Massive Backlog: Immigration Levels

Dynamic Transformation Dept: The pace of change is underlined by research done by Statistics Canada showing the phenomenal growth in the number of so-called ethnic enclaves since the early 1980s. Statistics Canada defines an ethnic enclave as a community where over 30 per cent of the population is of one ethnic group other than English or French. In 1981, there were six ethnic enclaves in Canada. Today, there are 260, according to Calgary Herald. Last year, Canada received 281,000 immigrants -the highest number since 1957. In addition, 182,000 temporary foreign workers arrived, so that by the end of the year, there were 283,000 of these workers in the country. There were also 218,000 foreign students here and most of the temporary workers and students will remain permanently. There is also a massive backlog of over one million immigrants waiting to come who have met all of the entry requirements and the recent election campaign focused a great deal of attention on immigrant communities. There are good reasons for this. Since 1990, Canada has been accepting about a quarter of a million newcomers each year and these numbers have caused a dynamic transformation in the demographic characteristics of our country. Immigration has also had a powerful impact on our political system. All of the political parties favour large-scale immigration. Every immigrant is seen by them as a potential voter for their party. The politicians justify high immigration levels by claiming immigration is desperately needed to sustain our economic growth, enhance our labour force and combat our so-called aging problem. As reported in the news.
@t ethnic enclaves, ethnic enclave