Canada set to open door to more immigrants

Canadian Immigration Minister Joe Volpe unveiled changes to Canada's immigration policy, including plans to take in as many as 300,000 new immigrants annually within the next five years.

Volpe, in a report on immigration introduced in the lower House of Commons on Monday, said Canada accepted nearly 236,000 immigrants last year, facilitated 2,000 international adoptions and reunited 6,000 refugee spouses and children with their families.

He said Canada intends to accept as many as 255,000 new immigrants next year.

"Looking to the future, more successful and well integrated newcomers in all parts of Canada are key to nation building and to our economic prosperity," Volpe said in his annual report on the immigration situation.

Volpe told the Globe and Mail in Monday's editions that Ottawa was "desperate for immigration," and would accept as many as 300,000 immigrants by 2010.

In his report, Volpe said Ottawa plans to hire more temporary workers to tackle the enormous backlog of 700,000 prospective immigrants. Applicants can wait of as long as four years to have their applications processed in Canadian missions around the world.

Canada -- a vast country slightly larger than the US, though much of it in the frigid north -- has only 33 million people, compared with 296 million Americans.

According to the most recent national census in 2001, 18.4 percent of Canada's population was foreign born.

Volpe said Citizenship and Immigration Canada had met the target for immigration for the past five years, with more than 220,000 people obtaining permanent residency annually since 2000.

"To succeed, we must make the system work better; it is not enough to have people come to our country," Volpe said. "Equally important, we need them to be successful once they are here to ensure that both immigrants and Canada fully benefit from the skills and talents newcomers bring."

Canada is often criticized for attracting educated immigrants, who then complain that their professional credentials are not accepted. Many foreign doctors and engineers end up working as taxi drivers and waiters, and those who do find jobs in their professions earn less than their Canadian-born counterparts despite better education.

Usha George, a professor of social work at the University of Toronto who specializes in immigrant policy, said that the immigrant engineers, doctors and nurses who are driving cabs or taking care of children for well-to-do Canadian families at least have the hope that their children will have better lives.

"Canada needs more people -- and more people are ready to come," said George, herself an immigrant from India. "It's seen as a safer place, a good country and more than anything else -- the feeling that their children will have better opportunities."

Volpe says he plans to consult with unions, businesses and immigrant groups to better understand what kinds of workers are needed, and how to better place them.

Ottawa is also planning to introduce a new "in-Canada" application that will allow temporary workers and students to apply for landed-immigrant status once they have worked here for a certain number of months.