The Past and Future of Immigration to Canada by David Verbeeten

Main argument

Canada has experienced in summary three scenarios in its history of immigration. The first one before 1901, was characterized by low levels of immigration as this territory was considered a cold, remote, and backward country. In fact the net migration to and from Canada between 1861 and 1901 was negative. The second one consisting of increasing rates of immigration since the late 1890s when almost all sectors of the economy began to expand rapidly and the third one, a recent and visible trend apparently resembling the situation in nineteenth century where concerns that have to do with brain drain phenomenon and failing the desires of the government in terms of immigration of skilled people exist. This uncertainty is generating doubts about the future in immigration to Canada, and finally after this overview, one probably new phenomenon to occur is the future increasing of immigration from Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East, being immigration from this last region the most noticeably over the last quarter century.

Three supporting ideas

The supporting ideas can be identified in the text when Verbeeten (2007) states:

1. The trends of migration to and from Canada were transformed by the economic boom that propelled the Dominion into the twentieth century. In the late 1890s, almost all sectors of the economy began to expand rapidly as cuts in transport costs stimulated the export of goods—and the import of people. Immigrant arrivals went from 17,000 in 1896 to a record 403,000 in 1913 (Buckley, 1965, series A254, p.23). Immigration accounted for 44% of population growth between 1901 and 1911, a level not again reached for 75 years. (p.4)
2. Immigration to Canada collapsed with the Depression in 1930 and remained suppressed for nearly 20 years thereafter. After 1930, Canada shut its doors to many potential immigrants, often Jewish refugees, more tightly than did the US. (p.5)
3. Thus even though, from 1990 to 1996, Canada was reported to have received four graduates for every one Canadian graduate who moved to the US, this ratio related to permanent migrants only: it is reversed once. Temporary migrants are taken into account. The fact that a foreign-born professional is not truly fungible with his or her (absent) Canadian-born counterpart has exacerbated the negative economic consequences of the ongoing loss of native skilled workers. (p.7)

My impression

It is quite interesting how a country has to join efforts to achieve the objective of attracting people overseas to its territory, of course when it is important and valued as a font of economic and social growth. Also it is impressive how the competition in the skilled labor market intensify between countries that can offer good conditions of life and how cautious they should be with specific economic variables that could affect the life condition perceived by a skilled person or group to control flows of this human capital in these countries.

One of the first questions I always raise in this topic is at which level could be the idea of increasing immigration in a country can be considered as a strategy of economic growth and social wealth. It can be a big opportunity for reaching a state of multicultural nations where different opinions, approaches and ways of achieving objectives will be enriching culture and encouraging positive values for the development of that culture. But we can’t forget that this situation may conduct to the appearing of conflict between local culture and coming cultures, being this situation exposed by the Canada’s Prime Minister W.L. Mackenzie King who warned that the socioeconomic assimilation of foreigners from cultures whose norms diverge markedly from those of Canada does entail greater sacrifice and expense, not only for the individual immigrant, but also for society as a whole.

Finally it is also interesting to see how globalization has an effect in migration since it eases mobility of people between countries which can be rapidly noticed due to any change in economic incentives, direct or indirect policies that provoke reduction of migrant’s income, or in general life conditions that help appearance of the phenomenon of flows of skilled, flexible people going out of a determined nation and leading to a brain drain situation.

Reference:

Verbeeten, David. (2007). The past and Future of immigration to Canada. Int. Migration & Integration. DOI: 10.1007/s12134-007-0005-0