Ottawa Launches Consultations on Immigration Issues

Immigration Minister Jason Kenney speaks at Catch the Fire Church in Toronto about human rights on July 22, 2012. Citizenship and Immigration Canada is taking input from the public on immigration issues. (Matthew Little/The Epoch Times)

Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) has launched cross-country consultations with Canadians on issues related to immigration.

CIC parliamentary secretaries Chungsen Leung and Rick Dykstra are meeting with stakeholders and the public in various cities around the country to gather input on the appropriate level and mix of immigration for Canada.

Consultations started in Toronto last week and will continue in Windsor, Vancouver, Halifax, and Ottawa. People can also take part in the consultations via the Internet until Aug. 31.

“There are competing visions and diverging goals for the future of the immigration program, and there are no easy answers. Engaging stakeholders and the broader public is key to CIC’s development of an overall strategy for Canada moving forward,” CIC said in a statement.

The consultations focus on issues related to the appropriate level of immigrants to Canada, the most suitable mix of immigrants among economic, family, and refugee and humanitarian classes, and how immigration can support the country’s economy.

Canada currently admits around 250,000 new immigrants each year, roughly 0.8 percent of the population.

The majority (62 percent) of immigrants belong to the economic class, while 26 percent fall under the family class. The rest arrive under the refugee and humanitarian class.

Immigration Minister Jason Kenney announced last week that the government is also hosting online consultations on ways to improve the Immigrant Investor Program (IIP).

“We can no longer be a passive player in the global competition for talent and investment. That is why we need to review our immigration programs to create dynamic opportunities that enable immigrants’ investments to directly benefit the Canadian economy,” Kenney said in a statement.

The consultations will be used to determine how to target high-value global investors and to increase the economic benefit that immigrant investment capital brings to Canada.

Online consultations on the IIP will be open until Sep. 4. A summary report of stakeholder and public consultations on both issues will be available on the CIC website once completed.

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