Douglas Baldwin

A Brief History of Canada's
Immigration Policies

At Confederation in 1867 Canada's population was only about 3.5 million. By 1911, thanks largely to a flood of immigrants around the turn of the century, 7.2 million people called Canada home. Today there are approximately 27 million people in Canada. Of this number, 9.5 million were not born in Canada. Except for the Native peoples, our ancestors were all immigrants to Canada. Despite this situation, Canada's immigration policies have traditionally been a hotbed of controversy and discrimination.

Prior to Confederation, Canada had no immigration policy. For the next century, most immigration laws were designed to prevent certain groups from entering Canada. Immigration policies favored people from Great Britain, the United States, and Western Europe. Because immigrants could only apply to enter Canada from outside our country, and as the Canadian government established few immigration offices in such places as Africa, the West Indies, and Asia, people from these parts of the world were prevented from applying for entry. A variety of laws, regulations, and quotas limited the number of American Blacks, Chinese, Indian, Jews fleeing Nazi persecution, and Japanese immigrants, as well as communists, labor organizers, and people who had infectious diseases or were physically or mentally handicapped. For the most part, Canada's economic needs determined how many immigrants, and who, we accepted. Despite studies that show that immigration does not increase unemployment, in periods of economic recession the government, responding to public pressures, restricts immigration to Canada, and in good times it allows more people to enter Canada. In 1967, the government adopted a screening process called a point test to ensure that immigrants would be judged by the same standards regardless of their country of origin.

Gradually the source of immigration to Canada switched from Europe to the West Indies, Indochina, Hong Kong, Guyana, Taiwan, and the Philippines. In 1966, 87% of Canada's immigrants came from Europe. However, during the 1980s only 27% of Canada's immigrants came from Europe, whereas 46% travelled from Asia (the largest single group came from Vietnam) and l5% arrived from the Caribbean and South and Central America. Visible ethnic minorities became so much a part of Canada's social fabric that in 1971 the federal government announced that Canada was a multicultural country within a bilingual framework and gave ethnic groups official status.

In 1978 Canada established three categories of immigrants. The refugee category included people who were forced to leave their country because of invasion, disaster, or persecution. These people were to be judged according to their ability to adapt to life in Canada, not by the point system. In the second category were those with Canadian relatives willing to support family members until they found employment. Parents, spouses, grandparents (under 60), and unmarried children (under 19 years of age) could be sponsored. In a similar manner, more distant relatives could also be sponsored. Sponsors agreed to take financial and social responsibility until the sponsored immigrant adapted to Canadian life. All other immigrants were judged on the point system. The government summarized its selection criteria in the following words:

[The point system is] designed to meet Canada's demographic and labor market needs. Emphasis is placed on the practical training, experience, education, and capability of the applicant: employment- related factors account for about half of the total possible units of assessment (points) that can be awarded.

Not every dependent applicant is assessed against all of the selection criteria. Applicants are rated only according to those factors that actually affect their ability to become successfully established in Canada.

For example, entrepreneurs and investors who create jobs for Canadians, are not assessed on occupation or arranged employment factors.... Assisted relatives are assessed against the same factors as are other independent immigrants. They receive 10 bonus units of assessment if they have a relative in Canada who has signed an understanding promising to support them for a period of five years (or 15 bonus units if they are the brother, sister, son or daughter of the sponsor).... In order to be admitted to Canada as permanent residents, immigrants must receive a minimum number of units. They must also obtain at least one unit for the experience and occupation factors.

Because Canada's immigration policies are directly related to the economy and its labor needs, each year the government announces a target or quota of how many immigrants will be accepted. In 1990, for example, the government set a target of approximately 175,000 immigrants (later raised to 250,000) of which 21,000 were to be sponsored families, 10,000 refugee families, 4,000 entrepreneur families, and 20,000 independent immigrant families. This latter group was selected from almost l,500,000 families who applied at a Canadian embassy or consulate to immigrate to Canada. In other words, fewer than 2% of the families who sought to become Canadians were successful.

Independent applicants must apply at a Canadian embassy or consulate outside Canada and be at least 18 years of age. Only the head of the family is subjected to the point system. The head of the family may be either male or female. Prospective immigrants must first fill out an application form. Those applicants who pass this stage are then interviewed and asked to bring their documents with them: school diplomas or marks, birth and marriage certificates, passports, apprenticeship records, letters of reference from employers, character references from respected people, offers of employment in Canada, and proof of assets such as money and property--all certified. Successful applicants are then given a medical examination. People suffering from a disability or disease that might cause them to become a public danger or place excessive demand on the health and social services of Canada are rejected. They are checked for security clearance and those people who are suspected of terrorism, or who have committed a serious crime, are forbidden entry. The entire procedure can take from eight months to two years depending on the demand for the applicant's occupation and the number of people applying from that embassy or consulate.

Because the government has a general quota of how many people it will accept each year, even if an applicant receives the necessary 70 points, she or he is not guaranteed entry. Those people who are rejected are only told that they did not receive enough points.

Further Reading

For Canada's immigration policies see Freda Hawkins, Canada and Immigration: Public Policy and Public Concern, Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1988; Victor Malarek, Haven's Gate; Canada's Immigration Fiasco, Toronto: Macmillan of Canada, 1987; Reg Whitaker, Double Standard: The Secret History of Canadian Immigration, Toronto: Lester & Orpen Dennys, l987; and the many excellent articles in Canadian Ethnic Studies. For a more personal view see Barry Broadfoot, The Immigrant Years: From Britain and Europe to Canada, 1945 to 1967. Vancouver: Douglas and Mclntyre, 1986. On multiculturalism see Jean R. Burnet with Howard Palmer, Coming Canadians: An Introduction to a History of Canada's Peoples, Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1988; TV Ontario, Multiculturalism, A Catalogue of Video Resources, Toronto, 1983; and the journal Multiculturalism which is directed toward schools. For information on particular ethnic groups see the ongoing series of 30-page pamphlets published by the Canadian Historical Association, and the series "Generations: A History of Canada's Peoples" by McClelland and Stewart. For specific information on Canada's current immigration policies, including copies of official immigration forms and material on such categories as refugees and entrepreneurs, see Gary L. Segal, Immigrating to Canada: Who is Allowed? What is required? How To Do It! Vancouver: International Self-Counsel Press, 1992

Douglas Baldwin teaches history and Canadian studies at Acadia University, Nova Scotia. He is presently a visiting scholar at the Graduate School of Area Studies, Tsukuba University, Japan.