Since 1990, Canada's annual rate of immigration has been
extremely high-the highest in the world, averaging 0.75% of the
population-and has had a significant impact on the size of the
population, adding, between 1990 and 2006, 3.9 million (14.2%)
to the 1990 level of 27.4 million. Such mass immigration has
profound effects on economic, demographic, social, and
political conditions in Canada that affect the well-being of
all Canadians, including past immigrants. Unfortunately,
Canadians are insufficiently aware of these effects partly
because a code of political correctness tends to identify any
examination of immigration policies with racism and partly
because Canada's electoral system rewards politicians who are
in favor of the current high intake. As a result of these
conditions, during the 2008 federal election, politicians
typically promised to maintain or even raise this rate of
immigration without any public discussion of the consequences
of such policies or any significant input from Canadians
affected by them.
The papers in this volume provide the Canadian public with
analytically sound and well-documented empirical information
about the significant positive and negative effects mass
immigration has on their well-being and that of their
offspring. It is hoped that this information will mobilize
public opinion, lead politicians to engage in debate of the
issues, and ultimately result in an improvement in official
immigration policies.
The chapters are organized into five sections. The first
presents an overview of the issues and some international
perspectives. The three papers in this group deal with
Canadian, American, and French immigration policies and the
economic and social effects they have on the residents of those
countries. The second part contains three papers focusing on
the economic effects of mass immigration in Canada.
In part three, two papers are dedicated to the analysis of
the demographic effects of immigration and the relief from the
financial troubles of Canada's social programs that immigration
is alleged to bring. The fourth part contains two papers that
examine the social challenges brought on by mass immigration,
such as threats to national identity, culture, unity, and
security. Part five comprises two papers that analyze the
political and other obstacles that prevent changes to existing
immigration policies in Canada and Britain.