Immigration In Canada And Us Essay Research

Immigration In Canada And Us Essay, Research Paper

Immigration has played a major part historically in the growth of Canada s population. Between 1901 and 1911 alone, Canada received over 1.5 million immigrants, representing 28 percent of Canada s total population at the time. Recently, however, Canada s immigration policies and practices have come under scrutiny and criticism, as increasingly larger numbers of people begin to question whether current progressive immigration policy is beneficial in the long run for Canada and Canadians. Essentially, Canada has begun to question itself whether its current restrictions on immigration are sufficient.

Throughout its history Canada has maintained numerous immigration policies, many not surviving the life span of the government under which they were created. Yet these policies, although highly restrictive, were not in the best interest of the country. Many were established to protect the individual interests of the current government, or they were established in an effort to maintain the government of the time s essentially racist conception of Canada. In fact, it wasn t until 1962 that Canada s essentially all-white immigration policy was abolished.

In 1976 Canada adopted a points-based system, where potential immigrants were assigned various points based on such things as age, education, and net worth. This system was designed to prevent immigrants from being barred entry into the country based on race, religion, or creed. Essentially, those immigrants with sufficiently large personal savings, or with jobs skills listed under the government s General Occupations List, would be awarded more points, thus increasing there chance of being granted admittance into the country.

Recently, the government has adopted new policies to bring this system up to date. Under current proposals, new immigrants would have to demonstrate fluency in one of the official languages. As well, points would no longer be given out based on a potential immigrant s occupation, but their occupation must still appear on the new National Occupational Classification in order for them to qualify for entry. The new system essentially places more responsibility on visa officers abroad to assess an applicant’s eligibility.

Of all the immigrants coming to Canada, most fall under the skilled worker category. These are immigrants who posses work skills which are deemed wanted by the Canadian government s National Occupational Classification. Such skills often include technical skills, in the fields of science and medicine, but also quite frequently labor skills, to fill labor gaps that the current Canadian population either cannot or is unwilling to fill. It has always been the current Liberal government s policy to limit immigration to Canada to 1% of the current population.

Business immigrants are one of the other group classifications under Canada s current immigration policy. Business immigrants are divided into three groups, the “Self-employed”, the “Entrepreneur”, and the “Investor”. One of the other larger groups admitted into Canada are sponsored immigrants. Sponsored immigrants are essentially those who have family already in Canada and can get those family member s to sponsor their immigration application. The Liberal government encourages family relations and development, as it sees family and family life as a necessary facet of an immigrant integrating into Canadian society. With this goal in mind, the current government encourages immigrants to sponsor their family members, provided those members meet the same health and security restrictions applied to all other immigrants.

The other group of immigrants frequently admitted into Canada, and the ones that receive most of the media attention, are refugees. Since World War II, Canada has resettled or granted asylum to over 800,000 refugees and other people in need of humanitarian solutions.

From 1820 to 1930, the United States received about 60% of the world’s immigrants. Population expansion in developed areas of the world, improved methods of transportation, and U.S. desire to populate available space were all factors in this phenomenon. Through the 19th century, the United States was in the midst of agricultural, then industrial, expansion. The desire for cheap, unskilled labor and the profits to be made importing immigrants fueled the movement. Immigrants were largely responsible for the rapid development of the country, and their high birthrates did much to swell the U.S. population. Often, however, immigrants formed distinct ethnic neighborhoods, tending to remain somewhat isolated from the wider culture. Frequently exploited, some immigrants were accused by organized labor of lowering wages and living standards, though other groups of immigrants rapidly became mainstays of the labor movement.

The number of immigrants who came to the United States after the Second World War grew at a steady pace; a total of over 18 million people immigrated during the years from 1946 to 1992, with an average of close to 700,000 a year during the last ten years of that period. But as the US immigrant population increased and began to place a strain on governmental budgets, or was perceived as a threat to cultural homogeneity in some communities, public pressure led Congress to place limits on the numbers who would be welcomed to the American melting pot