The following is from an article I read in our coffee room at work, which I am not sure what the author, Mary Janigan, wants to say. You can get it from the Maclean's magzine, issue Dec 16th, 2002.
...Immigration may be the romanticized ideal of Canada Past. But in the 21st century, it remians an unsettling, difficult and not always rewarding experience-for the imgrant, the host country and the sending nation. Around the globe, millions of people are on the move-as refugees or scrabblinh economnic migrants or people joining relatives. Or they are highly-skilled workers, part of an international elite that flits among nations. As the workforce in many industrialized nations begins to shrink, countries such as Germany, which does not have an open immigration program, are recruiting skilled workers. "Immigrants are part of maintaining even current standards of living, especially in rapidly aging societies," says Don Johnston, secretary general of the Paris-based Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. "There is going to be a real fight among nations for the best human capital."
For the sheer size of its intake, Canada is in a class by itself. Last year, it absorbed more than a quarter of a million permanent residents, well abbove the planned intake of 200,000 to 225,000. IN late October, virtually without debate, Immigration Minister Denis Coderre raised the target: Canada plans to accept anywhere from 220,000 to 245,000 immigrants next year. The other major nations with large organized recruitment programs, the United States and Australia, take only half as many per capita as Canada.
The hight numbers are a mixed blessing. Last year, 77 per cent of newcomers spilled into Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto;more than 125,00 settled in Toronto alone. Fully 44 per cent did not speak English or French. Sucn pressure strains settlement services, including language courses, housing and the environment.
For the imigrations themselves, it si an often diffucult transition. Among recent arrivals, poverty levels are high-and average wages remian dismally low. Almost 60 er cent of adult immigrants in 2000 had a post-secondary degree, compared with 43 per cent of the existing population. But as the composition of the immigrant group has spread beyond traditional mid-20th century sources in Europe-16 per cent came from China alone last year-Canada has become less adept at recognizing their skills. The waste of talent is shocking. "The immigration system needs to be tossed on its head and revamped," says B.C. MP Keith Martin, a physician who has seen the bureaucratic ordeals that foreign doctors have endured in order to practise in Prince George, where physician shortages are severe.
But the huge size of the intake has provoked the most debate. This fall, three books have argued that Canada is raking too many people. Journalist Daniel Stoffman (co-author of the best-selling Boom, Bust & Echo), Fraser Institute senior fellow Martin Collcott and National Post columnist Diane Francis are all provocative and almost certainly too pessimistic. All have drawn fire from interest groups who have obscured the real issues with emotional arguments.
...Immigration may be the romanticized ideal of Canada Past. But in the 21st century, it remians an unsettling, difficult and not always rewarding experience-for the imgrant, the host country and the sending nation. Around the globe, millions of people are on the move-as refugees or scrabblinh economnic migrants or people joining relatives. Or they are highly-skilled workers, part of an international elite that flits among nations. As the workforce in many industrialized nations begins to shrink, countries such as Germany, which does not have an open immigration program, are recruiting skilled workers. "Immigrants are part of maintaining even current standards of living, especially in rapidly aging societies," says Don Johnston, secretary general of the Paris-based Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. "There is going to be a real fight among nations for the best human capital."
For the sheer size of its intake, Canada is in a class by itself. Last year, it absorbed more than a quarter of a million permanent residents, well abbove the planned intake of 200,000 to 225,000. IN late October, virtually without debate, Immigration Minister Denis Coderre raised the target: Canada plans to accept anywhere from 220,000 to 245,000 immigrants next year. The other major nations with large organized recruitment programs, the United States and Australia, take only half as many per capita as Canada.
The hight numbers are a mixed blessing. Last year, 77 per cent of newcomers spilled into Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto;more than 125,00 settled in Toronto alone. Fully 44 per cent did not speak English or French. Sucn pressure strains settlement services, including language courses, housing and the environment.
For the imigrations themselves, it si an often diffucult transition. Among recent arrivals, poverty levels are high-and average wages remian dismally low. Almost 60 er cent of adult immigrants in 2000 had a post-secondary degree, compared with 43 per cent of the existing population. But as the composition of the immigrant group has spread beyond traditional mid-20th century sources in Europe-16 per cent came from China alone last year-Canada has become less adept at recognizing their skills. The waste of talent is shocking. "The immigration system needs to be tossed on its head and revamped," says B.C. MP Keith Martin, a physician who has seen the bureaucratic ordeals that foreign doctors have endured in order to practise in Prince George, where physician shortages are severe.
But the huge size of the intake has provoked the most debate. This fall, three books have argued that Canada is raking too many people. Journalist Daniel Stoffman (co-author of the best-selling Boom, Bust & Echo), Fraser Institute senior fellow Martin Collcott and National Post columnist Diane Francis are all provocative and almost certainly too pessimistic. All have drawn fire from interest groups who have obscured the real issues with emotional arguments.
