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The Christian Science Monitor reports that a small but growing number of Mexicans are choosing to immigrate to Canada, which is putting out the welcome mat.
According to the paper, the number of Mexicans going to the far north is small compared to the number still heading to the U.S. each year. In 1995, just 482 Mexicans became permanent residents of Canada, according to the Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration (CIC). By 2004, that number had more than tripled, to 1,648. By comparison, the U.S. gave 173,664 immigrant visas to Mexicans in 2004.
"Canada needs immigrants," explains Canada's ambassador to Mexico, Gaëtan Lavertu.
Canada's vast land, small population (32 million), and low birthrate (about 1.61 children per couple), combined with its strong economic growth (the fastest of all the G-8 countries in the past 10 years) explains this attitude.
"We have always looked at immigration as a way to bring in new talent and faces. And now the dynamism of our economy requires it," says the ambassador.
According to the Canadian Embassy in Mexico, there are between 40,000 and 50,000 Mexican-born Canadians living legally and permanently in Canada today, while 10,000 come each year to study, and some 200,000 visit every year as tourists.
The biggest growth, however, has been in the number of Mexican temporary workers going to Canada. In 1995, 5,383 Mexicans received temporary visas, the majority under a special seasonal agricultural workers program. By 2004 the number was 11,340 — making it the second largest group of temporary workers in Canada, after U.S. citizens.
But some critics say Canada is being naive and creating a pipeline for illegal immigrants who will stay. The U.S. border patrol, for example, estimates that more than half a million Mexicans enter the U.S. illegally every year. But immigration lawyers say that very few Mexicans overstay their visas or enter Canada illegally.
Officials at the Mexican Ministry of Labor, which handles the paperwork for this force, agree, saying that 80 percent of the temporary workers come home, get rehired, and return to Canada the following year.
By the end of 2005, Canada expects to have invited in close to 240,000 new foreign immigrants, temporary workers, and refugees from around the world (as a percentage of its population, that is three times what the U.S. currently allows in legally). The number of Mexican immigrants is still relatively low compared with the 36,411 Chinese and 25,569 Indians who moved to Canada last year. But, stresses Ambassador Lavertu, a trend is noticeable.
