The truth is Canada has always depended on skilled immigrants and needed more people to farm the prairies, work in forests, factories and mines to build the country. Gradually, however, racial fears came more and more to dominate the public agenda. Many doubted that immigrants speaking different languages could be good for Canada. When asked could these "foreigners" ever adapt and fit into Canadian society? Many Canadians answered "No". Some English-Canadians believed immigrants took jobs away from the native-born and created serious social problems. As anti-immigrant sentiment spread, the public demanded that the government restrict immigration. The government responded with new regulations. Existing rules prohibiting Asian immigration were further tightened. The admission of eastern Europeans was made more difficult, and Canada's immigration door was closed to most southern Europeans and Jews. With the Great Depression in the l930s, immigrants seeking jobs were understandably not welcome. Even British immigrants were excluded. Like other countries, Canada locked its doors to the world, a policy which continued through World War II.
After World War II there was a huge baby boom from 1946-1964. This generation is known as the baby boomers and they represent the largest age group of the current Canadian population. In fact, one of every three Canadians is a Baby Boomer (Canadian Physiotherapy Association, Page 1). According to Statistics Canada, this generation is aging fast and senior citizens are expected to out number children younger than 15 years of age by 2015 for the first time in Canadian population statistic history. Then by 2031, the number of people aged 65 and over would range between 8.9 million and 9.4 million, while the number of children would range between 4.8 million and 6.6 million (“Population Projections”, par.3). This is a very serious issue because it means there will be less people to take care of and replace those who have retired. How could this be happening you’re wondering? It all comes down to two facts. The first one, which is positive, is that our life expectancies at birth have dramatically increased thanks to health care and technology. Back in 1831, the average life expectancy was a shocking 39 years of age (Baxter and Ramlo, page.11). In 1961 that number increased to 71.8, and in 2005 it was 80.1 placing us 12th out of 226 countries according to the world fact back (“Rank Order”). The other fact is that over the past 25-30 years, fertility rates have been decreasing and are now below the level that leads to replacement of one generation by the next. According to an article from The Daily entitled “Births”, Canada’s fertility rate in 1960 was 3.8 children on average to each woman aged 15-49. Since the end of the 1960’s Canada’s fertility rate has slowly been decreasing, and by 1987 it reached 1.65 (“Births”, par.3). That number is less than half of what it used to be only 27 years earlier and also less than the replacement level for Canada which is considered to be 2.1 children per woman. The last year Canadians ever achieved that level was in 1971. Then after 1987 we saw it slowly rise to about 1.7 in 1992 and then hit an all time low of 1.52 in 1999 (“Trends in Canadian and American fertility “, par.1). There are a bunch of different reasons why the fertility rate has been decreasing which I’ll just briefly describe. The first one is that in today’s society, education attainment has become increasingly important and a strong determinant of ones future occupational and financial success. Because of this, Canadians are choosing to live with their parents well into their 30’s and as a consequence, marriage is delayed, or forgotten entirely because it is difficult to combine both roles. Another reason is that young women are delaying having children because of the economic difficulties experienced by young households. If you look at some statistics, you’ll see that from 1979 to 1999, the fertility of Canadian women aged 20 to 24 decreased nearly 40%, and fertility among those aged 25 to 29 declined about 25%(“Trends in Canadian and American fertility “, par.6). The result of delaying childbearing often lowers the number of children a couple has.
The last and newest finding causing Canada to face a labor shortage sooner than later is attached health related problems forcing many Canadians to retire earlier than the regular retirement age of 65. According to a study from a 2003 Canadian Community Health Survey, nearly half a million individuals aged between 50 and 69 had already left the labor force because of health-related reasons (“Study: Age, Health, and Work”, par. 2). The same study also showed that women were more likely to leave the work force because of health related problems. For every 100 working women aged 50 to 54, 10 were not working for health reasons. By the age of 65 to 69, this had risen nearly four-fold. Whereas for every 100 working men aged 50 to 54, only 6 were not working because of ill health. And by the age of 65 to 69, this ratio had tripled to 19. The most common health concerns among those studied were arthritis and rheumatism, high blood pressure and back problems. Another study I found taken by the Heart and stroke foundation discovered that there are rising obesity rates and inactivity among baby boomers. Dr. Beth Abramson says “rates of obesity in baby boomers have soared by nearly 60 per cent and a staggering 52 per cent are inactive” (“Canadian Baby Boomers Retiring in Bad Shape”, par.2). He also added that baby boomers, or those who are between 45 and 60, are less fit and more overweight than today's seniors. The foundation has already diagnosed 1.3 million or 21 per cent of Canada’s baby boomers with having heart disease, stroke or high blood pressure (“Canadian Baby Boomers retiring in Bad Shape”, par.15). You wouldn’t be wrong to assume this number will only increase as more grow older and they will be the first generation to experience a decline in lifestyle quality.
Because of low birth rates and early retirement caused by health problems, migration has already become the main contributor to population growth in Canada, a trend expected that is expected to continue. Approximately 200,000 immigrants a year from all parts of the globe continue to choose Canada, drawn by its quality of life and its reputation as an open, peaceful and caring society that welcomes newcomers and values diversity. That reputation has made Canada the most multicultural country and the racial fears that dominated our society for so long in the past don’t really exist anymore. In 2001, immigrants accounted for the highest recorded share of Canada's population (18.4%) reaching 5.4 million since 1931(“Immigrants in Canada”, par.1). Immigrants have become great assets to Canada because they have higher levels of educational attainment than people born in Canada (“Study: Immigrants in Canada’s Urban Centers”, par.7) and immigrant women have higher fertility levels than Canadian women. The fertility rate among immigrant women who arrived from 1996 to 2001 was 3.1 children per woman (“Canada’s Demographic Situation: Fertility of Immigrant Woman”, par.6). However, even though the new immigrants that come to Canada have higher educational attainment they are less likely to be employed in occupations typically requiring a university degree because they don’t always speak the language or for other odd reasons. But second-generation children that come from immigrant parents in Canada are more educated and earn more on average than Canadians of a similar age whose parents were both born in Canada (“Study: The socio-economic”, par.8). Second generation Canadians with either one or both parents born elsewhere were also less likely to lack high school credentials and more likely to have a university degree than Canadian-born individuals with Canadian-born parents (“Study: The socio-economic”, par.19). These facts are very important to know because it proves to our Canadian government and also employers that immigrants can adapt to Canadian society and they deserve better jobs that meet their skills and potential upon arrival.
In conclusion, I hope you now realize of how much immigrants will play a major role in the next decade to keep our economy strong and competitive. Because of an aging population, decreasing fertility rates and health problems causing Canadians to retire early, immigration will be the only source to keep our population increasing and avoid a labor shortage. They proved themselves to be hard working in the past taking on the hardest jobs that no one else would do. Today they prove to be ahead of the competition when it comes to educational attainment and they will easily be able to blend in the services industry and take on roles as professors, and doctors where we need their expertise.
