CIMM – Immigration Levels Plan – December 05, 2023

Key Facts and Figures

• The 2024-2026 Immigration Levels Plan, tabled in Parliament on November 1, 2023, projects stabilized levels in permanent resident admissions with targets of 485,000 in 2024; 500,000 in 2025; and 500,000 in 2026. There are no changes to the established mix that was outlined in the 2023-2025 Immigration Levels Plan, maintaining the focus on economic immigration (over 60% by 2025).
• In 2022, Canada welcomed more than 437,000 new permanent residents, and is on track to meet the target of 465,000 for 2023.

Key Messages

• Canada will continue welcoming newcomers who bring the skills our economy needs. The plan focuses on attracting skilled workers who will contribute to Canada’s economy, while recognizing the importance of family reunification and helping the world’s most vulnerable populations through refugee resettlement.
• This plan upholds the Government’s commitment to bring in 500,000 newcomers by 2025 to help ensure Canada’s economic prosperity. It also allows Canada to maintain its humanitarian tradition while stabilizing overall growth to support positive outcomes for newcomers and those already in Canada.

Responsive

• The multi-year levels plan is developed in consultation with provinces and territories, including Quebec. Under the Canada-Québec Accord, Quebec has full responsibility for the selection of immigrants destined to the province. My Department also consults with stakeholder organizations, and the public.
• The impact of growing permanent resident and temporary resident volumes have been factored in, as well as considerations of the current state of critical services and infrastructure capacity.
• The decision to stabilize provides space and time for all levels of government and partners to build winning conditions for immigration-driven population growth.
• While public support for immigration in Canada has remained relatively stable and strong for many years, it can decline quickly if the perception of a well-managed migration system with positive outcomes is lost. Canadians are still likely to see immigration as having a positive effect on economic growth and the availability of labour, however they are also increasingly seeing it as having a negative impact on access to healthcare and the availability of affordable housing.

Supplementary Information

• Over half of all admissions are dedicated to the economic class, reaching over 60% in 2025. Family class will reach 118,000 admissions by 2025 and then stabilize. Refugees and Protected Persons and Humanitarian & Compassionate and Other admissions will fall slightly before stabilizing, in part due to achieving the commitment to welcome at least 40,000 vulnerable Afghans since 2021.
• This plan includes ranges, which provides us with some flexibility to adapt the plan, as needed, particularly as we face an increasingly unstable global context.
• Some media and members of the public are voicing concerns about the immigration system and linking international student rates and temporary resident intake in particular to housing and other absorptive capacity issues. However, the business community generally advocates for increased economic immigration. Canadians are more likely to see immigration as having a positive effect on the availability of labour and economic growth, but a negative impact on healthcare, and especially on the availability of housing.
• Extensive consultations were conducted for the development of the Plan, including engagement with provinces and territories, partners, stakeholders, and the public. This engagement built upon extensive engagement efforts already undertaken through a strategic review of Canada’s immigration system. More specifically, efforts included:
  • Engagement with provinces and territories bilaterally and multilaterally, guided by the Joint Federal-Provincial-Territorial Immigration Levels Consultation Framework, as approved through the Forum of Ministers Responsible for Immigration (FMRI).
  • Bilateral engagement with the province of Québec under the Canada-Québec Accord. This included regular and ad hoc meetings with officials as well as through a formal exchange of letters.
  • The Department’s annual consultation survey, which was shared with key stakeholders (business representatives, educational institutions, faith-based organizations, multicultural or ethno-cultural associations, municipalities and regional administrations, settlement or resettlement organizations, etc.). A total of 633 stakeholders completed the survey from the 4,780 invited. This number represents a substantial increase from the 2,867 stakeholders organizations invited in 2022.
  • Invitations to 286 individuals from First Nations, Métis and Inuit serving and/or representing Indigenous organizations (unfortunately, no responses were received). This is an increase from 80 representatives the previous year. The Department also conducted outreach with National Indigenous Organizations to establish and strengthen a dialogue on immigration levels with them.

2024-2026 Immigration Levels Plan