Canada will welcome around 300,000 immigrants next year, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, Ahmed Hussen announced on Sunday.
The minister said in a meeting at the Canadian House of Commons that the “vast majority” of immigrants coming in will be from the economic class as this is where the greatest need is, adding this will be followed closely by family class immigrants and then refugees.
It is the second consecutive year that the intake target has been set at 300,000, causing the minister to declare that 300,000 immigrants a year is Canada’s new ‘normal’.
Hussen noted “as a government we went from 260,000 to 300,000 because of the need to meet the demands of Canadian families who wanted to reunite with their loved ones. But also, employers are asking us to allow them to continue to use immigration more and more as a way to meet their growth needs.”
The minister added that he’s been in the process of consultations since April to put together the immigration outlook that’s coming soon, and that those consultations focused on the numbers Canada should bring in and what the right mix immigration, in terms of the different classes, should be.
Statistics Canada census numbers released last Wednesday revealed the number of immigrants in Canada has reached its highest rate in a century.
Article published 31st October 2017