Canada, one of the developed world’s most welcoming countries for new immigrants, has announced plans to scale back the number of temporary residents over the next three years.
Thursday’s announcement by Immigration Minister Marc Miller was the second dramatic reversal of the Trudeau administration’s pro-immigration stance, following a cap on the number of international student visas announced earlier this year.
Global News, covering the announcement, quoted Miller as saying Canada was home to 2.5 million temporary residents in 2023, amounting to 6.2% of its total population. Miller said that, over the next three years, the government plans to bring that percentage down to 5%.
“To set these targets, I’ll be convening a meeting with my provincial and territorial counterparts, as well as other relevant ministers, in early May,” Miller told journalists. “Provinces and territories know their unique labor needs and capacity, and need to assume responsibility for the people that they bring in as well.”
Canada is a favored destination for immigrants and refugees from around the world, owing to its reputation as a friendly, safe and developed country with a successful and harmonious multicultural atmosphere.
But in recent years it has faced skyrocketing housing shortages and medical wait times that have been blamed on a steep rise in immigration. Comments on social media by immigration experts suggest this week’s announcement might be calculated to address growing public frustration with large-scale immigration.
According to the Government of Canada website, more than 437,000 new permanent residents, and more than 604,000 temporary workers, entered Canada in 2022.
Experts told VOA it is not immediately clear who will be included as temporary residents. The Government of Canada website says simply that temporary residents “include visitors, students, workers and temporary resident permit holders.”
The experts said the term could apply to unauthorized or undocumented workers, “super-visa” holders who are allowed to stay for up to two years but not work or study, and “non-permanent residents” — a term coined by Statistics Canada to describe people who have a work permit, a study permit or are seeking refugee status. Temporary foreign workers are likely also included.
Canada, with a total population of 38.25 million, saw a huge surge in the number of visitors and temporary residents last year.
“As of July 1, 2023, an estimated 2,198,679 non-permanent residents lived in Canada, a 46% increase from the same date one year prior,” says the government website.
“This represents the largest year-over-year increase in the population of non-permanent residents living in Canada since comparable data are available (1971/1972), with the increase in work and study permits accounting for most of the change in the last year.”
Harald Bauder, an immigration expert at Toronto Metropolitan University, told VOA he believes foreign workers in Canada are already “vulnerable and exploitable” because they do not enjoy the same rights and securities as citizens or permanent residents.
“However, by reducing the number of incoming temporary foreign workers, Minister Marc Miller doesn't seem to address this injustice but rather respond to other pressures such as the increasing costs of housing,” Bauder said.
“Whether this measure will be effective remains to be seen,” he said. “From a labor justice viewpoint, however, a better way to reduce the number of foreign residents would be to open up more pathways to permanent residency.”
While housing costs are a major concern for many Canadians, there is widespread appreciation of the need for migrants to fill jobs as the country’s birthrate declines.
“I have friends who are farmers and depend on temporary farm labor available via the government ‘guest worker’ program. Parts of Canada don't succeed without foreign workers,” said Henry Troup, a 64-year-old operations manager with a marketing technology company in Ottawa.
“At the same time, I fear my government is lacking a solid plan. I think they're blowing in the wind. I don't know if temporary residents or non-resident purchase of unoccupied units or AirBnb is the cause of the housing crisis. But I do think there is a crisis,” said Troup, who was a child immigrant to Canada in the 1960s.
“I do know that Ottawa has seen its cheap housing become expensive and has lost a lot of housing inventory to redevelopment.”
