Immigration to Canada is the process by which people migrate to Canada and become nationals of the country. As Canada is a relatively new country, a formal immigration process has not been around for very long. Nevertheless, people have been migrating to the geographic region of Canada for thousands of years, patterns varying. After 1947 domestic immigration law went through many major changes, most notably with the Immigration Act, 1976, and the current Immigration and Refugee Protection Act from 2002.
In Canada there are three categories of immigrants: family class (closely related persons), independent immigrants (admitted on the basis of skill, capital and labour-market requirements) and refugees.
Currently Canada is known as a country with a broad immigration policy which is reflected in Canada's ethnic diversity. According to the 2001 census by Statistics Canada, Canada has 34 ethnic groups with at least one hundred thousand members each, of which 10 have over 1,000,000 people and numerous others represented in smaller amounts. 13.4% of the population belonged to visible minorities: most numerous among these are Chinese (3.5% of the population), South Asian (3.1%), Black (2.2%), and Filipino (1.0%).
In 2007, Canada received 236,759 immigrants. The top ten sending countries, by state of origin, were People's Republic of China and Hong Kong (28,896), India (28,520), Philippines (19,718), Pakistan (9,808), United States (8,750), United Kingdom (7,324), Iran (7,195), South Korea (5,909), Colombia (5,382), and Sri Lanka (4,068).[1] France, Morocco and Romania closely followed, with considerable numbers of migrants.
Immigration and Births in Canada from 1850 to 2000
Main articles: History of immigration to Canada and History of Canadian nationality law
After the initial period of British and French colonization, four major waves (or peaks) of immigration and settlement of non-aboriginal peoples took place over a period of almost two centuries. The fifth wave is currently ongoing.
The first significant, non-aboriginal immigration to Canada occurred over almost two centuries with slow but progressive French settlement of Quebec and Acadia with smaller numbers of American and European entrepreneurs in addition to British military personnel. This wave culminated with the influx of British Loyalists fleeing the American Revolution, chiefly from the Mid-Atlantic States.
The second wave from Britain and Ireland was encouraged to settle in Canada after the War of 1812, which included British army regulars who had served in the war, by the colonial governors of Canada, who were worried about another American invasion attempt and to counter the French-speaking influence of Quebec, rushed to promote settlement in back country areas along newly constructed plank roads within organized land tracts, mostly in Upper Canada (present-day Ontario).
With the second wave Irish immigration to Canada had been increasing when the Irish Potato Famine occurred from 1846 to 1849 resulting in hundreds of thousands more Irish arriving on Canada's shores, although a significant portion migrated to the United States over the subsequent decades.[3] Of the 100,000 Irish that sailed to Canada in 1847, an estimated one out of five died from disease and malnutrition, including over five thousand at Grosse Isle.[4] Mortality rates of 30% aboard the coffin ships were common.[5][6]
By 1867, over 80% of immigrants arrived in Canada by steamer. Although overall out migration to the more populous United States has exceeded immigrants coming from the United States, there has been sustained immigration from the United States over last two centuries and short periods of heavier migration in addition to the loyalist settlement, for example during 19th century gold rushes to British Columbia and later the Yukon; land-seekers to the Prairies in the early 20th century and also during periods of political turmoil, for example the Vietnam War. During the 20th century, heavy waves of immigration, mostly from continental Europe peaked in 1910¨C1913 (over 400,000 in 1913) and again 1957 (282,000) making Canada a more multicultural country with substantial non-English or French speaking populations. For example, Ukrainian Canadians account for the largest Ukrainian population outside of the Ukraine and Russia. Periods of low immigration also occurred during the first and second wars, in addition to the Great Depression period.
Canada jobs Search
|