During the annual Immigration Conference hosted by Canadian Bar Association on June 3, 2022, Minister Fraser of Immigration Refugee Citizenship Canada has made some introductory remarks as follows:
“Immigration is not just nice to have, but necessary for our economy and demography.” In 1970s, one working Canadian was able to support 7 retirees. Now in 2020s, the same working Canadian worker can only support 3 retirees. We need more workers to support our country. In other words, Immigration is our fundamental strategy for growth in Canada- workforce and lifestyle.
However, Minister Fraser also addressed significant challenges with immigration as well. For more than 20 months, we closed our border closure, which had huge impact on our immigration system could work. COVID made a huge impact when people couldn’t even come into the office – 21st technology had to step up our challenge.
Resettlement from Afghanistan and Ukraine were another challenges – our humanitarian commitment to the globe is important because we commit to provide safe haven to those who are in need in the world.
He finally wrapped up his remark with “We all have migration story in our personal history, other than indigenous people.” In other words, we are all here through immigration process to build the country we have today as Canada and what Canada would look like years to come in future.