Canadian government reveals new immigration priorities

The Prime Minister Justin Trudeau provides a new mandate letter to the immigration minister and IRCC indicating the new updates in the immigration policy.

Immigration will remain an important part of Canada’s economy and society. This fact was stress by the federal government when the new supplementary mandate letter to the one sent in December 2019, was provided to the immigration minister Marco Mendicino for the new updates in the immigration policy.

The mandate letter is an important policy document for Canada’s immigration department that outlines the goals that government is asking the Immigration, Refugee and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) to pursue during the government’s power.

The letter defines the key issues like Canada’s Immigration Levels Plan, which new immigration programs IRCC has to create, improve the application processing time, along with the other issues. The release of the mandate letter comes shortly after the country announces a new 2021-2023 Immigration Plan where the target is over 400,000 immigrants per year which is the highest until the date.

Key Priorities outlined in the letter:

• Continue the policy where newcomers are welcome in order to support Canada’s economic growth and post pandemic recovery by expanding the pilot programs to welcome the refugees though the economic class immigration streams, enhancing the family reunification through various programs and working on sectoral and regional pilot programs
• Continue implementing the measures to provide the permanent residence pathways to the one who have provided the health care in long-term care homes, medical facilities, or who performed other essential services during the pandemic
• Continue to work with cabinet colleagues to protect the health and safety of Canadians and managing Canada’s ports of entry responsibly and compassionately
• Identify more PR pathways for temporary foreign workers
• Work with the Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion to protect workers who are vulnerable to COVID-19 and to secure workers to fill labour force needs in farming and food processing
• Continue working with the provinces and territories to provide settlement supports to newcomers including French-language training

The new letter does not contain any surprises as per the update, yet Canada will continue to operate the immigration system in the best possible way during the pandemic so they can retain the skills of newcomers to support the economic growth.