ally in the mid-1990’s, declined to 150,000 per year
in the late 1990’s, and climbed to 200,000 annually
by the new century. Between 1981 and 2001, about
3.6 million immigrants found homes in Canada, ele-
vating its population to more than 30 million.
Immigrants in the 1990’s concentrated heavily in
Canada’s cities, especially Toronto, Canada’s most
racially and culturally diverse city. Immigrants com-
prised almost 40 percent of Toronto’s population in
1991, while the figures were 30 percent for Vancou-
ver, 24 percent for Hamilton, 21 percent for Wind-
sor, 20 percent each for Calgary and Victoria, and
17 percent for Montreal. Canada’s three largest cit-
ies, Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal, received
about 80 percent of the immigrants during the de-
cade, shouldering high initial costs as well as the on-
going costs of the immigrants’ integration. Ethnic
networks and neighborhoods exerted a powerful in-
fluence on the initial location and integration of
these newcomers. For example, Chinatowns grew
and thrived in Toronto and Vancouver. The inflow to
smaller places and rural areas was very light, with the
Maritime provinces and northern territories the
least affected.
Policy Changes The decade witnessed a number
of significant changes to Canada’s immigration and
settlement policies. Policy makers increased the re-
quirements for skilled workers, imposed tighter con-
trols on family sponsorship, implemented changes
to language-training programs, introduced the
landing fee, and put more emphasis on individual
economic responsibility and self-sufficiency. Three
broad classes of immigrants were admitted: family-
class immigrants or those admitted for family reuni-
fication; independent or economic-class immigrants
selected on the basis of points for occupational
skills, education, and suitability to the Canadian en-
vironment; and the refugee class, whose admission
was based on refugee laws and individual suitability.
The independent or economic class typically consti-
tutes about 60 percent of the annual total number of
immigrants.
Immigration Problems An economic slowdown in
the early 1990’s, coupled with continued high immi-
gration, created a complex of problems related to
immigrant adjustment such as unemployment and
financial crises. The national data indicate a widen-
ing of the income gap during the decade with new
immigrants doing worse economically than previous
immigrants. More than one-third of the immigrants
who arrived during the decade lived below the
poverty line in 2000, with figures of 47 percent in
Montreal and 40 percent in Vancouver. Immigrant
incomes in 2000 were 80 percent of the national av-
erage after ten years of residence in the country.
The widening gap can be attributed to immigrant
origins and educational levels as well as a sagging de-
mand for labor during economic downturns. In the
early 1990’s, only 13 percent of the immigrants came
with university degrees; the change in immigration
policy helped to boost that number to 45 percent af-
ter 2000. Policy makers worked on ways to better co-
ordinate education, housing, and social services for
new arrivals between the various levels of govern-
ment.
The Canadian government continued to grapple
with serious demographic issues related to Canada’s
aging population, dependency, and the loss of
skilled laborers to its American neighbor. The
United States exerts a strong pull for skilled immi-
grants, and even during the best of times, Canada is a
way station for many immigrants headed for the big-
ger economy to the south. The inflow of economic
versus political refugees remained an area of dis-
course, and security issues took on new urgency after
the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, in New
York and Washington, D.C.
Impact The debate continues among Canadian
policy makers as to the optimum annual target for
the admission of immigrants. Canadian policy today
permits a targeted flow of 1 percent of the Canadian
population or about 300,000 annually. The selection
process remains biased toward young skilled work-
ers who can fill important niches in Canada’s mod-
ern economy.
Further Reading
Cameron, Elspeth, ed.Multiculturalism and Immigra-
tion in Canada: An Introductor y Reader.Toronto:
Canadian Scholars’ Press, 2004. Examines the
evolution of the multicultural policy in Canada
and how that policy changed public thinking; in-
cludes contributions by many recent immigrants.
Campbell, Charles M.Betrayal and Deceit: The Politics
of Canadian Immigration.West Vancouver, B.C.:
Jasmine Books, 2000. A critical look at the ideas,
attitudes, institutions, and rhetoric tied to the im-
migration debates in Canada.
Driedger, Leo, ed.Multi-Ethnic Canada: Identities andThe Nineties in America Immigration to Canada 443