Immigration Laws: December, 1997 - Number #8

At the end of 1996, there were five million foreign-born residents in Canada, making immigrants 17 percent of the 29 million Canadians, up from 16 percent in 1991. A total of one million immigrants arrived between 1991 and 1996, including 256,000 in 1993; over half of these recent immigrants were born in Asia; 20 percent were born in Europe.

There were also 166,700 non-permanent immigrant residents of Canada.

For the first time, a majority of the foreign born in Canada were NOT born in Europe; 47 percent were born in Europe, down from 67 percent in 1981. Of the immigrants arriving between 1991 and 1996, about 25 percent were from China and Hong Kong and 19 percent were from Europe.

In 1996, nearly three-quarters of recent immigrants lived in either Toronto, Montreal or Vancouver, compared with just over one-quarter of the population born in Canada; about 2.7 million immigrants--over half of all immigrants-- live in Ontario, compared with 37 percent of Canadians. About 42 percent of metro Toronto's residents are immigrants, including 21 percent who arrived since 1981, followed by 33 percent immigrants among Vancouver's residents.

According to one expert, "Toronto is an absolutely unique urban experiment in the world." Ontario has abolished several anti-racism programs, repealed its employment-equity law and drastically cut budgets of groups aimed at helping immigrants.

Canada announced that its target level of immigration for 1998 is 225,000, up from 220,000 in 1997. The Reform Party wants to reduce immigration to 150,000 per year.

Canada permits immigrants to naturalize who are at least 18 years of age; have been a legal permanent resident in Canada for three years of the previous four years; have lived in Canada for three years out of the previous four years; can communicate in English or French; have knowledge of Canada, including the rights and responsibilities of citizenship.

Canada has recognized dual citizenship since 1977, and three percent of Canadians held dual citizenship in 1996. Most people with dual citizenship were naturalized Canadian citizens who had retained their original citizenship; the leading original countries of citizenship were the United Kingdom, Poland, Italy, the United States and Portugal.

Jeffery Reitz, a sociologist at the University of Toronto, says that census data show dramatically lower initial earnings for new arrivals in the 1980s than for those who arrived in the 1970s, despite the higher educational levels of the more recent immigrants. For immigrants of Chinese origin, initial earnings fell 10 percent for men and six percent for women. For black West Indians, initial earnings fell 20 percent for men and seven percent for women.

APEC. The 17-nation Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum met in Vancouver in November 1997, and the host city, population two million, was profiled as a "1960s-era California in Canada," a place where immigrants and natives could move to start over and succeed.

British Columbians reportedly pay the highest taxes in North America, and high housing prices have spawned illegal garage and basement conversions.

Craig Turner, "Has Canadian Land's End Hit Its Limit?" Los Angeles Times, November 22, 1997. Jeffery Reitz, "Measuring Down: The economic performance of new Canadians is declining," Financial Post, November 8, 1997. Alanna Mitchell, "Census reveals changing face," Globe and Mail, November 5, 1997. "Canada is home to 5 million immigrants," UPI, November 4, 1997.