IV: 1967-Present Overview (2)

1967-Present: Overview / Multi-Racial Canada / Refugee Crisis / Quebec and Immigration

Overview

"Sovereignty Association," promoted by the Parti Québécois after its election in 1976, was not achieved in the 1980 Referendum, but the province successfully pressured the federal government to transfer control of important social and economic programs to the province. Immigration powers were included. But French Canadians were not the only ones to take up immigration as a pressing political priority. After 1973, immigration issues divided public opinion to a greater extent than they had in any period after the Second World War.

Between 1970 and 1999, immigration policy changed to accommodate not only a troubled economy but also new international demands for humanitarian aid, particularly in settling increasing refugee populations. As newcomers from war-torn and impoverished nations sought asylum in Canada, they overwhelmed the government infrastructure for reviewing such cases.

A new Immigration Act in 1976 revised the "tap on-tap off" principle devised after the Second World War, where immigration was to be increased in times when the economy needed workers and decreased in economic downturns. Policy focussed on individuals who might stimulate economic activity, entrepreneurs and investors. The government also began setting immigration quotas first in reference to immediate labour needs, later in a largely unprecedented attempt to manage the nation's long term population. Few aspects of immigration policies failed to stir controversy. Maclean's magazine in 1986 ran a story on the Conservative government's commitment to increase immigration totals, in spite of 1.2 million Canadians being out of work. Popular approval of immigration programs fell to 14 per cent by 1985.1 Despite criticism over the numbers of newcomers and doubts whether the economy could absorb them, immigration levels remained high. By 1993, some 258,000 immigrants arrived, despite the nation's continuing high unemployment.2

Immigration and Unemployment, 1946-1975.

1976 Immigration Act