1952 law, however, by coming under the sponsored
labor program, whereby an immigrant agreed by
contract to work in mining, farming, railway trans-
portation, or domestic service for a minimum of two
years. The “absorptive capacity” model, admitting
only those applicants who could fill labor niches,
dominated Canadian immigration policy until the
late 1980’s. In reaction to World Refugee Year (1959-
1960), international pressures, and labor needs,
Canada liberalized its immigration policy through
the 1960’s, bringing down ethnic barriers by ex-
panding admissible classes of immigrants to include
Asians, Africans, and other non-European groups.
Economic woes in the 1970’s, including inflation
and unemployment, slowed the flow of immigrants
into the country; by 1984, immigration reached its
lowest point since the early 1960’s: Only eighty-three
thousand people immigrated to Canada in that year.
The liberalization of Canada’s immigration pol-
icy in the 1960’s profoundly changed the coun-
try’s demographic profile. Immigrants from non-
European nations poured into Canadian cities,
especially toward the end of the 1980’s. By the time
of the 1991 census, more than 30 percent of Can-
ada’s population reported an origin other than Brit-
ish or French. In the 1980’s, approximately 40 per-
cent of the foreign-born Canadian population came
from Asia and the Middle East, 30 percent came
from Europe, and about 20 percent came from the
Caribbean and Central and South America.280 Demographics of Canada The Eighties in America
Immigrant Population by Birth for CanadaCanada’s immigrant population underwent a major change during the decade, beginning in 1981. For the first time
in the nation’s histor y, immigrants arriving from Asia, particularly those from Hong Kong, India, the People’s Re-
public of China, Vietnam, and the Philippines, outnumbered immigrants from the United Kingdom and other Euro-
pean nations.Place of BirthImmigrant Population:
1971-1980% of
TotalImmigrant Population:
1981-1990% of
TotalTotal 996,160 100.0 1,092,400 100.0
United States 74,015 7.4 46,405 4.2
Central and South America 67,470 6.8 106,230 9.7
Caribbean and Bermuda 96,025 9.6 72,405 6.6
Europe: 356,700 35.8 280,695 25.7
United Kingdom 132,950 13.3 63,445 5.8
Other Northern and
Western Europe 59,850 6.0 48,095 4.4
Eastern Europe 32,280 3.2 111,370 10.2
Southern Europe 131,620 13.2 57,785 5.3
Africa 58,150 5.8 64,265 5.9
Asia: 328,375 33.0 512,160 46.9
West Central Asia and
the Middle East 30,980 3.1 77,685 7.1
Eastern Asia 104,940 10.5 172,715 15.8
Southeast Asia 111,700 11.2 162,490 14.9
Southern Asia 80,755 8.1 99,270 9.1
Oceania and other 15,420 1.5 10,240 0.9Source:Statistics Canada.