Canada is increasing its proposed intake of immigrants into the country, targeting as many as 475,000 in 2024. Among the major beneficiaries of the plan will be Indians as they comprise the single largest source country for immigrants to Canada.
The new targets were announced by Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Sean Fraser. The 2022-24 Immigration Levels Plan aims to continue welcoming immigrants at a rate of about one per cent of Canada’s population, including 431,645 permanent residents in 2022, 447,055 in 2023, and 451,000 in 2024. However, the high end of the range forecast for 2024 could reach 475,000.
The majority of immigration into Canada is in the economic class, with Indians making for almost 60% of those numbers.
The 2021 Annual Report to Parliament on Immigration, tabled this week, showed that India remains the largest source country for immigrations into Canada. The arrival of the Covd-19 pandemic in 2020 reduced the intake severely, but of the 184,606 permanent residents admitted that year, Indians accounted for 42,876, or 23% of the total and almost two-and-a-half times the numbers for the next highest, China, at 16,535.
India has consistently been the biggest source country since 2017, when it overtook China among permanent residents (PRs). In 2019, as many as 85,593, Indian-origin PRs, a quarter of the total, were admitted into Canada.
In a statement, Fraser said, “Immigration has helped shape Canada into the country it is today. From farming and fishing to manufacturing, healthcare and the transportation sector, Canada relies on immigrants. We are focused on economic recovery, and immigration is the key to getting there.”
To compensate for low immigration in 2020, the government has hiked the target envisaged in its 2021-23 Immigration Levels Plan which set them at 401,000 in 2021, 411,000 in 2022 and 421,00 in 2023.