Canada Immigration Crisis: From Dream Destination to Nightmare for Immigrants
Canada, which has always offered shelter to immigrants in search of a better life, is gradually becoming a difficult place. The targeted subjects of the policy are Indian youth pursuing education with the aim of finding jobs and, later on, permanent residency and Canadian citizenship. Rising unemployment, unaffordable housing, an increasing burden of loans, and a rising crime rate are destroying such dreams, thus making Canada immigration crisis.
Jobs Crisis
The increase in temporary residents and immigrants in the recent past has been seen to have contributed to the unemployment rate in Canada. In June, the unemployment rate of temporary residents, which can be foreign workers, international students, and asylum seekers, was 11%, as reported by Bloomberg. Among the newcomers who arrived within the last five years, though, it was slightly higher at 12.6% This is, however, in contrast to the overall unemployment rate, which stands at 6.2%.
Scotiabank economist Derek Holt also noted that a significant portion of the increase in the unemployment rate has been caused by a large number of temporary residents. Given the record number of individuals coming into Canada, the labour market fails to accommodate them, hence a drop in the quality of life. While Canada’s GDP increase is attributable to population growth, social conditions—youth and immigrants—are getting worse.
Unaffordable Housing
Canada is one of the countries that is experiencing a higher level of housing unaffordability. The immigrant population has risen greatly over the past few years, and the demand for housing has surpassed the supply, thus leading to high costs. Mortgage costs have also been worsened by high inflation and the 22-year high interest rates.
The Canadian government has tried its best to tackle the problem of the housing deficit. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a C$6 billion ($4.42 billion) Canada Housing Infrastructure Fund to boost the construction and improvement of housing. Moreover, mortgage rules have been changed in a way to enable first-time homeowners to delay their payment schedule from 25 to 30 years. Nevertheless, housing remains a major unattainable dream for many and results in such scenarios as in North Bay, Ontario, where the India students at Canadore College had to resort to sleeping in tents for lack of appropriate accommodation.
Loan Burden
Even many students in India avail themselves of large loans of around CAD 20000 to CAD 40000 to study in Canada. However, moving from the academic environment to the working environment has become hard. The gig economy that many students use for part-time employment has also been affected, deepening their misery. That is why increased costs of living and difficulty finding a job make students stressed and frustrated with their financial situation.
Rising Crime
Canada has suffered a significant increase in crime and delinquency, especially in large cities such as Toronto. In break-ins for auto thefts, home invasions increased by 400 percent last year. The Criminal Intelligence Service of Canada revealed a thirty percent increase in the identified criminal organisations in 2022 compared to the previous year. As a result of this social degeneration, Indian security agencies have reported increased incidences of gangs that are related to Khalistani terror and international drug cartels.
Reverse Migration
However, as the conditions get worse, reverse migration is slowly becoming a phenomenon. According to Statistics Canada, 42,000 people emigrated from Canada during the initial half of 2023 and approximately 94,000 in 2022. This trend is a clear pointer to the fact that immigrants are quickly losing faith in the system. The Institute for Canadian Citizenship highlighted that this outmigration rate surged to its highest level in the past 20 years in 2019 but declined during the COVID-19 outbreak and has risen again after the relaxation of the measures.
Conclusion
Canada, a dream for many immigrants and a country that many hoped to find refuge in, is now struggling to overcome major hardships. Poor employment, skyrocketing housing, high interest rates on loans, and increasing insecurity are forcing many to reverse their decision. With such reverse migration trends in operation, it is about time that these problems are solved so as to bring back Canada as a favourite country among immigrants.
