canada treats immigrants as assets and will be accepting one million of them progressively over the next three years. Its present population is around 37 million, and it wants to add to the figure. Ahmed Hussen is the minister who handles immigration, refugees and citizenship. In his annual port to Parliament, he has praised the immigrants and their descendants who have played a major role to help develop Canada into a strong and vibrant country.
ABC News reports that over the years immigrants have come to Canada, merged in the mainstream and contributed to making the country what it is today.
Ahmed Hussen, who is from Somalia, goes on to add that the future depends on them. They have contributed to its growth. The direction that the country takes will depend on more people like them who will come from outside and integrate with the locals to give a new meaning to living.
Immigrants play a vital role in Canada
The reason for someone to leave his country of birth and move to another country could be for survival, and they need not always have evil intentions. Ahmed Hussen is now in his early 40s, and he had fled from Somalia when he was just 16. There was unrest in his country, and he took the plunge to begin life afresh in Canada where he is living with his head held high.
The contrast on either side of the US-Canada border is evident.
They hold diametrically opposite views on the subject. US President Donald Trump is against accepting immigrants. He has said that those who belong to Haiti are not welcome, neither are those from African countries. In contrast, Canada has no prejudices. On a rough estimate, 20 percent of its population consists of these people, and more than 6 million of them have arrived since 1990 to make the country theirs.
Canada has kept its doors open, and migrants from the U.S. are also making a beeline seeking asylum.
Canada is Utopia for immigrants
According to CNN, Canada is like Utopia for immigrants. In 2017, it welcomed more than 286,000 permanent residents. It expects the numbers to swell to around 350,000 this year and has plans to continue the good work with the addition of one million progressively over the next three years.
As Ahmed Hussen, a minister, says – “the influx will help offset Canada's ageing population and declining birth rate while growing its labor force.” He is Canada's minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship (IRCC) and is himself an immigrant from Somalia. The positive stance of the country towards new residents is in sharp contrast to the attitude of many other Western nations, including the United States towards immigrants.