{"id":111,"date":"2017-11-01T08:10:46","date_gmt":"2017-11-01T12:10:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/manitoba-migration\/?p=111"},"modified":"2017-11-01T08:18:52","modified_gmt":"2017-11-01T12:18:52","slug":"we-actually-need-these-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/manitoba-migration\/2017\/11\/01\/we-actually-need-these-people\/","title":{"rendered":"We Actually Need These People"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Tobias Stoner<\/em><\/p>\n

Winnipeg, Canada \u2013 After the last national elections, the Liberal party dramatically raised Canada\u2019s target for annual immigration levels, and the Conservative provincial government in Manitoba was unhappy. They wanted even more people. According to Ben Rempel, Manitoba\u2019s Assistant Deputy Minister for Immigration and Economic Opportunities, the federal government didn\u2019t have to pressure provinces to take more people. In fact, he says, the federal minister jokes about being the world\u2019s only immigration minister under pressure to allow more people into the country.
\nAs hostility to immigrants sweeps through the West, bolstering the fortunes of hardline nationalists from the US to Hungary, Canada is taking a different approach. \u201cWe built a successful public policy of immigration and resettlement on a foundation of public support,\u201d says Mr. Rempel. This welcoming posture has three primary motives, he explains: economics, a sense of moral obligation, and a bid for international stature.
\n\u201cThat\u2019s certainly the Prime Minister\u2019s hope \u2013 that this will get us a seat on the United Nations Security Council,\u201d says Brian Dyck, the National Migration and Resettlement Program Coordinator for Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) Canada. He\u2019s already seen increased interest in Canada\u2019s system in his own work, and this afternoon flew to Ireland to help develop their resettlement program based on the Canadian model.
\nEqually important, Mr. Rempel highlights, is the economic boost that immigrants and refugees provide to the Canadian economy. Welcoming them is \u201cnot just a good thing to do, it\u2019s a necessary thing for our economic vitality \u2013 that\u2019s an opportunity,\u201d he says. As the US threatens to deport young undocumented workers, he says, \u201cwe\u2019re looking at them, and we\u2019re saying \u2018come on down\u2019 \u2013 or \u2018come on up!\u2019\u201d He also emphasizes Manitoba\u2019s commitment to integration, noting the province\u2019s preference to accept people as legal permanent residents rather than temporary workers, and recent legislation aimed at protecting labor rights for temporary workers who do come. \u201cThe legislation sent a message,\u201d says Mr. Rempel, \u201cWhat had been a wild west mentality really started to get cleaned up.\u201d Because new arrivals more quickly reach the economic standards of native Canadians when they have permanent status. Legal permanent residents have all rights enjoyed by citizens except for the vote, and can apply for naturalization three years after arriving. Canada needs these new citizens, he emphasizes, to maintain its economy as the current population ages.
\nPublic support also drives this welcoming posture. Many white Manitobans descend from refugees themselves, and there\u2019s been a \u201cfairly explicit discourse\u201d invoking that heritage, says Mr. Rempel. Mr. Dyck of MCC, which started privately sponsored resettlement in Canada, agrees. When the Canadian government decided to accept nearly 50,000 Syrian refugees in 2015, Canadians rushed to sponsor them, volunteering tens of thousands of dollars per family.
\n\u201cCanada is looked at as a leader right now,\u201d says Mr. Dyck, \u201cin some ways that\u2019s unfortunate,\u201d because it reflects a US abdication of that role. \u201cI want the US to be a leader,\u201d he says, \u201cyou\u2019re ten times our size.\u201d Canada\u2019s accepting about 25,000 refugees this year, he says, and if the US took a proportional number it would welcome nearly 250,000. In the meantime, says Mr. Rempel, Canada is glad for its new residents.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s not just a humanitarian impulse \u2013 we actually need these people.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Tobias Stoner Winnipeg, Canada \u2013 After the last national elections, the Liberal party dramatically raised Canada\u2019s target for annual immigration levels, and the Conservative provincial government in Manitoba was unhappy. They wanted even more people. According to Ben Rempel, Manitoba\u2019s Assistant Deputy Minister for Immigration and Economic Opportunities, the federal government didn\u2019t have to<\/p>\n

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