We Canadians like to think we are a generous, welcoming people.
Our big cities teem with striving newcomers from every corner of the globe. The federal government is admitting hundreds of thousands more to make up for our declining birth rate. Representatives from other countries routinely travel to Vancouver, Toronto and Calgary to study how we have managed to absorb so many people with so little strife.
Unlike Europe and the United States, we have seen next-to no organized backlash against immigration. Not a single major party or important political figure has taken an anti-immigrant stand. We have no Donald Trump or Geert Wilders here.
But if we were honest with ourselves we would admit that this is not proof of our virtue. It is an accident of geography. Canada is in essence a big island. Surrounded on the north by the Arctic, on the south by a giant and powerful neighbour and on either side by oceans, we enjoy remarkably secure borders.
Migrants from North Africa and the Middle East can reach the shores of Europe by boat, a short if perilous trip. Those from Latin America can cross into the United States over its long border with Mexico. To get to Canada, most migrants must come by air. That gives Canadian authorities far more control and makes us feel much more comfortable.
We’re not in a population trap, we’re in an investment desert
In short, we have been lucky. We are less worried about mass immigration not because we are more welcoming or generous than other peoples. We are less worried because our geographic buffers give us the power to regulate the influx. That gives us the confidence to believe we will not be flooded or overwhelmed, which is precisely the feeling that makes many Europeans and Americans vote for a Trump or a Wilders.
Lately, though, that confidence has been crumbling.
In recent months, Canadians learned to their surprise that hundreds of thousands of young people from India and other countries were living in this country on student visas, many of them concerned less with studying than with finding a path to immigrating here. A recent study found that, for about one fifth of them, there was no record that they had studied at a college or university at all.
Most of them are just kids trying to get ahead. Lots make ends meet by doing menial jobs that most Canadians shun. But some economists argue that their arrival in such numbers is helping push up rents and home prices just as (for reasons that go far deeper than the student issue) Canada is facing its worst housing crisis in decades.
The conversation around immigration in Canada is shifting
At almost the same time, big Canadian cities woke up to find that their overcrowded shelters for the homeless were being inundated by people who had arrived in Canada seeking refugee status. Some ended up sleeping right on the streets. Supporting them is costing those cities a fortune. Toronto is threatening to place a surtax on its taxpayers unless Ottawa comes through with big money to help it cope with refugee claimants.
Recent opinion polls are showing a steep drop in support for immigration. A poll released late last year by Abacus Data showed that two-thirds of Canadians think the country’s intake of about half a million people a year is too high.
Their tolerance will erode even further if they feel they are paying for high immigration through higher house prices and taxes or that migrants are taking advantage of the refugee and student-visa systems to jump the regular lineup. The generation-long national consensus in favour of welcoming lots more immigrants could collapse altogether.
That would be an awful shame. Immigration built modern Canada. The country’s future depends on attracting new blood.
Canada has a proud tradition of opening its doors to those who are in genuine danger, whether they were Hungarians fleeing Soviet domination, Boat People fleeing Communist Vietnam or Ukrainians fleeing the war with Russia. Its system for selecting immigrants based on their skills and ability to adapt has worked well for decades.
Now, because of government fumbling, all of this is at risk. Unless our leaders show they are actually in control of our immigration system, the resentment that is simmering could come to a boil. If that happened, you can be sure a political force would spring up to exploit it. Canada could see the same bitter disputes over immigration that have roiled so many other countries.
Even our fortunate position on the world map would not save us from that.