Pandemic may shape immigration policies for long haul: Fraser

OTTAWA — The federal immigration minister says some of temporary measures that have helped the government meet its targets this year could be here to stay even after the pandemic ebbs away.

During the pandemic, as it became more and more difficult to bring people to Canada from abroad, the government turned to people already in the country to meet its immigration targets.

While some of the new permanent residents this year have been immigrants and refugees who arrived in Canada through traditional means, the federal government focused on allowing temporary residents to make the country their permanent home.

In an interview with the Canadian Press, Immigration Minister Sean Fraser said the measures were designed specifically to address pandemic-related problems, but could be helpful after the pandemic passes.

He pointed to the “guardian angels” program as one example. That program granted permanent residency to asylum claimants working in the healthcare sector.

Fraser has been ordered to continue the approach as part of his mandate letter from the prime minister. “I think that we’ve learned some things during this pandemic that we will be able to adopt on a go-forward basis,” Fraser said.

On Thursday, Fraser announced the government surpassed its ambitious immigration target of 401,000 new permanent residents for 2021 — the most newcomers in a year in Canada’s history.

The target goes up in 2022. The government hopes to welcome 411,000 new permanent residents by the end of next year.

While bringing new immigrants into Canada is a major pillar of the government’s plan to address the country’s labour shortage, Fraser said the economic argument for keeping temporary residents is just as strong.

When temporary visas expire, employers need to find new candidates to train and fill the job that person just left, he said.

“The people who are new to the country are providing a little bit of extra fuel to the economy. The people who are here now that are being made permanent residents are certainly preventing the problem from getting worse,” he said.

The outcomes of the programs that affect employment have generally been positive, Fraser said, but the government has a little more analysis to do before it commits to a particular pathway.

Fraser also said the government hasn’t abandoned more traditional immigration streams, which he expects will pick up once the pandemic improves and restrictions ease on international borders.

The other lasting immigration legacy of the pandemic is the massive backlog of 1.8 million applications waiting to be processed. The government has drawn criticism from opposition parties for allowing the backlog to swell to such a size. December’s economic update from Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland earmarked $85 million in the next fiscal year to deal with the backlog.