Canada’s aging population needs newcomers to address demographic pressures- Minister Marc Miller

Canada’s Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, Marc Miller, says the aging population needs newcomers to help address demographic pressures.

Marc said Canada is “adjusting certain immigration streams to better support newcomers and our country’s future.”

Read details below:

Message from the Minister

As Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, I am pleased to present to Parliament the 2024 Annual Report on Immigration.

The vast majority of our labour force growth has been driven by immigration – which remains a cornerstone of Canada’s economy, cultural diversity and humanitarian leadership. Canada’s aging population needs newcomers to help address demographic pressures and sustain our social programs over the long term.

We have been through a period of significant change in just a few short years. At the start of the pandemic, we saw the unprecedented closing of our borders and a halt on the flow of goods and people.

As we emerged from the pandemic, Canada faced severe labour shortages. We took steps and adapted with new and temporary measures. These actions were necessary to support the urgent needs of businesses and our economy, to prevent a recession and to help us navigate that challenging period.

Today, our economy has evolved, and the landscape is different.

Our immigration system has faced growing pressures both within and outside our borders. Multiple humanitarian crises, rising asylum claims and increased interest in Canada have bumped up against our own economic demands and community needs.

These pressures have required us to adapt our immigration levels planning to the current climate. Our annual plans must take into account the capacity to settle, integrate and retain newcomers—which varies across the country—and monitor system-wide pressures in critical sectors such as housing and health care. At the same time, immigrants make significant contributions to the labour market and are part of the solution.

What we heard from Canadians is that they expect Canada to identify the right number of newcomers with the needed skills, and help set them up for success.

We are adjusting certain immigration streams to better support newcomers and our country’s future. We’ve taken action to address challenges with the international student program, including updating financial requirements for prospective students, establishing a cap on most study permit applications, reforming work options for students and introducing a system to verify letters of acceptance.

Thanks to changes to our Express Entry system, we are now better able to prioritize permanent residence applications for critical areas, like trades workers to build more homes and healthcare workers for our hospitals and long-term care.

In order to maximize newcomers’ participation in our economy, several provinces and territories are taking steps to improve foreign credential recognition, so more newcomers can work in occupations aligned with their skills and experience. In addition to the Provincial Nominee Program, we have been tailoring our economic immigration streams to support businesses in filling skilled labour shortages in remote, rural and Francophone minority communities.

Our humanitarian responses to global events and addressing the needs of vulnerable populations remain a priority. Canada continues to advocate globally for the rights of migrants and refugees by promoting regular pathways and policies that address specific needs. Helping employers access new talent pools, including refugees and other displaced people through the Economic Mobility Pathways Pilot, is an innovative way we are using our immigration system to address labour shortages. Finding these skilled workers among people who happen to be displaced abroad is a made-in-Canada solution that we are promoting globally.

Considering the urgency of the global migration crisis, we have been funding temporary housing and services for asylum claimants and increasing our processing capacity as part of our efforts to improve Canada’s asylum system.

We have also expanded support for settlement service providers, particularly to advance truth and reconciliation, gender equality and anti-racism. Everyone deserves an equal opportunity for success in Canada.

These are just some of the steps we’ve taken to ensure Canada’s immigration system is fast, fair and efficient, which I believe is critical to responding to changes in the immigration landscape.

Our 2025 and 2026 immigration levels takes a hard, comprehensive look at our immigration programs – including where tough choices must be made – to reflect the needs of our economy and communities.

Our goal has and will always be to preserve the integrity of our programs – for a sustainable and well-managed immigration system.

The Honourable Marc Miller, P.C., M.P.
Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship