Just to add,
Liberals shift focus to family reunification, refugee resettlement Immigration plan seeks to admit up to 305,000 new immigrants in 2016
Canada is seeking to admit a record number of immigrants as the Liberal government shifts its focus on family reunification and the settlement of refugees, says Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Minister John McCallum.
"This plan sends a message about the importance of family," McCallum said in Brampton, Ont., on Tuesday.
"It outlines a significant shift in immigration policy towards reuniting more families, building our economy and upholding Canada's humanitarian traditions to resettle refugees and offer protection to those in need."
McCallum Canada will admit between 280,000 and 305,000 new permanent residents in 2016, a record increase from the 260,000 to 285,000 newcomers the previous Conservative government had planned to welcome by the end of 2015.
The Liberal plan will see Canada admit: 151,200 to 162,400 caregivers, provincial nominees, and other skilled workers under the economic stream. 75,000 to 82,000 spouses, partners, children, parents and grandparents of Canadians under the family reunification plan. 51,000 to 57,000 refugees, protected persons and others admitted for humanitarian reasons. The Liberal plan also includes admitting 18,000 privately sponsored refugees, "three times more than in earlier years," McCallum said.
The government has resettled some 25,000 Syrians, a mix of government-assisted and privately sponsored refugees, in four months. The Liberals have also pledged to resettle another 10,000 government-assisted Syrian refugees by the end of 2016.
Reviewing 2-year condition McCallum said the government will review some of the conditions imposed on Canadians looking to sponsor their children and spouses living overseas, making family reunification a priority.
"The government of Canada will make family reunification an important priority because when families are able to stay together, their integration to Canada and ability to work and grow their communities all improve," McCallum said in a much-anticipated report tabled in Parliament on Tuesday.
"We will work to restore the maximum age for dependants to 22 from 19 and re-examine the two-year conditional permanent residence provision for sponsored spouses."
The Department of Immigration plans to spend $1.7 billion in 2015-16, up from $1.3 billion in 2014-15. The increase is attributed to the Liberals' commitment to fast-track the resettlement of 25,000 Syrian refugees.
Planned spending is expected to be $1.6 billion in 2016-17.
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