Over the next three years, Canada aims to bring in more than 1.2 million new immigrants as the nation seeks to fill the holes in its labor market and improve its economy that has been hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.
This, according to federal immigration minister Marko Mendicino, who told reporters in Ottawa that the national government intends to welcome 401,000 foreign permanent residents in 2021, some 411,000 in 2022, and 421,000 in 2023.
Mendicino, who early in the day set out the latest immigration objectives, said, "Before the pandemic, our government's goal to drive the economy forward through immigration was ambitious. Now it's simply vital."
As it has traditionally brought in skilled labor and refugees and people attempting to rejoin with family members already within the country, Canada's immigration system has long been perceived as a model.
Ottawa, in a statement, detailed the specifics of its plans to accept in 2021 232,500 immigrants from the immigrant economic community and 103,500 family members of people who are already in Canada, 59,500 refugees, and other covered entities. There would be another 5,500 people admitted on humanitarian grounds.
Due to COVID-19, the nation shut its borders for many immigrants in March. A news agency estimated that 128,425 immigrants had settled by August, only about half of the 341,000-person goal it had planned for 2020.
The COVID-19 pandemic has also placed significant discrepancies and long-standing immigration policy concerns under heightened scrutiny in Canada.
Many asylum seekers and refugees are facing challenging working environments, and many important Canadian sectors, such as health, food processing, and agriculture, depend on those who are exposed to abuse by vulnerable immigrations.
Over the past few months, a campaign has emerged, insisting that Canada give these frontline workers lifelong immigration status, most of whom are employed under circumstances that put them at risk of COVID-19 transmission.
Robert Falconer, an analyst at the School of Public Policy at the University of Calgary for refugees and immigration policies, tweeted Friday that the next three years would be "the highest years on record since 1911" if the government achieves its objectives.
Status for all
Amid that strain earlier this year, the federal government announced plans to regularize the status of a narrow subset of these employees deemed "guardian angels" by politicians.
In response to the announcement, the Migrant Workers Alliance for Change, an advocacy organization, had stated that "a single-tier immigration system" should be put in place by the government that guarantees status for all migrants.
"Immigrants are critical to our healthcare sector and represent one in four working in our hospitals and long-term care homes," Mendicino had stated on Friday. "Whether they've been taking care of our most vulnerable or putting food on our tables, newcomers have played an outsized role in our response to COVID-19," he added.
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