The release this week of Census 2011 provides Canadians with a broad picture of the country’s population at 33.5 million, and its urban makeup.
Between 2006 and 2011, the rate of Canada’s population growth at 5.9% was the highest among G8 countries. The engine for this growth, according to Statistics Canada, remains immigrants, together with non-permanent residents, seasonal workers, foreign students and asylum seekers.
Immigration is the big issue — the proverbial elephant in the room — that needs wide and open discussion in Parliament and during federal elections, and yet it is scrupulously avoided.
The most detailed historical study on immigration was prepared by Freda Hawkins and first published in 1972. She wrote, “Canada has had no settled view of immigration. No common convictions about it exist among Canadians.”
When Hawkins’ study was released, Canada was embarking on the path of official multiculturalism. In retrospect, we can now see clearly how multiculturalism turned immigration into a taboo subject.
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