Restricting Canadians Immigration Laws

Answer

  Restricting Canadians Immigration Laws

Immigration is the moving of individuals to another country, not of their birth and settling there permanently. Immigration has been present in Canada form historical times when more than 800,000 immigrants entered the nation between 1815 and 1850. Even before then, Canada had already played host to various individuals from other nations especially Europe. In contemporary settings, the advent of technology has eased the migration process as people can move around quickly from one part of the world to another. Moreover, applications to become a legal immigrant are now done over the internet allowing people from faraway places to seek admission into Canada as permanent citizens. Currently, Canada is the leading western nation to admit more immigrants per capital and most political formations in the nation support increased admission of individuals from other states as Canadian residents. Even though immigration has a social and economic benefit to Canada, there are also concerns that come with it mainly to the native population thereby making it vital that immigration laws to Canada be restricted.

The primary reason why immigration should be restricted in Canada is the potential adverse effect it could cause on the native’s culture. Currently, the Canada Multiculturalism Act of 1988 is in use and protects the heritage of all citizens by limiting discrimination (Porter, 2015). In this regard, every person, especially immigrants are liable to protection through this act once he or she acquires Canada’s citizenship. Even though the concept is positive in the phase of increased appreciation and focuses on diversity, it infringes on the local tradition. Historically, the early immigrants from the British Isles and the natives influenced Canada’s culture. However, the entry of new people especially from Asia has led to the incorporation of new practices into the local culture that did not exist previously. For instance, the concepts of vegetarianism and veganism are now part of Canadian society with millennial children eating with chopsticks. The adoption of these practices has come at a cost to some native traditions. For example, the CBS news (2014) report indicates that First Nation languages such as the Skwomesh language are endangered, as there are only seven fluent speakers now. In reverse, diverse cultural centers, especially for minority populations, emerge every day in Canada with most of the immigrants forming social groups as a means of staying in touch and protecting their culture. Consequently, children born in Canada today will find it difficult to understand the native culture of their people, as they will only subscribe to new practices that have been formed on the back of diversity.

Laws relating to immigration should restrict entry and settlement in Canada of foreigners because of the negative economic impact they inflict on the natives. The effect comes about in the wage levels. Ideally, most immigrants come to Canada to provide labor for many industries in the nation. Despite labor provision being a positive attribute of the immigrants, they contribute to a reduction in the wage levels in the nation, as they are more willing to work at lower pays as compared to Canadians. According to Marland, Giasson, and Esselment, (2017), every ten percent increase in the immigrant population in Canada contributes to a reduction of wage levels by 5 percent. Skilled workers with educational qualification spanning to a postgraduate degree feel the effect more. Ideally, immigrants are accepted into Canada based on their educational qualifications, skill sets, and work experience. Therefore, when they come into Canada, they can perform well in similar roles as skilled Canadian nationals. Therefore, they end up replacing the natives. From a business perspective, most industry owners are willing to use immigrants as they provide essential labor at a lower cost hence leading to high-profit maximization. The decrease in average wages in the nation is not desirable especially due to the high cost of living. Primarily, it leads to the deteriorated social and economic status of indigenous Canadians. Consequently, restricting immigration will be ideal in preventing a further decrease in the average income levels.

Restricting immigration into Canada will also help lower the unemployment rate in the nation. Primarily Gaucher (2018) states that the unemployment rate among immigrants is higher than that of native-born Canadians. For instance, the unemployment rate for native-born Canadians was 5.5 % as of 2011 while that of new immigrants was at 13.6% and 8.2 for established immigrants (Statistics Canada, 2019). Even though most immigrants eventually find work and manage to reduce their unemployment rate to near the national average, they still contribute to a negative national indicator of high unemployment level. Moreover, Gaucher (2018) asserts that unemployment could lead to significant adverse effects on the nation as most of the people lack something to do and engage in deviant behaviors. Even though statistics on the crime rate for immigrants in conjunction with other elements such as drug use is inconclusive, Agic et al., (2015) state that immigrants also engage in issues such as alcohol abuse albeit at a lower rate than native-born Canadians. Moreover, their alcohol consumption levels increase with the length of their stay in Canada.

There is a need to restrict immigration into Canada to streamline the population growth concern. According to Statistics Canada (2019), there has been a decrease in the growth rate of the Canadian population as most natives are aging and the fertility rate has dropped. Therefore, birth, which is a natural process for increasing the population size has waned and only contributes to a third of the current population in Canada. Therefore, the high rate of foreigners entering and settling in Canada is now the significant determinant of population growth in Canada with projections indicating that natural population growth could hit a low of zero in 20 years due to high aging rate and the inability to meet the population replacement level of 2.1 children per female. Even though immigrants seem to be helping the nation to maintain proper population growth statistics, it is occurring at the expense of natives. In this regard, a restriction of immigrant’s entry into the nation will lead to the development of fertility enhancing programs that will allow the nation to achieve the desired replacement rate of children. On the other hand, population increase fostered by natives puts pressure on available resources leading to competition (Collacott, 2019). In the event, some people miss critical elements or resources thereby experiencing a low quality of life.

Despite the arguments for the restriction of migration, counterarguments exist that encourage immigration. Primarily, both political parties in the nation support the immigration campaign, and the national government is actively involved in vetting over 50,000 foreigners coming and settling into Canada. In this regard, the main pro-arguments include the view that immigrants supplement the local labor needs thereby eliminating any possible shortages in the nation’s workforce. Furthermore, immigrants help in encouraging population growth (Abowd & Freeman, 2007). Moreover, there is a view that immigrants come with skills and new ideas that are instrumental in pushing Canada to the next level. Consequently, various industries manage to benefit from immigrants in ways that the native population cannot. Lastly, immigration is promoted because it encourages diversity. In this regard, native-born Canadians are able to interact with other people and learn about their cultures. Moreover, they learn how to cope with other people from different societies.

In conclusion, it is apparent that immigration has increased in recent times due to the improvement in technology and favorable government policies. Ideally, technology helps people to move from one nation to the other with ease while open immigration policies make potential immigrants feel safe and comfortable in new nations. However, the increase of foreigners in Canada should be restricted by changing immigration laws because it is leading to adverse experiences for the natives. Primarily, the concept is threatening indigenous cultural practices as most people pick up new traditions and behaviors brought by immigrants. Consequently, it becomes difficult for children to stay in touch with their heritage. Moreover, immigration has socio-economic effects on the people as it contributes to a reduction in average wages. Consequently, low-income levels mean that people cannot obtain all the necessary resources vital for living a quality life. The effect of immigration on population growth has both positive and negative effects. In this regard, it helps maintain proper population growth in the nation thereby undoing the deficit created by the aging native population and low fertility rate. Despite this, it puts pressure on available resources thereby affecting the ability of all citizens to acquire vital resources for proper living. On the other hand, proponents of immigration argue that it helps supplement the domestic labor force and brings about new ideas. Even though the advantages are essential, they are not as significant as the disadvantages. Therefore, immigration should be restricted in Canada.