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Canadian immigration minister Jason Kenney will be consulting with various stakeholders on the appropriate levels of immigration to Canada. Canada currently has one of the highest per capita immigration rates in the world.
"We want people's views on what is the right mix of our various immigration programs, how do we ensure that immigrants succeed economically, because when immigrants get good jobs, Canada succeeds," Kenney said.
There will be consultations with immigrant settlement organizations, Canadian employers, industry organizations, and community associations.
There will be discussions on which immigration schemes to focus on, how skilled migrants should be selected to fill labor gaps, and how to reduce immigration applications backlogs.
Kenney's consultations with stakeholders began in Calgary and will continue across Canada; Cities to be included in the consultation are Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal. There will also be Online consultations.
The Canadian government will take into account the responses to the consultation when considering future immigration policy.
Each year, Canada welcomes approximately a quarter of a million new immigrants to its shores from all over the world.
"There's always a maximum to the number of immigrants we bring. We're maintaining very high levels, but we want to make sure that immigration is actually working for newcomers and newcomers are working in Canada," Kenney said. He added that increasing the number of immigrants allowed into Canada may be a possibility.
"We don't want to be bringing people here to face unemployment or under-employment, we want them to fill the job shortages that exist, particularly in this region."
