"Immigration Policy Should Be Social, Not Economic" Says Economic Council

Ottawa - Social and humanitarian grounds should be the basis for increased immigration, not economic factors, the Economic Council of Canada states in its report, New Faces in the Crowd. The Council recommends a lower but gradually increasing rate of immigration than that recently proposed by Employment and Immigration Canada. The Council recommends that the immigration rate be 168,0000 (0.6% of Canada's population) rising steadily to an amount equal to 1.0% of the population in the year 2015.

The Council report points out that:

- The economic consequences of immigration are positive but quite small.(sic)
- There is no correlation between immigration levels and unemployment levels; provided immigration levels are stable (whether high or low) rates of unemployment are unaffected.

The report states that immigration makes Canada a “more interesting and exciting society”, benefits that are difficult to measure. Immigrants benefit because many escape from difficult economic, social, and political situations, improving their living standards and vastly improving the future prospects of their children. “It would be hard not to recommend an increase,” the report says, “when immigrants gain so much and when Canadians not only do not lose but actually make slight economic gains.”

The Council report expresses concerns that a rapid increase in immigration might aggravate social frictions. A rapid rise in immigration, as proposed by the government, could provoke a backlash against immigrants in general because of the belief that “immigrants take jobs from Canadians”.

The Council's studies indicate that “familiarity breeds acceptance”. Tolerance of immigrants appears to be greatest in areas where immigrants, including visible minorities, are most numerous. Council studies show a decline in discrimination trends in employment in the period from 1984 to 1989. As most immigrants now come from non-European areas, the Council believes that risk of a backlash can be minimized if immigration is increased gradually and when the unemployment rate is not too high.

The Council proposes that immigration rates be as follows:
1991: 168,000; 1992: 178,000; 1993: 180,000.

Eventually the rate would be 340,000 in 2015. The Council claims that the rates proposed by EIC move too quickly and result in too large an increase in the 1985-95 decade. This could produce temporary increases in unemployment.

Council studies also note the following:

- The dependency ratio (the proportion of persons under age 14 and over 65) is lower than for native-born Canadians.
- Over 77% of immigrants live in large urban areas compared to 46.5% for the native-born.
- Immigrants had a lower unemployment rates than the native-born.
- The rate of self-employment among immigrants is higher than for the native-born.
- The proportion of welfare recipients is slightly lower among recent immigrants than among native-born Canadians.

The Council points out that since immigrants gain an economic benefit from learning English or French, they should pay part of the costs of their language training, as other students are required to contribute to their post-secondary education.

From Community Action dated March 18, 1991 Vol.6, No.13, p.1

(CX5071)

Subject Headings

• Immigration Policy

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