IRCC, Deputy Minister, Transition Binder, 2024 - The Immigration Levels Plan

Issue

• The Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, section 94, requires that the Minister of Immigration table the Annual Report to Parliament on Immigration, including the Immigration Levels Plan (Levels Plan) for the following year, by November 1, or within 30 sitting days if a House of Parliament is not sitting on November 1.
• The Levels Plan is a rolling three-year plan that sets firm permanent resident targets and ranges (upper and lower limits) for the first year and notional for the outer two years, as well as the number for each immigration category.

State of Play

The 2024-2026 Levels Plan

• The 2024-2026 Levels Plan was tabled in Parliament on November 1, 2023. The 2024-2026 Levels Plan maintains the trajectory of the 2023-2025 Plan. The prescribed mix (i.e., breakdown between Economic, Family, Refugees and Protected Persons, and Humanitarian & Compassionate and other) are maintained in 2024 and 2025, with 2026 following the same breakdown as 2025.
• Recently, there has been increased media attention on growing immigration levels and its impact on Canada’s domestic systems, such as healthcare shortages, housing accessibility and affordability as well as settlement capacity for newcomers. During the development of the 2024-2026 Levels Plan, and in order to maintain public support for Canada’s immigration policy, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) worked to better understand the intersection between immigration and these critical domestic systems.
• Discussions held in 2023 reflected the importance of stability and predictability in the Levels Plan to support stakeholders and various levels of government in their respective planning and resource allocation. This was at the forefront of the considerations supporting development of the Plan, along with a number of recent government commitments – many of which are in response to emerging crises (e.g., permanent resident pathway for Ukrainian nationals).
• Consultations were conducted for the development of the Levels Plan, including engagement with provinces and territories, partners, stakeholders, and the public. Engagement 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.
  • 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 [Redacted]. This was 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. [Redacted]
• Engagement during the Strategic Immigration Review process also reinforced the need for a broader approach to levels planning, including a greater whole-of-government approach.
• In recognition of the intersections between immigration and the critical domestic systems mentioned above, last year during the development of the 2024-2026 Levels Plan, IRCC further expanded its engagement within the federal government to better align mandates to mutually support priorities and initiatives. This included engagement with Infrastructure Canada and the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation; Employment and Social Development; Innovation, Science and Economic Development; Statistics Canada; and the Public Health Agency of Canada, among others. This work will continue in 2024 and is expected to continue in future years.

• As the 2024-2026 Levels Plans maintains the trajectory and mix established in the 2023-2025 Plan, no incremental funding was provided for its implementation.

The 2025-2027 Levels Plan

• The Department is currently in the early stages of planning and developing the 2025-2027 Levels Plan. [Redacted].
• Early stages of planning includes internal consultations with various immigration program leads and data gathering to determine upcoming pressures and policy priorities, engagement with other government departments to continue to advance whole-of-government levels planning, multilateral and bilateral consultations with provinces and territories, stakeholder/partner consultations, and renewed efforts to engage with Indigenous communities.

Key Messages

• Immigration is fundamental to the development of Canada’s economy, society and culture. To create a stronger nation benefiting both newcomers and Canadians, Canada is one of the few countries with a managed immigration program directed toward newcomers ultimately becoming full citizens.
• The 2024-2026 Levels Plan sets out a path for stable immigration targets to support economic growth and address labour market shortages. Over half of all planned permanent resident admissions are dedicated to the economic class, projected to reach a 60% economic proportion in 2025.
• Immigration helps cement Canada’s place among the world’s top destinations for talent, while reuniting family members with their loved ones and fulfilling Canada’s humanitarian commitments. Stabilizing immigration levels will help Canada’s domestic systems adjust to recent population growth and support positive outcomes for newcomers as well as those already here.

Next Steps

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• As part of the expanded engagement process, a Deputy Minister-level meeting was held in summer 2023 with other government departments to share levels scenarios, and discuss how to proceed on the new whole-of-government approach to levels planning. [Redacted].

Background

• Canada is experiencing historic levels of immigration driven population growth. In 2022, Canada saw its population grow by over one million people, for the first time in history with permanent and temporary migration responsible for 95% of the increase. Current estimates project that 2023 temporary and permanent immigration figures exceeded 2022 levels and exceeded the permanent resident admissions target (465K) but was within the range.
• In 2022, Canada welcomed more than 437K new permanent residents and achieved a historical milestone by reaching a 4.4% target in Francophone immigration to communities outside Quebec. In 2023, Canada will have welcomed over 471K new permanent residents.
• Under its current 2024-2026 Levels Plan, Canada is looking to welcome 485K new permanent residents in 2024, 500K in 2025 and 500K in 2026.
• The Levels Plan is a statement of public policy and is a key tool to communicate the Government’s immigration priorities to partners (including Provinces and territories [PTs]), stakeholders, and the public.
• Through the annual Levels Plan, the Government of Canada determines funding for IRCC and its partners – for application processing and security screening, while supplementing funding for settlement programming – and allows IRCC’s partners to plan for demand from newcomers.
• [Redacted]
• Levels planning is informed by a significant engagement with PTs, broad consultations with diverse stakeholders, including settlement service providers, employers and employer associations, as well as collaborative planning with other governmental departments and agencies, such as Public Safety Canada, Canada Border Services Agency, Global Affairs Canada, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and Canadian Security Intelligence Service.
• Levels planning is also informed by operational realities (e.g., processing, inventory, financial and human resources) and by system capacity, research and evidence.

2024-2026 Immigration Levels Plan