Immigration, Policy and The State

Essay by Lebchica86University, Bachelor'sA-, February 2010

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IntroductionImmigration is one of the most prevalent topics in Canadian politics today. It is brought up during policy revisions and is always an issue during election campaigns. That may be because Canada has one of the largest markets for immigration in the world. Annually, about 200,000 new immigrants enter into Canada to become permanent residents. {{44 Smick, Elisabeth 2006;}} The majority of these immigrants come from Asia, particularly, China, The Philippines, and India. However, today, while some political groups talk about increasing the amount of immigrants each year who enter the country, there has been uproar by other groups and individuals who believe it is not the best plan for the country. While some say that immigrants boost up Canada's economy and help it strive, others feel that the more immigrants that come into the country, the less jobs there will be for Canadian-born citizens. This is affecting not only new immigrants that are coming into the country but also immigration applicants that have yet to receive their immigration acceptance and make the move to Canada.

Some immigration applicants need to come to Canada in order to get away from unfortunate and extenuating circumstances and are having a hard time doing so because of the large amounts of back log with the immigration process. The question lies with whether Canada should indeed increase the amount of immigrants that come into the country or whether it should keep the average at the level it is now or even decrease it.

HistoryWhen one looks at Canada's culture and society it is clear that they have been shaped by immigration. At the beginning, Canada's immigration policy was shaped by hopes of expansion and growth. People came into rural, farming areas and built their lives out of the ground. The more immigrants that came...