to attract immigrants from developing countries, there should be a right combination of immigration policies of factors such as economy and culture which might be a significant leverage in acquiring the brightest workforce for the future.

References;

Bloemraad, I. (2006). “Becoming a Citizen in the United States and Canada: Structured Mobilization and Immigrant Political Incorporation.” Social Forces 85(2):667–95.

Doyle, M. A. (2004). The challenge of worldwide migration. Journal of Worldwide Migration, 57 (2), pp. 1-5.

Immigration Policy Center. (2010). “Top ten resources on the economic impact of immigration.” American Immigration Council: Washington, DC.

Kelly, N. & Trebilcock, M. (2000). The Making of the Mosaic: A History of Canadian Immigration Policy. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

Knowles, V. (2007). Strangers at Our Gates: Canadian Immigration and Immigration Policy, 1540-2006. Toronto: Dundurn Press.

Lonegan B. (2007). “American Diaspora: The Deportation of Lawful Citizens from the United States and the Destruction of Their Families.” N.Y.U. Review of Law and Social Change 32:55.

Richmond, A. (2002). Globalization: implications for immigrants and refugees. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 25(5), pp. 707-727