OTTAWA – Canada’s 2023–2025 Immigration Levels Plan was released today (Nov. 1), which is using immigration as a strategy to help businesses find workers in key sectors including the skilled trades, manufacturing and technology.
The announcement was made by Sean Fraser, minister of immigration, refugees and citizenship.
Last year Canada had 405,000 newcomers, the most ever in a single year in the country’s history, states a release, adding the government is continuing that ambition by setting targets in the new levels plan of 465,000 permanent residents in 2023, 485,000 in 2024 and 500,000 in 2025. The plan also brings an increased focus on attracting newcomers to different regions of the country, including small towns and rural communities.
Highlights include:
- a long-term focus on economic growth, with just over 60 per cent of admissions in the economic class by 2025;
- using new features in the Express Entry system to welcome newcomers with the required skills and qualifications in sectors facing acute labour shortages such as, health care, manufacturing, building trades and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math);
- increases in regional programs to address targeted local labour market needs, through the Provincial Nominee Program, the Atlantic Immigration Program and the Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot;
- reuniting more families faster;
- ensuring that at least 4.4 per cent of new permanent residents outside Quebec are Francophone; and
- support for global crises by providing a safe haven to those facing persecution, including by expanding the Economic Mobility Pathways Pilot.
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