Lesson 10 — Activity 1: Canada Needs Immigration

Warm Up

Canadian society is sometimes referred to as multicultural. Multicultural means that Canadian society is made up of people from a wide variety of cultures. The people of Canada, by in large, have immigrated (moved) to this land from other parts of the world. Where are your ancestors from? Are they from afar or are they descendants from the people who called this land "home" first? Possibly you are First Nations or of Native descent.

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Each year, Canada welcomes new people to this country through the process of immigration. These immigrants work and live in Canada and, if they decide to, they may even become Canadian citizens. These people strengthen our economy and our culture. In this lesson, you will look at the process of immigration and why people choose to come to Canada.

Canada is a very multicultural country. This means that there are many different cultures that come together to make up our society. In Canada, you see people of different races, nationalities or ethnic origins, colours, gender, and ages all across our country.

Each year, the Canadian government accepts a certain number of people from other countries to live in Canada; this is called immigration.

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An immigrant is a person living in another country who wants to come live in Canada.

Canada wouldn't be the country that it is today without immigration to help our population grow. Canada benefits from the talents, skills, and energy of immigrants. We accept skilled workers, business people, refugees, relatives of Canadian citizens, foreign students, and others who stimulate financial growth and enrich Canada's social and cultural life.

Today, people still immigrate to Canada, and this immigration affects our economy. It adds more tax payers, brings skilled and unskilled workers needed by companies operating in Canada, and introduces new business owners. These immigrants also spend money in their Canadian communities, which is good for local business.

Click on the Play button below to watch a video of an immigrant success story in Canada.

Citizenship and Immigration Canada is the department in charge of the flow of immigrants into Canada. Some groups of people are encouraged to move to Canada.

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Citizenship and Immigration Canada is also concerned with the safety of Canadian citizens and decides on whether immigrants are able to enter the country based on the following objectives:

to protect the health and safety of Canadians, and to maintain the security of Canadian society

to promote international justice and security by fostering respect for human rights and by denying access to Canadian territory to persons who are criminals or security risks

to ensure that decisions taken under the Act are consistent with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, including its principles of equality and freedom from discrimination and of the equality of English and French as the official languages of Canada

There are also many factors that influence who can come into Canada. Look at the list of factors to the right. You will learn more about these factors in an upcoming lesson.

Try This!

Scan video clips, the Internet, newspapers, or other media for articles about immigration. For example, look for news stories about how Canada is benefiting from immigration or where immigrants to Canada are coming from.

Hand in what you have found to your teacher so that he or she can mark it as complete (if it is from a newspaper or other print source). If it is an online article, print it off or send your teacher the link. If it is online media such as a video (e.g., YouTube), send your teacher the link.