Newcomers vital to the country’s health

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 04/09/2018 (2828 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

This summer, Canadians have witnessed a concerted effort to make one of Canada’s success stories into a hot-button political issue. Focusing on asylum seekers who cross the border irregularly has helped convince many Canadians that this is a crisis for Canada.

As a descendent of Ukrainians who came to Canada for a better future, I think it’s important to put this issue in context.

First, let’s remember that refugees are only one part of Canada’s immigration picture. Most immigrants — about 85 per cent — come through economic or family unification programs. They have skills we need and family connections to help them succeed and they start paying taxes as soon as they start working.

Second, to be accepted as refugees, asylum seekers must be able to demonstrate that they have a legitimate fear of persecution in their home country. There is no open-door policy for everybody who shows up at the border.

In 2017, 50,450 people made asylum claims either to the Canada Border Services Agency or to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. That includes refugees arriving through normal channels with sponsors and those asylum seekers who walked across the border.

To put the numbers in perspective, Canada’s population in 2017 was 36.5 million. So the total of refugees and asylum claimants in 2017 was about one for every 770 Canadians.

Between 1980 and 1985, when Canada’s population was about 25 million, we accommodated 110,000 Vietnamese refugees.

After the Second World War, when Canada’s population was less than 13 million, 157,000 displaced people came to Canada.

Welcoming people fleeing war and devastation is a tradition in our country.

The people promoting the idea that refugee claimants are a “crisis” are trying to pass off myths as facts. 

But the facts are that newcomers to Canada — including refugees, economic and family unification immigrants — are vital to our country’s health, prosperity and future. In an aging society where there are only 4.2 Canadians of working age for each retiree, we need newcomers to fuel our economy and support programs such as health care. Study after study shows that immigrants in all categories have high rates of school completion, employment and entrepreneurship. Among immigrants who have lived in Canada 10 or more years, unemployment rates are lower than among people born in Canada.