Canada

More than one in five residents in Canada was born in another country, making it one of the world's top destinations for international migrants. From its migration policymaking aimed at identifying and recruiting workers needed by the Canadian economy, to its immigrant integration policies, and efforts to recruit skilled migrants and international students, the research collected here focuses on the diverse policies, practices, and trends that Canada is experiencing.

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Commentaries

Canada's New Tech Talent Strategy Takes Aim at High-Skilled Immigrants in the United States

Canada’s Tech Talent Strategy is highly unusual for its explicit targeting of visa holders in another country. Opening a dedicated stream specifically for high-skilled immigrants in the United States who hold an H-1B visa is the latest salvo in a growing global competition for talent—one in which some countries are racing ahead of the United States in terms of policy dynamism, as this commentary explores.

Recent Activity

Multimedia March 31, 2020 Expert Podcast: Meeting Seasonal Labor Needs in the Age of COVID-19	Commentaries March 2020 A Race Against the Clock: Meeting Seasonal Labor Needs in the Age of COVID-19 By Kate Hooper and Camille Le Coz
Articles March 11, 2020 As Governments Build Advanced Surveillance Systems to Push Borders Out, Will Travel and Migration Become Unequal for Some Groups? By Carlyn Greenfield	Commentaries March 2020 Coronavirus Is Spreading across Borders, But It Is Not a Migration Problem By Natalia Banulescu-Bogdan, Meghan Benton and Susan Fratzke
Reports January 2020 Beyond Work: Reducing Social Isolation for Refugee Women and Other Marginalized Newcomers By Natalia Banulescu-Bogdan	Policy Briefs December 2019 Refugee Sponsorship Programs: A Global State of Play and Opportunities for Investment By Susan Fratzke, Lena Kainz, Hanne Beirens, Emma Dorst and Jessica Bolter
Reports November 2019 Volunteers and Sponsors: A Catalyst for Refugee Integration? By Susan Fratzke and Emma Dorst	Reports November 2019 Creating a Home in Canada: Refugee Housing Challenges and Potential Policy Solutions By Damaris Rose

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Reports November 2013 Building New Skills: Immigration and Workforce Development in Canada By Karen Myers and Natalie Conte	Reports July 2013 Recognizing Foreign Qualifications: Emerging Global Trends By Lesleyanne Hawthorne
Reports July 2013 Tackling Brain Waste: Strategies to Improve the Recognition of Immigrants’ Foreign Qualifications By Madeleine Sumption	Books July 2013 How Can Talent Abroad Induce Development at Home? Towards a Pragmatic Diaspora Agenda
Books November 2012 Rethinking National Identity in the Age of Migration	Reports July 2012 Understanding 'Canadian Exceptionalism' in Immigration and Pluralism Policy By Irene Bloemraad
Books June 2012 Developing a Road Map for Engaging Diasporas in Development: A Handbook for Policymakers and Practitioners in Home and Host Countries By Dovelyn Rannveig Mendoza and Kathleen Newland	Reports May 2012 The Relationship Between Immigration and Nativism in Europe and North America By Cas Mudde

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Top Ten

December 4, 2008

Warming up to Circular Migration?

Circular migration means a continuing, long-term pattern of international mobility. The European Union set up two pilot programs in 2008 that seek to facilitate this type of movement.

Top Ten

December 3, 2007

Integration Means Belonging

All the nuanced meanings of "belonging" describe integration trends in industrialized countries in 2007, including the United States, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Germany.

Feature

November 12, 2007

Canada's Temporary Migration Program: A Model Despite Flaws

In response to an agricultural worker shortage over 40 years ago, Canada initiated a temporary migration program to brings workers from the Caribbean and later Mexico. But this "model" program also has its drawbacks, as Tanya Basok of the University of Windsor explains.

Feature

May 18, 2007

Selecting Economic Stream Immigrants through Points Systems

The U.S. Congress is considering a bill that includes a points system for permanent immigration. MPI's Demetrios G. Papademetriou outlines how points systems work, which countries have used them, their political benefits, and trends in points-system use.

Feature

April 1, 2006

Canada: A Northern Refuge for Central Americans

Although most Central American refugees sought protection in the United States, Canada admitted thousands of Central American refugees in the 1980s. María Cristina García of Cornell University takes a detailed look at Central Americans in Canada

Recent Activity

Reports

July 2021

Future Scenarios for Global Mobility in the Shadow of Pandemic

More than 18 months since the first COVID-19-related travel restrictions were introduced, the pandemic’s effects on global mobility are still unfolding. With vaccination campaigns picking up speed in some places while only beginning in others, and new variants of the virus emerging, the timeline for restarting international migration and travel remains uncertain. This report explores how different policy choices could result in very different mobility realities.

Articles

July 9, 2021

Canada’s Private Sponsorship Model Represents a Complementary Pathway for Refugee Resettlement

Canada is one of the world’s top countries for resettling refugees, relying on individual Canadians and nonprofit groups—not the government—for much of this resettlement. This article examines Canada’s unique system of private sponsorship, which has become a model for other countries as they seek to increase capacity for refugee resettlement at a time of record global need.

Articles

June 15, 2021

Canadian Immigrants in the United States

The United States and Canada share the world's longest land border and similar cultures. But Canadians account for a tiny and shrinking share of all U.S. immigrants. Canadian immigrants tend to have higher educations and be older than other immigrant groups. This Spotlight explores the history and features of the Canadian immigrant population in the United States.

Reports

April 2021

COVID-19 and the State of Global Mobility in 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic dramatically curtailed cross-border mobility in 2020, affecting travelers and migrants around the world. This report presents a first-of-its-kind analysis of the many thousands of travel restrictions and border closures imposed by governments to curb the spread of the virus. It examines how these policies evolved, varied across countries and regions, and what these trends may mean for the future of international movement.

Articles

March 24, 2021

Movement after Migration: Immigrants’ Disproportionate Reliance on Public Transportation

Across North America and Europe, immigrants rely on public transit at higher rates than the native born. This article explores why migrants are disproportionately more likely to use public transportation, the role these systems play in immigrant integration, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on commuter trips, budgets, and services.

Reports

November 2020

Managing the Pandemic and Its Aftermath: Economies, Jobs, and International Migration in the Age of COVID-19

Around the world, governments are grappling with how to combat the COVID-19 pandemic while also managing the economic fallout of policies put in place to stop the virus’ spread. Global migration has dropped sharply amid border closures and travel restrictions. This reflection takes stock of policy responses to the pandemic thus far, and of the challenges (and some opportunities) on the horizon for migration systems, labor markets, and integration of newcomers.

Policy Briefs

June 2020

Measuring Up? Using Monitoring and Evaluation to Make Good on the Promise of Refugee Sponsorship

A growing number of countries, particularly in Europe, have piloted or implemented refugee sponsorship programs in recent years. Yet there is limited evidence of how well these programs, which tap community members and civil society to take key roles in refugee resettlement, are working and how they can be improved. This issue brief explores how building monitoring and evaluation activities into sponsorship programs can help answer these and other critical questions.

Commentaries

May 2020

The Rocky Road to a Mobile World after COVID-19

COVID-19 has chilled many forms of human movement, from travel to temporary and permanent migration, refugee resettlement, and returns, among them. While a safe restart of travel is a precondition for a return to economic and societal normalcy, restarting mobility will not be like flicking a switch, particularly amid disagreements over the costs societies can and should absorb in the name of protecting public health, as this commentary explains.

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