IRCC’s #ImmigrationMatters campaign highlights the benefits of immigration

Every September, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) organizes its #ImmigrationMatters campaign to raise awareness of all the ways immigration enriches Canada.

Also called #WelcomingWeek2022, IRCC is leading this campaign both to educate Canadians about why immigration is so important, as well as to make potential newcomers aware of all they have to gain from immigrating. The campaign includes community events, as well as a website that shares immigration success stories, information about how the immigration system works, and ways Canadians can get involved in immigration initiatives. immigration to their communities.

Over the past few years, Canada has invited increasing numbers of immigrants to the country and is on track to welcome a record 431,000 new permanent residents by the end of 2022. Immigration is key to maintaining the Canada’s workforce and supporting the economy, as well as building strong and diverse communities.

Find out if you qualify for Canadian immigration

Immigrants choose Canada

Newcomers to Canada choose to stay because of the country’s economic opportunities and stability. The result is an 85% retention rate of permanent residents in Canada. According to campaign data, most immigrants earn the same as a native-born Canadian within 12 years of arriving. However, it often does not take as long for skilled workers who already have some Canadian work experience, such as those immigrating through the Canadian Experience Class (CEC) or another Entry program. express.

Canada also has a history of being open to refugees in times of crisis. The UNHCR reports that Canada has welcomed more than 700,000 refugees since 1959. This continues today as Canada welcomes refugees from Ukraine and Afghanistan. More than 80,000 Ukrainian refugees have arrived in Canada since the start of the conflict under the Canada-Ukraine Emergency Travel Authorization (CUAET). This allows Ukrainians to obtain temporary resident status visas. Canada also saw a record number of immigrants from Afghanistan. In the first half of 2022, 11,415 Afghans arrived, making it the fourth largest source of immigrants for the year so far.

Why does Canada need immigrants?

Canada is working hard to attract the best possible global talent, in large part because the population is aging. By 2030, more than nine million Canadians, the baby boomers, will have reached the retirement age of 65. There are not enough new Canadians born to offset these numbers and Canada has a low birth rate of just 1.4 children per woman. However, Canada relies heavily on immigration to fill labor shortages.

There are currently over one million job vacancies in Canada and a historically low unemployment rate of 4.9%. This has led to shortages in several important sectors across the country. For example, the most recent data from Statistics Canada show that the health and social assistance sector has a job vacancy rate of more than 6%, or 147,500 vacancies.

Immigration plays a huge role in filling vacancies in the healthcare sector. Data from the 2016 census indicates that one in four healthcare workers is an immigrant. In fact, 23% of registered nurses and 36% of doctors in Canada are immigrants. They also represent a substantial percentage of other health professions:

• 35% of caregivers and related professions
• 37% of pharmacists
• 39% of dentists
• 54% of dental technologists and related professions

In addition, immigrants represent 33% of all business owners with paid staff in sectors such as construction, professional services, health care and retail trade. There are more than 600,000 self-employed immigrants across the country, and more than 260,000 of them have paid employees.

Most newcomers are skilled immigrants

To continue to grow Canada’s population at a sustainable rate that also supports the labor force and economy, the government creates an annual immigration levels plan with projections for at least three years ahead. ‘coming. The current plan calls for new immigrants to make up 1.14% of Canada’s population by 2024. The plan also cites a long-term focus on economic growth by admitting nearly 60% of all economic class immigrants.

The majority of immigrants who come to Canada do so as economic class immigrants. They are newcomers with in-demand skills that they can use to contribute to Canada’s workforce and economy.

Nearly 138,000 of all new immigrants so far in 2022 have been in the economic class. This is important because as more and more Canadians retire, there will be fewer Canadians paying income tax and therefore less money available to support federal and provincial expenditures such as such as infrastructure, pensions and health systems. Economic immigrants are often younger and will have most of their working years ahead of them when they arrive in Canada.

Find out if you qualify for Canadian immigration

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