Developments in State Immigration Laws in Canada
Introduction
Canada has constantly adjusted its immigration regulations with the intention of bettering her relations with other countries. The Canadian government has targeted to minimize restrictions by considering that immigrants into the country create value for the people. The people flowing into the Canadian economy apprehend the country’s developments in the last decade to assert their position into the immigration policy makers (Hum 116). In essence, the immigration laws among the Canadian people have evolved largely over the past decade, with stricter propositions coming up for the immigrants into the country. From the immigration and refugee Act, which represents the primary regulation for the immigrants into the country to the advanced state laws governing immigration, the country bears a superb policy on immigration and settlement into the country. This paper examines the developments in the immigration policy that have occurred in the last decade with the view of uncovering how effective they operate in the contemporary world.
Developments in Canadian immigration policy
Since the Canada realized an economic boom, the county became a victim to increased immigration into the country as it harboured some of the most valuable economic sites in the world. In order to counter the inflow, a range of laws came in place to slow down the immigrations and ensure that the people entering the country came from the legitimate states and that the people had the required documents to enter the country (Reitz 414). The most essential policy introduced in the quest to minimize the immigrations came through the voter ID rules. In Canada, in order to vote, one must have a photo identification, which matches his physical descriptions without faults. The voter identification card enables the officials dealing in the election to determine a range of things about the person taking part in the elections such as the address, health, and the legibility of the people. For immigrants who have no basic requirements, they cannot vote in Canada due to the legal requirements. This law limits the Activities of the temporary immigrants into the country by a percentage of targets.
Part of the requirements of the employments Act in Canada gives the employers the mandate to verify the details of the potential employees before they can entrust them with any responsibilities. According Oxman-Martinez et al. (250), the legal systems provided in the statutes in the Canadian employment verifications rules required that employers must give priority to people with permanent status in residence and immigrants with recent occupation stats should come thereafter. In essence, during the employment contract discussions, the employers must verify the information about the potential employee before the accept them as part of the institutions in all capacities. Unless the vacancy has exceptions for the foreigners, immigrants face more scrutiny in employment than the other personalities in the country. Employee screening services seek to get the basic and most important information about the immigrants before they can preliminarily pass to the application stages.
When the issue of the public goods and the public services comes in, the immigrants have a hard task getting the best. Residents of a state with restrictive legal Actions stand on the same grounds as the other immigrants when it comes to the public benefits and programmes in the country. In most cases, the benefits accruing to the citizens in Canada must first get to the citizens, and the locals before the foreigners and the immigrants get a share. According to the public utility laws in the California state, the locals have upper qualification benefits, meaning that they stand more advantageous positions than the other people do. The essence of this reform in the last decade came to protect the local consumers from the scarcity that would come due to the influx of people into the Canadian economy after the economic boom attracted people to the country.
One of the most challenging parts for immigrants to fit into is the education system among the Canadians because stiff regulations against foreigners who wish to study in the country. The education Act revised in 2008 reserves the locals for lower qualifications than the other people whenever they apply for the educational opportunities at all levels (Reitz 414). In the picture for most of the people, higher education proves the toughest, especially the rules regarding the postgraduate studies in the country. For the immigrants, the higher education’s Act in Canada raises the requirements that they need. The Canadian economy requires that the immigrants must have quality above the local threshold to an opportunity of studying in the country. For the postgraduate studies, unless on a scholarship, the immigrants must face strict scrutiny and verifications in order to access the education in most of the state in the country.
Over and above the requirements in all the sectors, all the immigrants into the Canadian economy must have well distinguished identification, non-similar to any other persons in order get permission of staying in the country. The definition of identity according to the immigrations department and the copies in all the embassies in the country slightly differs from the dictionary definition of the same (Reitz 414). For the immigrants, their identity includes the relevant documents from their respective embassies showing that they arrived in the country legally and that they embassy recognizes them. Such provisions shape the immigration department in the country to ultra-modern standards, which most of the countries in the world envy.
Factors that influenced the Developments in Canadian immigration policy
Vineberg (204) infers that the developments in the Canadian immigration rules came into place as one of the compliance strategies to the rate of people flowing into the country because of the economic boom a decade ago. The Canadian people needed some form of protection so that they could develop without the influence from the outside world, which the scholarly sources about the development referred to as the internal development policy. The immigration policy breakdowns in the Canadian government records gives very clear outlines of the internal development policy whereby the government and other parties close to it viewed the country as a hub for economic muscle and wanted the locals to become part of the whole process. Through the legislators, the economy of the country comfortably relies on the locals as they form greater percentages of the resources in almost all the sectors, with the immigrants taking lower percentages in the economy (Vineberg 207). The Canadian economy relies purely on the locals, who brought the main cause of the immigration policies.
The involvement of the United States of America in a number of peace missions and a series of wars as well pushed the Canadian government to affect the immigration rules. This manly took place in its states to control on the number of people flowing into the country. The American wars and the people-seeking asylum in Canada, especially the soldiers who are unwilling to go back to the wars, create many tensions in parliament in Canada. Previously, the Canadian parliament debated lengthily on whether the American soldiers who were unwilling to g back to the war in Iraq should stay in the country or not. A series of private bills also failed before the parliament although they were seeking stricter rules on immigration, with Bill C-31 one of the strongest bills on the same. Closely linked to the same, the internal trade policy prompted the Canadian government to stricter rules on immigration (Hum 116). The desire of the government stands that the locals should not suffer from unfair external competition, which destroys the local firms according to the microeconomic policies.
Challenges encountered in Development in Canadian immigration policy
The implementation of the immigration rules, as good as the rules appeared to the people, faced a series of oppositions and challenges in the Actualization process. Firstly, the legislators had divisions on what was the best policy for the country to take. On many occasions, according to Hiebert (220), the Canadian parliament bore split opinions on the best things for the people and policies that the locals would make the most of them. At the same time, the relations of the country internationally played major roles in the decisions of some of the members to take conflicting stands. In most of the situations, some people see the legislators who took different stands in the immigration law making process as the people who delayed the whole process. For most people on the ground, these delays allowed some loopholes for the violation of some of the laws. However, their roles sink deep into the whole process because the rather opened the eyes of the people on the negatives that they could expect.
As much as the locals in Canada felt that the situation definitely required them to take a stand on the immigrants, the quality of the immigrants challenged most of the people. Chances stood high that some of the immigrant had the best that the Canadian economy. These immigrants have the investments that could benefit the economy maximally. Following divisions that arose, when this issue appeared in parliament in mid 2010, a policy requiring strict scrutiny of the immigrants came to play so that some of the investors could make way into the economy. At advanced levels, the Canadian government risked the country the wrath of the other nations as they had the liberty to take Actions with serious implications on the people.
International relations require that countries should interact with the international world at free fair and non-discriminative basis. However, the Canadian government risked the step to get into the legislation. However, the little defiance proved the shield against slow growth as the internal economy of the country achieved pretty much when the locals got the empowerment to control the economy. The risks involved in the process of implementation of most of the immigrations are real and huge, although the benefits that come with the risks are also huge (Vu 7). The Canadian government dealt with all the risks thus the immigration policy succeeded all the way.
Conclusion
The Canadian immigration rules played a major role in the stability of the country’s economy especially after the economic boom across the world a decade ago. The immigration rules arose due to different needs among the people. The local industries needed protection from the government, the United States involved in wars that risked the Canadian economy, the foreign policy and the need to protect internal traders all played key roles. The Canadian immigration policy affected virtually all the sectors, as the immigrants had to pass through a series of selection procedures in order to fit in the economy at all levels. However, the implementation of the policy faced challenges from the international community and legislative agreements, which the government successfully handled.
Works cited
Hiebert, Daniel. "Canadian Immigration: Economic Evidence for a Dynamic Policy Environment." Labour.69 (2012): 219-22. ProQuest. Web. 21 May 2013.
Hum, Derek, and Wayne Simpson. "Selectivity and Immigration in Canada." Journal of International Migration and Integration 3.1 (2002): 107-27. ProQuest. Web. 21 May 2013.
Oxman-Martinez, Jacqueline, et al. "Intersection of Canadian Policy Parameters Affecting Women with Precarious Immigration Status: A Baseline for Understanding Barriers to Health." Journal of Immigrant Health 7.4 (2005): 247-58. ProQuest. Web. 21 May 2013.
Reitz, Jeffrey G. "Tapping Immigrants' Skills: New Directions for Canadian Immigration Policy in the Knowledge Economy." Law and Business Review of the Americas 11.3 (2005): 409-32. ProQuest. Web. 21 May 2013.
Vineberg, Robert. "Continuity in Canadian Immigration Policy 1947 to Present: Taking a Fresh Look at Mackenzie King's 1947 Immigration Policy Statement." Journal of International Migration and Integration 12.2 (2011): 199-216. ProQuest. Web. 21 May 2013.
Vu, Uyen. "Slight Shift Signaled in Immigration Policy." Canadian HR Reporter 19.5 (2006): 2,2,4. ProQuest. Web. 21 May 2013.
