Canada opens its borders to 1 million more immigrants

While many countries worldwide are closing their borders to immigrants, Canada has done just the opposite.

It is opening its borders to one million more immigrants, according to a report tabled in parliament by Ahmed Hussen, minister of immigration,  refugees and citizenship.

“Thanks in great part to the newcomers we have welcomed throughout our history, Canada has developed into the strong and vibrant country we all enjoy. Immigrants and their descendants have made immeasurable contributions to Canada, and our future success depends on continuing to ensure they are welcomed and well-integrated,” the report said.

Hussen is also one of the immigrants. He arrived in Canada in 1993 when he was 16 from then-war-torn Somalia. 

According to the report, Canada welcomed in 2017 more than 286,000 permanent residents including 44,000 resettled refugees, protected persons and people admitted under humanitarian, compassionate and public policy considerations.

The country also adopted plans to increase the number of immigrants to 340,000 annually by 2020.

“This increase is also helping us improve service, as we have been able to address many chronic backlogs in our immigration system. Key results include reuniting spouses and other family members within 12 months, reducing citizenship processing time from 24 to 12 months and processing caregiver applications in less than 12 months,” Hussen added in the report.

Already, Canada is facing an influx of immigrants from the United States following President Donald Trump’s policy that has sparked fears that some
people would lose their temporary protected status.

Though Trump’s move to end the TPS program was temporarily blocked by a federal judge, Haitian-Americans are still moving in their numbers across the northern border with fears that they will be deported if they stayed in the U.S.