HISTORY OF IMMIGRATION TO CANADA:

Immigration to Canada extends back thousands of years. Anthropologists continue to argue over various possible models of migration to modern day Canada, as well as their pre-contact populations. The Inuit are believed to have arrived entirely separately from other indigenous peoples around 1200. Indigenous peoples contributed significantly to the culture and economy of the early European colonies and as such have played an important role in fostering a unique Canadian cultural identity.

The Canadian government actively encourages people to settle and work in Canada as permanent residents with the opportunity after several years to attain citizenship. This is because for the past two decades, immigrants have contributed to the economic wealth of the country more than any other group, contributing billions of dollars in investment and are often in the high earners wage bracket (therefore paying higher rates of tax).

Canada is a country of immigrants and has both a tradition and policy of encouraging multicultural diversity. Almost all of the world's ethnic groups are represented in Canada. As a result, most ethnic foods and recreational activities associated with specific cultures are available. You will witness one of the most beautiful, natural environments in the world.

This year Canada will admit approximately 235,000 immigrants according to the new immigration policy. On a per capita basis, this level of immigration ranks among the highest in the world. Unlike the United States and other countries, there is no quota based on either nationality or occupation.

Since 2001, immigration has ranged between 221,352 and 262,236 immigrants per annum. According to Canada's Immigration Program (October 2004) Canada has the highest per capita immigration rate in the world, although statistics in the CIA World Factbook show that a number of city states and small island nations, as well as some larger countries in regions with refugee movements, have higher per capita rates. The three main official reasons given for the high level of immigration are:

A. The social component – Canada facilitates family reunification.

B. The humanitarian component – Relating to refugees.

C. The economic component – Attracting immigrants who will contribute economically and fill labour market needs (See related article, Economic impact of immigration to Canada).

The level of immigration peaked in 1993 in the last year of the Progressive Conservative government and was maintained by Liberal Party of Canada. Ambitious targets of an annual 1% per capita immigration rate were hampered by financial constraints. The Liberals committed to raising actual immigration levels further in 2005. All political parties are now cautious about criticizing the high level of immigration.

Immigrant population growth is concentrated in or near large cities (particularly Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal). These cities are experiencing increased services demands that accompany strong population growth, causing concern about the capability of infrastructure in those cities to handle the influx. Most of the provinces that do not have one of those destination cities have implemented strategies to try to boost their share of immigration. According to Citizenship and Immigration Canada, under the Canada-Quebec Accord, Quebec has sole responsibility for selecting most immigrants destined to the province. Quebec has been admitting about the same number of immigrants as the number choosing to immigrate to British Columbia even though its population is almost twice as large.

According to Statistics Canada in 2006, there were 962,665 people who consider themselves as being Indo-Canadians. The main concentration of the Indo-Canadian population is centered in the Greater Toronto Area and the Metro Vancouver/Fraser Valley Region; however there are growing communities in Calgary, Edmonton, and Montreal.

The Indo-Canadian community started around the beginning of the twentieth century. The pioneers were men, mostly Sikhs from the Punjab; many were veterans of the British Army. In 1897 a contingent of Sikh soldiers participated in the parade to celebrate Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in London, England. On their subsequent journey home, they visited the western coast of Canada, primarily British Columbia which at the time was very sparsely populated and the Canadian government wanted to settle in order to prevent a takeover of the territory by the United States.

Upon retiring from the army, some of these men found their pensions to be inadequate, or else their lands in the clutches of money-lenders. They decided to try their fortunes in the countries they had visited. They joined an Indian Diaspora, which included people from Burma through Malaysia, the East Indies, the Philippines and China. They were able to get work in the police force and some were employed as night-watchmen by British firms. Others started small businesses of their own or drove taxis. These were modest beginnings but they had bigger ideas. At that time thousands of Chinese and Japanese migrants were going to Canada and the United States and sending substantial sums of money back to their families at home. The Sikhs, who had seen Canada, recommended the New World to fellow Sikh people who were in a position to venture out and seek new fortunes. They were guaranteed jobs by agents of big Canadian combines like the Canadian Pacific Railway and the Hudson's Bay Company. Overcoming their initial reluctance to go to these countries due to the treatment of East Asians by the white population, many young men chose to go, having been assured that they would not meet the same fate. They were British subjects; Canada was a part of the British Empire; and the British Empire owed much to the Sikhs. Queen Victoria had proclaimed in 1858 that throughout the empire the people of India that they would enjoy "equal privileges with white people without discrimination of colour, creed or race."

In 1967 all immigration quotas based on specific ethnic groups were scrapped in Canada. The social view in Canada towards people of other ethnic backgrounds was more open, and Canada was facing declining immigration from European countries, since these European countries had booming postwar economies, and thus more people decided to remain in their home countries. Canada introduced an immigration policy that was based on a point system, with each applicant being assessed on their trade skills and the need for these skills in Canada. This allowed many more Indians to immigrate in large numbers. In the 1970s, thousands of immigrants came yearly and mainly settled in Vancouver and Toronto. In the 1980s and early 1990s, tens of thousands of immigrants continued to move from India into Canada. According to Statistics Canada, since the late 1990s roughly 25,000-30,000 Indians arrive each year (which is now the second-most populous cultural group immigrating to Canada each year, behind Chinese immigrants who are the largest group). The settlement pattern in the last two decades is still mainly focused around Vancouver, but other cities such as Calgary, Edmonton and Montreal have also become desirable due to growing economic prospects in these cities.

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