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News Release Government of Canada will welcome more economic immigrants in 2010

Toronto, June 26, 2010 — Canada is adjusting its 2010 immigration plan to put even greater emphasis on economic recovery and further reduce the federal skilled worker backlog, Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney told a news conference today.

“When I met with my provincial colleagues last week, they all stressed the importance of economic immigration,” Minister Kenney said. “As we recover from the recession, increasing economic immigration will help ensure employers have the workers they need to supplement our domestic labour supply.”

Each year, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) sets out a plan for the number of immigrants it intends to welcome within economic, family and humanitarian immigration categories. The planned range for 2010 is 240,000 – 265,000 immigrants. CIC generally achieves the midpoint of this range. In 2010, CIC anticipates achieving the upper end of this range, allowing Canada to welcome more immigrants in the economic category than originally planned. This includes federal skilled workers and record-level numbers of provincial nominees, without reducing the number in the family or humanitarian immigration categories

Minister Kenney noted that some of his provincial colleagues expect the need will grow further in the years ahead. “This is something we will need to take into consideration when we consult more broadly on plans for future years,” he said.

Even with higher numbers of economic immigrants, Canada still receives many more applications than can be processed in a timely way. As a result, the department is limiting the number of new applications it will consider in the federal skilled worker category every year.
“Canada will continue to welcome historically high numbers of immigrants, but we need to manage the number of new applications or risk creating new backlogs and longer processing times,” Minister Kenney said. “We have more than enough applications on hand now to fill many of our needs, and we want to be fair to those people who have been waiting the longest.”
Effective immediately, to be eligible to apply as a federal skilled worker, applicants must either have a job offer, or they must have experience in one of 29 in-demand occupations. These occupations were identified through analysis of updated labour market information and consultations with provinces, territories, stakeholders and the public.

Minister Kenney announces immigration levels for 2009; Issues instructions on processing federal skilled workers - News Release

Ottawa, November 28, 2008 — Canada will stay the course on immigration in 2009, welcoming between 240,000 and 265,000 new permanent residents, Jason Kenney, Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, announced today.
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Minister Kenney addresses Canadian Club on the future of immigration - News Release

Winnipeg, November 13, 2008 — The Honourable Jason Kenney, Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, said today the government remains committed to a dynamic immigration program and to the successful integration of newcomers.

“Just as immigration has played a strong role in our past, it will continue to be important to our future,” Minister Kenney told the Canadian Club of Winnipeg. “Canada is respected around the world for the way we’ve managed to bring in people from all over the globe. We have done this with a spirit of openness and tolerance, embracing diversity and becoming stronger for it.”