TORONTO – Amid rumors and a barrage of allegations, Canada’s new immigration minister has confirmed that the country has no plan to decrease immigration numbers.
Marc Miller recently said he is willing to initiate dialogue on concerns raised by some economists and groups on rising immigration targets amid a housing shortage, but confirmed that he still has no plans to lower them in the near future.
The statement comes months before the minister is set to announce Canada’s annual immigration plan, which will elaborate on the number and categories of newcomers the country will welcome in the next three years. As per the current plan, the country aims to attract 465,000 permanent residents in 2023, 485,000 in 2024 and 500,000 in 2025.
“Honestly, looking at the numbers and knowing what I know and the needs that exist in Canada, I don’t see a world in which we decrease it currently,” Miller said.
“We do have to have a discussion about what the steps are and be quite measured in our approach,” he affirmed.
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) disclosed a few months back that it hit a target of 431,645 new permanent residents for 2022 and surpassed 2021 numbers. Prior to setting a new record for entrants in 2021, the last time Canada allowed such a large number of newcomers was in 1913.
“Today marks an important milestone for Canada, setting a new record for newcomers welcomed in a single year. It is a testament to the strength and resilience of our country and its people. I am excited to see what the future holds and look forward to another historic year in 2023 as we continue to welcome newcomers,” then Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Sean Fraser said.
Though Canada experienced record population growth in 2022, critics say the country’s current immigration target could worsen an existing housing crisis and put more pressure on public services.
Nonetheless, the statistics quoted regarding the imbalance between the housing units and immigration plans fail to impress the recently appointed immigration minister who opines numbers like these don’t reflect the full picture and instead depict a “very specific subset” of arguments.
“You would have to drill down on those numbers,” he said. “It doesn’t mean that we can’t have a conversation about it. There are views and they are ones that we have to look at carefully when we are trying to build consensus as a country.”
The minister also clarified that cutting down numbers on one category would involve difficult choices, visibly hinting that the country might not reduce the numbers.
“Do you want to reduce the number of skilled workers? Do you want to (turn) your back on people that are fleeing war? No,” Miller clarified.
“When people say ‘let’s freeze things or reduce numbers,’ they are saying a number of things, but when you push their thinking on it, they themselves wouldn’t want to do (it),” he asserted.
Miller, who replaced Sean Fraser, also spoke openly in favor of immigrants and said blaming newcomers for challenges is unfair.
“Those are people that don’t necessarily have the best interest of immigrants at heart and we have to call that out when we see it and we won’t hesitate to do that,” he said.
