Prime Minister Justin Trudeau named Nova Scotia MP Sean Fraser as Canada’s new minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) on Tuesday during a Cabinet reshuffle roughly a month after the last federal election.
First elected to Parliament only five years ago, Fraser was sworn in Tuesday.
A lawyer by profession, Fraser’s last role was as parliamentary secretary to the deputy prime minister and minister of finance and to the minister of middle class prosperity and associate minister of finance. Fraser has never had a political role with the IRCC.
He replaces Canada’s former immigration minister, Marco Mendicino, who now takes over the country’s leaner public safety department.
What’s next for Canadian immigration?
In a tweet earlier this month, he expressed confidence that goal can still be achieved.
“With a little more than two months to go, Canada is comfortably on track to meet its goal of welcoming 401,000 new permanent residents this year, despite closed borders,” Mendicino tweeted on Saturday.
“That Canada is on the cusp of achieving such a goal in such times is remarkable.”
Canada is bullish on immigration, hoping to attract 1.2 million new permanent residents in the three years from 2021 through to 2023, and offering new pathways to immigration and more online services to make that happen.
“The past months have seen unprecedented challenges and change in Canada’s immigration system, Mendicino told the Standing Committee On Citizenship And Immigration in June.
“Immigration speaks to who we were, who we are and who we hope to be, and where we’re choosing to grow right now,” he said. “That’s why last October I was so proud to unveil our 2021 to 2023 immigration levels plan, an ambitious and responsible plan to welcome 401,000 new permanent residents this year.
During the pandemic, Canada put in strict border control measures, closing off Canada to all but essential travel. Despite that, the country continued to welcome new immigrants and temporary foreign workers and brought in new pathways to immigration.
Immigrants and TFWs Welcomed During Pandemic
“We created pathways to allow families, essential workers, international students and others to continue to come to Canada,” said Mendicino. “We conducted the largest draw in the history of our Express Entry system, inviting some 27,000 people who are already here and hard at work to apply for permanent residency.
By early June, the IRCC’s move to take its citizenship ceremonies online had resulted in more than 60,000 people becoming Canadians at roughly 10,000 virtual ceremonies.
Under a new pathway to permanent residency announced in May, Canada opened its doors for up to 90,000 international students, healthcare workers and other workers in essential occupations – and then offered them open work permits.
The size, speed and scope of the move was something the then-immigration minister described as unprecedented.
“This new open work permit ensures that those who have been playing critical roles throughout the pandemic can continue their extraordinary service,” he said. “Our message to them is simple: your status may be temporary, but your contributions are lasting – and we want you to stay.
The pathway to permanent residency announced earlier this year – whose timeline Mendicino has hinted may be extended – was created to accept:
20,000 applications for temporary workers in health care;
30,000 applications for temporary workers in other selected essential occupations, and;
40,000 applications for international students who graduated from an eligible Canadian institution.
Source: IRCC
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