Summary: The Influence Of Canadian Social Policy On Immigration

Introduction

Canada has a rich, albeit complicated relationship with immigration. Our perception of “Canadians” is not even terribly accurate as the original inhabitants of our fine country are the aboriginal peoples that lived here long before European settlers arrived. The policies our government placed on the native peoples of Canada (indeed, North America), were very harsh and had long lasting repercussions, even to this day. However, the policies of immigration focus on newcomers to Canada throughout the years.

The Early Years

Canadian social policy on immigration dates back to 1869, with the recognition of the important role that immigration has played in the foundation of this country. The first Immigration Act was a priority of the

After the railway was completed, about five years later, the Federal government had the most blatant form of discrimination. Canadian law and policy did not always welcome all immigrants. Some countries were barred and others faced selective levies. The government created a Chinese Head Tax and Exclusion Act, which would restrict any more Chinese immigration by implementing a Head Tax on each individual immigrant as well as denying them Canadian citizenship.

A more restricted immigration policy was introduced in 1906. It extended the groups of prohibited immigrants, formalized a deportation process and assigned the government greater authorities to make uninformed judgments on admission. The government could prohibit any class of immigrants when it was considered necessary or beneficial. It didn’t matter what culture, ethnicity or nationality of the immigrants

It was estimated that 250,000 immigrants would be admitted into Canada by 1992, 50,000 more than the year before (Knowles, 2007). In 1992 40,000 refugees were admitted into Canada, and the Canadian public was becoming concerned that the system was being abused (Knowles, 2007). In June of 1992, Bill C-86 was introduced with the intention of tightening up the immigration and refugee system (Knowles, 2007). The new system required fingerprints of refugee applicants to discourage welfare fraud, harsher detention procedures, public hearing for refugee cases, and deportations without hearings and streamlined the severely taxed refugee determination system (Knowles, 2007). In 1994, the Liberal government created a new department called “Citizenship and Immigration Canada” (Knowles, 2007). The government was shifting away from family reunification and focused more on independent immigrants who had education, skills and are ability to adapt their language to the new economy (Knowles, 2007). In 1995 they imposed the “Right of Landing” fee also known as the “Head Tax” which is $975 fee applied to all adult immigrants (Fine-Meyer, 2003). Bill C44 was introduced to “restrict access to appeal for permanent residents facing deportation (Fine-Meyer, 2003). Going