Canada choose to continue the Immigration Policies outlined

In the 43rd Parliamentary session Justin Trudeau, Canadian Prime Minister has discharged mandate letters to his ministers. Marco Mendicino, the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, is assigned two tasks particularly: to look after millions of new arrivals who are trying to obtain a permanent residence and to establish a new Municipal Nominee Program. He is given a responsibility to make sure that all new arrivals are easily integrated and also the processing times of applications are considerably reduced. Following are the vital points of the Mandate letter directed to Mendicino:

Implementation of Canada’s Immigration Plan:

The Prime Minister has mandated to ensure the “effective implementation of Canada’s increased annual Immigration Levels Plan for 2020-2022” Canadian government is keen to offer hospitality to skilled people. Therefore, it is believed that the government will work to boost immigration levels and will increase the permanent residents by 10,000 in 2022.

Delivery of high-quality settlement services and reduce application processing times:

As the number of immigrants to Canada is rising every year, it becomes evident that the government invests in delivering good settlement services. The immigrants need support to help them improve their skills and integrate with the society. Thus, delivering high-quality services is a significant factor to attract immigrants worldwide. Further, the lengthy application processing times become laborious to the applicants. Hence, it is suggested to work on reducing the processing times so that larger number of immigrants will be able to apply for canada residency.

Creating a Municipal Nominee Program:

Alberta, British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario are among the most desirable provinces for immigrants. This makes it a challenge for the less populated cities to win over the immigrants to settle outside of the largest cities. Thus, the Minister of IRCC is mandated to design a Municipal Nominee Program to help smaller cities to attract more immigrants.

Make the Atlantic Immigration Pilot program permanent:

The canadian government aims to welcome as many as 7,000 newcomers to the Atlantic Canada region by 2021 via the Atlantic Immigration Pilot program. With the help of this fast-track program, candidates can migrate to Canada’s four Atlantic provinces : Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island Moreover, through Atlantic International Graduate Program, Atlantic High-skilled Program, and Atlantic Intermediate-skilled Program employers can hire skilled candidates who meet the job requirements. On 1 March, 2019 the Atlantic Immigration Pilot program was given an extension of 2 years. However, in the latest mandate letter, there is a mention to make the Atlantic Immigration Pilot Program permanent as it will, eventually, help to advance the economic growth of the Atlantic region.

Encourage Immigrants to settle in Rural Canada:

Mendicino is indicated to take the support of the Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Rural Economic Development and the Minister of Diversity and Inclusion and Youth, to carry out the implementation of the pilot program. It is proposed to the Minister to initiate more pilot programs and persuade the newcomers to settle in the smaller cities as well. In order to support regionalization, Canada has a specific program dedicated for this purpose: the Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot (RNIP).

Eliminate Citizenship fees:

In the mandate letter, Mendicino, has been recommended to bring “a plan to eliminate fees for citizenship for those who have fulfilled the requirements needed to obtain it.’ If the forecast comes out to be true, it is estimated that there will be a 40 percent rise in the number of immigrants gaining citizenship by 2024. Therefore, given the high citizenship application fee, the federal government propounds to waive it off.

Issue of Irregular Migration:

The Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA), a treaty between Canada and the United States, is made to monitor the claim of refugees on shared border land. However, it has become a challenge to the Liberals. In 2017, nearly 45,000 asylum seekers began migrating to Canada. This issue gained a lot of limelight on social media. Post this matter, there have been many heated debates on the issue of illegal migrants. Considering the increased number of irregular migrants, it has become a matter of concern and thus, the government has mandated the Minister of IRCC to provide support to the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness to deal with irregular migration. Finally, in the mandate letter, the Prime Minister declares that all the decisions are to be taken in the public interest. He directs the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship to “lead the Government’s work on immigration”. And to ensure that the Government succeed in welcoming more people to Canada so as to grow the economy and richness of Canada’s population.