On November 1, IRCC released Canada’s Immigration Levels Plan addressing housing & healthcare for 2024-26. The department set targets for the number of permanent resident admissions to Canada for the next three years. In addition, the nation will admit over 485,000 new permanent residents in 2024 & around 500,000 each year in both 2024 & 2025.
Immigration Minister Marc Miller asserted that the plan would stabilize the number of newcomers coming to Canada, which has been a matter of concern for many Canadians.
A recent report given by the Environics Institute found that Canadians are voicing less support for the elevated immigration levels than they have in previous years. In addition, the report found that people who have withdrawn their support said that they were worried about affordability in Canada.
Identifying these concerns, Miller stated that the new immigration plan would be comprehensive and work to accomplish a balance between the existing population & labor force needs.
He further stated that the department recognizes the need to focus primarily on housing, infrastructure planning, & sustainable population growth. He also said that through Canada’s Immigration Levels Plan addressing housing & healthcare, the department would strike an apt balance to boost the nation’s economy & maintain the humanitarian culture, thus developing a more collaborative approach to level planning.
How Will The Immigration Levels Plan Help Canada’s Labor Force?
The Immigration Levels Plan 2024-26 was tabled the day after IRCC released a Strategic Immigration Program. This is a new report which highlights IRCC’s updated approach to immigration.
One of the significant pillars of the report is supporting Canada’s labor force growth. Moreover, around 60% of immigrants will be from economic class immigration pathways in the next three years. In 2024, Canada will welcome over 281,135 economic immigrants & around 301,250 in both 2025-26.
IRCC’s new strategy also includes a ‘government’ approach to immigration, wherein IRCC consults with stakeholders, government departments, as well as partners like the provincial government to understand better the skills needed & how many immigrants are required to close the gap.
In addition, this approach will also help IRCC to assess if there is enough support for newcomers when they arrive. Moreover, in order to help attract this high number of skilled newcomers, the Strategic Program asserts that IRCC will work with partners to improve foreign credential recognition to enable more newcomers to apply their skills.
Lastly, it also plans to promote awareness regarding programs offering financial assistance, like loans, to help immigrants with the costs associated with the credential recognition process.
Healthcare & Construction In Canada
The main reason behind Canada’s Immigration Levels Plan addressing housing & healthcare is to fill labor market gaps which will help the nation deliver on its National Housing Strategy.
The Housing Strategy aims to invest more than $82 billion over the next ten years to build more houses in Canada. As a result, this will lead to lower costs & will need more skilled workers in construction & trades.
People in Canada are also concerned about the state of healthcare in the nation. Data from Statistics Canada reveals that there were almost 136,000 in healthcare & social assistance as of August 2023.
Strains on the healthcare system became specifically apparent during the pandemic when many healthcare workers were frequently needed to work overtime without a break. This resulted in burnout & some healthcare professionals decided to switch their professions.
Furthermore, over nine million Canadians will retire by 2030, thus putting pressure on the system as the population ages.
Census 2021 data shows that more than 468,000 immigrants work in health-related professions, but it is still insufficient to fill all the job vacancies.
Category-Based Express Entry
IRCC introduced category-based Express Entry routes of invitations in May this year.
These new categories target Express Entry applicants with specific attributes that will help IRCC fulfill its mandates. These categories are:
- Healthcare
- STEM Professions
- Trades
- Transport
- French-Language Proficiency
- Agriculture/ Agri-Food
Through these category-based rounds, IRCC selects applicants who are better places to fill labor force gaps in sectors with a high job vacancy rate, like construction & healthcare. To date, IRCC has invited over 5,600 applicants in healthcare professions & around 1,500 trades profession applicants.
Moreover, Deputy Immigration Minister Christiane Fox stated that another draw for the trade profession will occur before December 2023. The Immigration Levels Plan shows that in 2024, Canada will admit 110,770 Express Entry applicants & around 117,500 in both 2025-26.