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Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, represented by the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, 2018
Cat. no. Ci1E-PDF
ISSN 1706-3329
C&I 2516-11-2018
ANNUAL REPORT to Parliament on Immigration
2018
1Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada
Table of Contents
Message from the Minister of Immigration,
Refugees and Citizenship ........2
Introduction .......4
I. Why Immigration Matters .....5
II. Canada’s Immigration Plan for 2019–2021 ...12
III. Managing Permanent Immigration .........13
IV. Managing Temporary Migration ...........29
V. Federal-Provincial/Territorial Partnerships ....34
Additional Information .........35
Annex 1: Section 94 and Section 22.1 of the Immigration
and Refugee Protection Act .....36
Annex 2: Tables ...37
Annex 3: Instructions Given by the Minister in 2017 ..........42
Endnotes .........43
ANNUAL REPORT to Parliament on Immigration
2018
2Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada
Message from the 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.
Today, Canada faces new challenges such as an ageing
population and declining birth rate, and immigrants have
helped address these by contributing to Canada’s labour
force growth.
With this in mind, Canada welcomed more than
286,000 permanent residents in 2017. Over half were
admitted under Economic Class programs. The number
also included over 44,000 resettled refugees, protected
persons and people admitted under humanitarian,
compassionate and public policy considerations.
Also in 2017, the Government of Canada adopted a
historic multi-year levels plan to responsibly grow our
annual immigration levels to 340,000 by 2020, with
60 percent of the growth in the Economic Class. Growing
immigration levels, particularly in the Economic Class,
will help us sustain our labour force, support economic
growth and spur innovation.
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.
We have developed our levels plan in close consultation
with provinces and territories, allowing them to bring in
more people through their provincial nominee programs.
We have also addressed regional needs by implementing
the Atlantic Immigration Pilot and supporting francophone
immigration communities outside Quebec.
I am proud of all we have accomplished in the past year,
and we are committed to even more progress in the
year ahead. In that spirit, I invite you to read the Annual
Report to Parliament on Immigration 2018, including the
multi-year levels plan for 2019 to 2021.
_______________________________________________
The Honourable Ahmed Hussen, P.C., M.P.
Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship