Immigration has often been identified as one of the ways to address problems of declining birth rate and aging of the population in Canada. The Immigration Act of 1976 requires that in addition to labour market conditions, demographic conditions should be considered in setting immigration levels. Historically, however, demographic factors had very little impact in the determination of immigration levels. In fact, in the 2001 Act, there was no mention of immigration serving demographic goals of Canada (cited in Li, 2003). Most argue that the central role of immigration has been economic. Reitz (2004) identifies two major shifts in the specific objectives of Canadian immigration. First, there was a shift from rural to urban development accompanied by the broader process of industrialization. The second shift was from low-skill to high-skilled immigration, associated with the transition from an industrial to a post-industrial economy. The point system to select independent immigrants was designed to ensure maximum employability in an economy in which skilled labour was an emerging priority. In the new legislation, there was a fundamental shift in the policy from a focus on occupational shortages towards human capital indicators of long-term earnings potential as the basis of acceptance under the point system (McHale, 2003).

This section of the report aims to provide some background in regards to Canadian immigration policy and its mechanisms, and especially in relation to health and social care workers. In the first part of this section, the three major Canadian permanent resident classes are discussed, namely – family, refugee and skilled worker class. Following this we discuss in more depth the immigration and integration issues of highly skilled internationally educated health professionals who come to Canada as well as some of the various initiatives undertaken by various provincial and federal stakeholders to address some of the concerns that have been raised with these processes. The second part of this section focuses on the temporary migration, with particular attention to one specific group of temporary immigrants – those who come to Canada under the Live-in Caregiver Program. Next, we explore an often neglected topic in academic literature, that of irregular migrants. Finally, the future developments in immigration policy, through which Canada will try to solve its problems of labour shortages, is outlined.