Policy Options: Canada’s immigration score: Recommendations for a win-win by Ratna Omidvar

In an article in the July-August 2010 issue of Policy Options, Maytree President and Chair of TRIEC Board of Directors Ratna Omidvar asks how the hundreds of thousands of immigrants who arrive each year in Canada fare in the immigration process. She examines the extent to which Canada’s immigration policy succeeds in the short, medium and long terms for both Canada and the immigrants.

Perhaps the best indication of how well Canada does in the medium term is how immigrants themselves describe their feelings of belonging. According to the General Social Survey, 84 percent of immigrants who arrived between 1990 and 2003 reported strong or somewhat strong feelings of belonging in Canada, compared with 85 percent of all Canadians.

Using a number of economic, social and political indicators, she finds that Canada is doing well in the medium and long terms, but must do better in the short term: “Canada’s score on this front is abysmal,” she says. She makes several recommendations to increase the benefits of immigration in the first few years of arrival, notably by strengthening the federal Skilled Worker Program.

Read the article (PDF).

Reference: Maytree