Marco Mendicino, Canada’s Immigration Minister provided valuable insights during a recent interview.
Marco Mendicino, Canada’s celebrated Immigration Minister Marco shared insights on the country’s immigration policy and system on The Agenda, a television show. In the 20-minute long interview, the minister spoke on several immigration topics through which he explained to his viewers how the federal government has been aiming to cope with the ongoing outcome of COVID-19. Some of the topics that were discussed in the show included:
- Canadian citizenship
- Municipal Nominee Program
- Immigration Levels Plan from 2021-2023
Immigration Levels Plan 2021-2023
Mendicino mentioned that Canada’s government had a decision to make after the outbreak of COVID-19. It could either reduce or pause immigration. Instead, the country opted for welcoming immigrants while the pandemic was ongoing and after that to support its prosperity. Anyway, Canada has been aiming to welcome more than 400,000 immigrants over the next few years which has been, so far, the highest targets in history. Mendicino said this is necessary because the immigrants play an eminent role in job creation in Canada and also help tackle labor market needs, including those concerning essential services.
When inquired if Mendicino felt that the new targets were realistic or not given COVID-19-related disruptions, especially travel restrictions, the minister said that he thought that those were logical. Besides, the pandemic also allows Canada for drawing into its own population of international students and foreign workers and facilitate the transition into permanent residency.
Canadian Citizenship
Discussing a pilot program aimed to enable only eligible permanent residents for completing their application for Canadian citizenship application online, Mendicino declared the process has been going on and that Canada has been the only country that is conducting ceremonies for online citizenship.
Mendicino’s aspires for an immigration system that is that all processes need to be completely contactless and virtual beyond the ongoing pandemic.
One of the priorities that were listed in Mendicino’s mandate letter of December 2019 was to waive off the citizenship fees. When asked about the status of the pledge, Mendicino confessed that he was hoping to progress in this matter by now. While he did not explicitly mention, a delay in fulfilling the promise is likely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Mendicino claimed that he is excited about minimizing barriers for all newcomers and will surely have much more to speak on the issue soon.
Municipal Nominee Program
Another of the 2019 December mandate priorities is to set up a Municipal Nominee Program to encourage immigrants to settle in smaller cities of Canada. Pointing to initiatives like Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot and the Atlantic Immigration Pilot, the minister said that he believes that the MNP will be yet another federal program that will permit newcomers to fulfill lives in the lesser popular and smaller regions in Canada.
IRCC is in the process of consulting with municipal, provincial, business, as well as other stakeholders regarding the design of an MNP.
One of the main takeaways from Mendicino’s interview is his assuredness that Canada has currently set realistic immigration targets. This also suggests that IRCC has designed a plan to achieve targets, which most likely involves tapping into the database of immigration candidates with some form of Canadian experience, continuing to shortlist immigrants from abroad, and also processing applications so that they can reach Canada once the pandemic is over. It also looks at reducing travel restrictions, so that those with approvals will be able to visit Canada.
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