There is a relatively large body of previous research and theoretical reflection on Canadian immigration policy, covering how it developed over time, the forces that have shaped its direction, and how it has affected Canadian society. My objective in this chapter is to selectively review, update, and extend this existing theoretical reflection. The task is challenging in a short essay because it involves integrating hypotheses from various sources and developing what is essentially a new framework. To provide a stronger focus, I pay particular attention to the explanation of important shifts in immigration policy at two points in time, the...

International migration has led to significant changes in the ethnic composition of most highly industrialized societies. During the last decades, member states of the European Union have incorporated substantial numbers of migrants from countries outside the union. In 1997, for instance, almost 9 per cent or 7.2 million of Germanyʹs 81 million residents were foreigners; immigrants, including about one-third from Muslim countries, constitute slightly more than 7 per cent of Franceʹs 58 million residents (Migration News, May 1997); and an estimated 50,000 to 60,000 legal immigrants arrive annually in the UK (Migration News, 1995). In Canada, since 1975 immigrants from...

The creation of a multicultural policy in Canada over a quarter of a century ago was both visionary and challenging in attempting to establish a mechanism for managing ethnic-based diversity. Over the years the policy has become a directional beacon for Canadians, although its ability to provoke and confuse both its supporters and critics still remains as we head into the twenty-first century. Nevertheless, multiculturalism is not only consistent with Canadian values but is the quintessential Canadian value.

The concept of multiculturalism is double edged; on the one hand it is seen as contributing to the cultural diversity that enhances...

Demography can be defined as the study of populations, their size, distribution, and composition, along with the immediate factors that make for population change, that is, births, deaths, and movements of people. Immigration clearly has an impact on the changing size of a population. In addition, demographic processes in a country can be affected by the differential fertility, mortality, and migration of immigrants. The population distribution and composition in a country can also be influenced by the various differences between the native born and foreign born.

This chapter will explore the thesis that the impact of immigration is especially felt...

In Canada at the present time immigration is as important as natural increase, contributing to about half the annual population growth of the country. Not only the number of immigrants but their composition has drastically changed. Removal of discriminatory clauses in the immigration laws in the early 1960s, combined with the changing push factors in the countries of origin, mean that the ethnic composition of Canada is very different from what it was before. While western European origins predominated before 1960, in the ʹ60s and ʹ70s most immigrants were primarily from southern Europe. Since then however, populations from the Third...

In 1991, the immigrant population represented 16 per cent of the total Canadian population, a proportion almost unchanged since 1971. Nearly one-half of these persons have been here for more than two decades. Over time, however, the composition of the immigrant population has changed markedly. While the majority of the Canadian immigrants were born in Europe, the European share has declined substantially in recent years and immigration from developing countries has become dominant (Badets 1993). In 1991, 25 per cent of the immigrant population was born in Asia, compared with 14 per cent in 1981. During the same period, the...

An increasing number of studies are now focusing on questions related to the socio-demographic and economic characteristics of immigrants who are citizens and non-citizens in their host countries. Their participation in labour markets, contribution to the economic output, as well as the linkages between political membership and economic life are also relevant issues in view of the effects global economic restructuring has on both the international mobility of labour and the responses of immigrant admission policies in countries of the industrialized world (OECD 1992).

Citizenship status acquisition constitutes the basis for the membership of the individual in the nation state...

The economic integration of immigrants in the host society constitutes an essential dimension of the general process of integration. In the literature, the economic profile of immigrants is almost always drawn from cross-sectional data provided by censuses and sometimes, although rarely, by sample surveys. Furthermore, the focus of this line of research is on the comparison of immigrants with native populations, the question being, ʹDo immigrants succeed in the labour market as well as nonimmigrants?ʹ The answer has often been ʹyes,ʹ and sometimes immigrants do even better than natives. However, results also show significant differences among various immigrant groups. It...

This chapter describes one determinant of attitudes toward immigrants and immigration: perceived economic threat. In particular, it discusses research testing whether perceived competition for jobs from skilled immigrants causes unfavourable attitudes toward these immigrants and toward immigration in general. The suggestion that skilled immigrants may be seen as threatening, and thus undesirable, stands in contrast to the finding that Canadians consistently report that individuals with high levels of education and job skills are most desirable as immigrants to Canada (e.g., Angus Reid Group 1989; Berry, Kalin, and Taylor 1977; Citizenship and Immigration Canada 1994; Kalin and Berry 1994). Presumably, unskilled...

There has been a remarkable change in the demographic composition of immigrants arriving in Canada in the last three to four decades. The proportion of immigrants arriving in Canada from Asia, Africa, and Latin America increased steadily from under 5 per cent during the 1940s to about 75 per cent in 1991 (Basavarajappa et al. 1993, 44). This change in the origins of immigrants has given rise to significant growth in the visible minority population in Canada.

Since there is no direct question on visible minority status in the census, identification of persons belonging to visible minorities was made by...

Since the beginning of the 1980s, immigration flows into Canada have changed drastically. Whereas in the 1950s and 1960s about 70 per cent of the immigrants to Canada were born in the United Kingdom, Ireland, other European countries, and the United States, the number of immigrants from these countries gradually declined during the 1980s, to be replaced by immigrants and refugees from Asia, Africa, and South America. For the period 1980–2, the top three countries of origin were the United Kingdom, Vietnam, and the United States; in 1990–2 they were Hong Kong, Poland, and the Philippines; the United...

The socio-economic characteristics of immigrant groups vary greatly by gender, race/ethnicity, nativity (Canadian born/foreign born), and language proficiency. The rationale for studying these groups is derived from late-twentieth-century developments in international migration. Women and men now migrate in near equal numbers. There is increased migration of non-European origin groups, with accompanying shifts in ethnic origins and in French/English language proficiencies. Such changes in the characteristics of migrants force us to refine the question ʹhow well do immigrants do?ʹ We could also ask, how are the socio-economic experiences of all Canadians conditioned by gender, nativity, colour, and language? Such a question...

The radical change in the nature of immigration to Canada during the second half of the twentieth century and the concomitant movement toward a more ethnically diverse population have been accompanied by significant changes in the choice of marriage partners. In essence, the most recent censuses have shown an increasing tendency among Canadian couples to choose mates who differ from themselves, across many social dimensions. Marriages in the 1990s are more likely to involve people from different cultural, religious, and ethnic backgrounds than ever before. Exogamy, or marriage outside the group, is an important indicator of integration in any multi-ethnic...