What is the reason for prioritizing Canada Immigration during this Pandemic?

As per the national economist, Labour and population are the two major pillars that lay the foundation for a strong Canadian economy.

If we take history as our reference, Canada has always relied on newcomers to uplift their economic growth. Hence Immigration is getting more and more important in order to enhance the economic growth of Canada. Canada is a country of late boomer and its birth is the lowest in all the G7 countries before the pandemic. In the coming time, it is expected that these factors are going to limit the pool of working force that is going to contribute to the Canadian economy.

Therefore welcoming newcomers is the only thing that can offset the economic challenges that Canada will be facing in the upcoming time.

Canada’s Commitment to Immigration

Canada is the only country in the G7 countries that saw an increase in population despite the pandemic challenges. The only reason for this increase is Canada’s affinity towards global talent.

In October 2020, the Canadian government released a new plan to support the economic growth of the country through the immigration system. In order to ensure that the Canadian labor market has enough labour force to fill up the gaps created in the workforce due to the pandemic, they have come up with a comprehensive plan to increase the level of immigration for the following upcoming years.

The new targets imposed by Canadian Immigration is as follows:
Year 2021: 401,000
Year 2022: 411,000
Year 2023: 421,000

COVID-19 impact on Canada Immigration

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Canadian Immigration has been immense and has done a lot of collateral damage as well to the country’s economy. The COVID-19 travel restrictions were imposed by the Federal government in order to control the spread of coronavirus, but this came with a price to immigration as well.

As per the reports by Statistics Canada, Canada witnessed the lowest annual growth since the year of 1916. The drop in immigration was felt in all the provinces and the newcomer admissions reduced from 342,000 in 2019 to 185,000 in 2020. The total decrease was about 45% in the immigration levels.

The vaccination does provide some hope that the end of the pandemic is near, the immigration department of Canada is now increasing the immigration to pre-pandemic levels as this is necessary to recover the economic losses imparted on Canada.

Until now, the immigration levels have increased to around 25% than the previous year. Easing the travel restrictions will certainly increase the immigration levels but Canada has also seen a rise in the number of permanent residents who were previously held on study visas or temporary work permits.

In the reports by Boston Consulting Group, a survey was conducted and was found that Canada is now the first choice for foreign immigrants. This surely inflicts an optimism that Canada will recover the economic losses imparted by the pandemic.

Benefits of Immigration

The benefits of immigrating to Canada reach to both Canada and the immigrants themselves. The main reasons for expanding are given below:

Immigration leads to economic growth.
Immigration helps the aging workforce.
Immigration helps provide skilled workers.
Immigration helps create jobs and trade opportunities.

How newcomer can be benefitted from Canadian businesses?

Immigrating to any place comes with a lot of challenges. These challenges are like learning a new language, getting accustomed to weather conditions, and getting used to the new cultural diversity. However, during this pandemic, migrating to a new place might even be more challenging and difficult.

As per the robust Canadian Immigration policies, business communities can help migrants settle in their new life. There are four ways through which new immigrants can find support from Canadian businesses:

Using business resources to make an advancement in the financial sector.

Finding businesses that have to make an initiative towards workforce diversification.

Getting services from businesses that provide assistance with professional integration.

Building social and professional support networks by leaning on business-support programs.