ARCHIVED – Annual Report to Parliament on Immigration, 2009

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SECTION 1
Making Immigration Work for Canada

Throughout Canada’s history, immigrants have played a pivotal role in shaping our social, cultural, and economic development. Canada is among the world’s major immigrant-receiving countries, welcoming approximately 250,000 permanent residents and over 200,000 temporary foreign workers and international students on an annual basis. We are also an international leader in migration management and are respected for our long-standing commitment to protecting refugees and persons in need of humanitarian assistance.

CIC responds to the needs of communities across the country through innovative and responsive policies and programs. For example, recent amendments to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act have expedited the processing of select skilled worker applications so that Canada can more quickly respond to employers’ labour needs. The improvements are also reducing the backlog of federal skilled worker applications received prior to February 28, 2008, and improving service and reducing wait times for those received after February 27, 2008.

CIC has become more responsive to Canadian labour market needs and has reinforced Canada’s position as a destination of choice for skilled immigrants. Increased efficiency in the Skilled Worker Program has allowed CIC resources to be reallocated within our immigration system, leading to a decrease in processing times for other permanent and temporary resident streams. A new avenue for immigration has been introduced, the Canadian Experience Class, facilitating permanent residence for temporary foreign workers and international student graduates who have gained professional and skilled work experience in Canada.

While maintaining historically high levels of immigration, CIC contributes to protecting the health, safety, and security of Canadians by establishing admissibility policies and screening foreign nationals for permanent and temporary residence.

The Department supports the integration of newcomers through initiatives such as innovative settlement services, information and tools to support the recognition of foreign credentials, and efforts to promote and facilitate the acquisition of citizenship. With the transfer of the Multiculturalism portfolio from the Department of Canadian Heritage in October 2008, CIC’s mandate now includes long-term as well as short-term integration issues for both new and established Canadians.

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Canada’s immigration plan for 2010

Canada’s immigration levels plan for 2010 reflects a long-term vision for immigration and recognizes the important role of immigration in Canada’s economic growth and prosperity. In addition, the plan fulfils the objectives of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act to reunite families and uphold Canada’s international humanitarian obligations.

The format of the levels plan is slightly different from previous years. To reflect the increasing role of provinces and territories in immigration selection and levels planning and to provide greater operational flexibility in Canada and overseas, the various categories within the Economic Class have been regrouped and admission ranges established on the basis of who selects or nominates the immigrant—the Government of Canada, the Government of Quebec, or the provinces or territories. This will allow CIC’s application processing network to quickly shift resources from one category to another during the calendar year in response to changing conditions without being preoccupied with specific target ranges for categories within the Economic Class.

In order to support Canada’s economy as it recovers from the recession, the focus of the 2010 levels plan is on economic immigration. In particular, the admissions range for provincial and territorial nominees has been increased to accommodate growth of the Provincial Nominee Program. Increasing total admissions of economic immigrants will also allow CIC to continue reducing the backlog of federal skilled worker applications, while ensuring the immigration program is responsive to the labour market by admitting immigrants whose skills are in demand.

Admission ranges in the Family Class are lower than in 2009; this is due to recent trends showing lower numbers of sponsorship applications being submitted in the spouses and dependants category. CIC will continue to monitor the number of applications and visas in the Family Class and will increase ranges in future years if volumes begin to increase.

With respect to the Protected Persons Class, the Government of Canada is increasing the admission range for government-assisted and privately sponsored refugees. This is consistent with commitments the Government has made to Iraqi, Karen, and Afghan refugees. The range for protected persons in-Canada and their dependants is lower, but this will likely increase in future years when the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada achieves its full decision-making capacity.

Table 1: Immigration Levels Plan 2010

*Please note: Since posting, the Government of Quebec has updated the admission ranges for Quebec Skilled Workers and Quebec Business to 32,800-33,900 and 1,800-2,000 respectively. This increase will be accommodated within the existing total planning range.

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