AGRI - 2020-2022 Multi-Year Levels Plan - May 22, 2020
Key messages
Immigration will continue to be critical to Canada’s success as we recover from the economic headwinds we are facing due to COVID-19.
Immigrants contribute to the economy and create jobs. They provide labour for Canadian employers, which is increasingly important as Canadians age and retire in greater numbers. Some sectors, such as information technology companies, depend on immigration talent to expand their business and, in turn, create more jobs for Canadians.
The Department continues to accept and process applications on a priority basis, despite the current travel restrictions.
We will continue to examine the circumstances, including the surrounding context, of Canada’s response to COVID-19 as we plan for the future.
Supplementary messages
The 2020-2022 Multi-Year Levels Plan was tabled in Parliament on March 12, 2020, with targets of 341,000 permanent residents in 2020; 351,000 in 2021; and 361,000 in 2022.
The immigration levels plan has three broad objectives: 1) achieving long-term benefits for Canada; 2) contributing to short-term economic growth and addressing labour market needs, including for different regions; and 3) ensuring a well-managed migration system that can maintain public confidence.
Each year, the Government will confirm and adjust as needed, the levels targets for the following and subsequent year(s) to ensure new developments and priorities are reflected.
The Department will consult with provinces and territories, and with stakeholders, to inform the next levels plan (2021-2023).
The next levels plan (2021-2023) will be tabled by November 1, 2020, and any necessary adjustments to the current plan can be made at that time.
The Government of Canada will remain focused on welcoming highly skilled people who can build a stronger country, and ensuring Canada lives up to its international and humanitarian obligations.
Permanent Resident Processing
While the Department continues to accept and process permanent resident applications, most processing centres overseas and in-Canada offices are operating at reduced capacity. Furthermore, IRCC’s partners are also working with limited capacity.
Given the travel restrictions in place in Canada, and in many countries around the world, migration is severely limited. For this reason, IRCC is focusing on landing in-Canada applicants in order to be well-positioned for admissions from abroad once travel restrictions ease and clients are willing to travel again.
The Department is examining the effects of COVID-19 on the current Multi-Year Levels Plan (2020-2022). Although it is too early to project admissions with a high degree of certainty, the Department anticipates the 2020 levels target will fall short given the global travel restrictions and potential changes to client behaviour.
The Department is innovating and piloting new ways to grant new permanent resident status including facilitating virtual landings for in-Canada applicants.
Pathways to Permanent Residence
Temporary foreign workers have multiple pathways to permanent residence through our federal economic programs and the Provincial Nominee Program.
The Federal High Skilled category, managed through the Express Entry system, is Canada’s flagship economic pathway.
Many of IRCC’s recent pilot programs have been specifically designed to provide temporary residents with a clear pathway to remaining in Canada as a permanent resident. These include the Atlantic Immigration Pilot Program, which provides skilled foreign workers and international graduates seeking to live and work in Atlantic Canada with a pathway to permanent residence, and additional allocations under the Provincial Nominee Program for temporary foreign workers employed in intermediate skilled jobs.
The Agri-Food Immigration Pilot, which began accepting applications on May 15, 2020, is designed to help address the labour needs of the Canadian agri-food sector, particularly in meat processing and mushroom production.
Supporting facts and figures
Faced with an aging population and declining fertility rates, as well as labour and economic challenges, the Canadian labour force and population growth will depend even more on immigration over the long term.
From January 1 to April 30, 2020, the Department confirmed permanent resident status for over 73,000 newcomers.
Of all permanent resident admissions so far in 2020, 60% (or over 44,000) were in the Economic class.
Immigration contributes to maintain the vitality of official languages communities; the Government of Canada has a 4.4% target for Francophone immigration by 2023.
Generally, Canada’s integration outcomes are strong for first generation immigrants, and get even stronger in second and further generations. However, in previous periods of economic downturn, immigrants have taken longer than usual to converge with average Canadian earnings.
A big and relatively open immigration program demonstrates international leadership and can further international interests, trade connections, and Canada’s comparative advantage in terms of working-age populations and labour force supply.
Background
Mandate Commitment: Delivering the 2020-2022 Immigration Levels Plan is a part of Minister Mendicino’s mandate commitment to “Ensure the effective implementation of Canada’s increased annual Immigration Levels Plan for 2020-2022, attracting more than a million new permanent residents to Canada over that time. This continues our modest and responsible increases to immigration, with a focus on welcoming highly skilled people who can help build a stronger Canada.”
Levels planning: The Immigration Levels Plan is a statutory requirement. The Immigration and Refugee Protection Act requires that a projection of permanent resident admissions for the coming year be tabled in Parliament by November 1 of the preceding year, or if the House is not in session, within 30 sitting days once the House resumes.
By setting targets and planning ranges for each of the immigration categories, the Government of Canada establishes priorities among economic, social, and humanitarian objectives. Levels planning then enables the Department and its partners to allocate processing, security, and settlement resources accordingly.
Multi-year planning: In fall 2017, Canada introduced its first Multi-Year Immigration Levels Plan in over a decade. The current plan adds an additional year (2022), maintaining the three-year planning horizon set out in last year’s plan. Prior to the 2018-2020 Immigration Levels Plan, the most recent multi-year plan was in 2001-2002. Three- and five-year plans were introduced in the 1980s and 1990s.
A multi-year approach provides the means to set out a longer-term vision and make the decisions and investments needed to achieve it. It supports better planning by securing approvals and investments earlier, providing time for the Department and partners to adjust their capacity to manage projected levels.
The levels plan is a statement of public policy and is a key tool to communicate the Government’s immigration priorities to partners (including provinces and territories), stakeholders, and the public.
Canada is recognized internationally (e.g., Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) for its approach to managed migration, including specifically its use of immigration levels plans for setting transparent priorities and targets. Canada is among very few countries, like Australia and New Zealand, which have also adopted this approach.