The Immigration Dilemma

Joseph Garcea is an assistant professor of political studies at the
University of Saskatchewan.

As stated in its preface, the purpose of this book is “to provide a
broad base of information for the consideration of those who are
concerned about the immigration question.” Immigration is a
multifaceted policy issue, and a book of this length could not hope to
deal with all of the major issues associated with it; thus, the focus
here is on the socioeconomic impact of immigration.

The book consists of 10 chapters. Chapter 1 presents a good overview of
an excellent study done by the Economic Council of Canada on most of the
issues covered in this book. Chapters 2 to 5 provides an overview of
postwar immigration trends and the socioeconomic impact of immigration.
Collectively, these chapters highlight the positive impacts of
immigration in the past, but caution readers not to assume that such
benefits will necessarily continue in the future, especially if
immigration levels are increased substantially. Chapter 6 examines the
positive impact of immigration on Canada’s productivity.

Chapters 7 to 10 provide interesting insights into the impact of
immigration on the economy and on the labor and housing markets. Chapter
10, one of the most thought-provoking in the book, examines important
issues associated with the social integration of immigrants. It
speculates on what has contributed to the success of such integration in
the past, and what may have to be done in the future to ensure that
Canada does not experience the serious social problems arising from
immigration that other countries have faced.

Two of the central conclusions of the book are (i) that contrary to the
views expressed by both advocates and detractors of immigration, its
overall impact has been relatively modest, and (ii) that neither
activists nor politicians should view increased immigration levels as a
panacea for Canada’s economic problems.