Speech made by the Minister of Manpower and Immigration on the tabling of the Green Paper on Immigration and Population – February 3, 1972
Hon. Robert K. Andras (Minister of Manpower and Immigration):
Mr. Speaker, a year ago last fall I informed the House of an arrangement for a comprehensive review of Canada’s immigration policy, and the green paper I release today marks a very significant step, I think, in the process I outlined at that time.
I think the nature and purpose of this green paper are generally understood. It is not a document intended to contain recommendations or policy proposals by the government; rather, it is presented as a discussion paper. It aims to provide a useful basis for a constructive and informed debate about the role immigration policy should perform in helping to create the sort of society Canadians wish for themselves and for their children.
Canada, as it exists today, has been built largely by immigrants. The Canada of tomorrow will be shaped by the decisions Canadians make about the direction immigration policies should follow. As we address the broad question of Canada’s population future and immigration’s contribution to it, Canadians obviously need to possess a full account of how the immigration program currently functions and of those challenges, both domestic and international, which policy in this field must meet.
The green paper, therefore, explains in detail the way immigration to Canada is managed now, and analyses the policy assumptions on which the program rests. Against this background it explores problems and discusses choices. It is my hope and the hope of the government that Canadians will find it a fruitful source of ideas during the period of nationwide debate and consultation on which we are now embarked.
As I made plain when the policy review was launched, the green paper is intended to assist our present effort to forge an immigration policy for Canada that is related to the contemporary needs of this country, sensitive to international developments and designed to support the achievement of long-range goals. I trust parliament will find both the green paper and the discussion it generates of assistance when it considers the new immigration legislation which the government intends to submit at a later stage.
The green paper acknowledges what we all know, the difficulties in reaching consensus in this field. On the subject of immigration there exist many, and often conflicting views about the right line of policy to adopt. Nevertheless, there are several key elements in present Canadian policy which the green paper assumes Canada’s future approach should safeguard. Canadians will want, I believe, an immigration policy that meets our social, economic and cultural needs, that respects the family, that is free from discrimination, and that keeps the door open to refugees. Our approach to the immigration policy review has been inspired by the conviction that the subject of immigration to Canada needs to be examined in an extremely wide framework.
Finally at issue is nothing less than the future of Canada’s population, its size, its rate of growth, its distribution and composition, and the basic principles that should govern our decisions to augment the nation’s human resources through the admission of migrants from abroad. It follows that immigration policy must be developed in the light of clear perceptions about national population goals. In short, immigration policy must be seen as an element in a broad demographic or population policy for Canada. The government has been examining demographic questions for quite some time. On the basis of this study, of which the immigration policy forms a part, we have concluded that steps should be taken now to develop a national consensus about longer term population goals for Canada, goals which future immigration policy can be fashioned to support.
Our plan is that the consultations and discussions to be pursued now that the green paper has appeared will constitute the first step toward this consensus. With this end in view, the Prime Minister (Mr. Trudeau) launched an important initiative in the field of federal-provincial relations when he invited the provinces to engage with the federal government in the elaboration of a national demographic policy in the framework of which future public policies in many areas can be assessed and developed. We expect this initiative to entail a consultative exercise extending over approximately two years. But I should make clear that well before the end of this period it is our hope that parliament will be in a position to approve a new legislative structure for immigration policy itself.
To furnish the necessary mechanisms to carry forward the initiative to establish demographic guidelines, the government has decided to create a demographic policy steering group at the deputy minister level, chaired by the deputy minister of the Department of Manpower and Immigration and reporting to me as the co-ordinating minister. This group, supported by a secretariat established within my department, will co-ordinate federal government consultations with the provinces and the public and will strive to ensure that those federal-provincial mechanisms whose activities bear on population problems work together. With respect to the program during the coming period, it is the government’s intention to refer the green paper to a committee of parliament within the very near future.
Within the next few days I will want to consult through my colleague, the President of the Privy Council (Mr. Sharp), with House leaders of all parties in an effort to determine the best method of doing so. Moreover, I believe all individual members have a vital role to play in a constructive national debate on the question of immigration policy, an issue which touches profoundly the future development of the Canadian community. So I am looking forward to consulting closely with members of parliament from all parties during this period, because by the active part they take in the discussion of the green paper I am confident that members will help to animate a lively, informed and productive debate among their constituents across the country.
In the time available to me on motions I am unable to describe all aspects of the consultative process with the provinces and with the public at large which is planned for the months immediately ahead. The details of this program are set out in the explanatory statement which I would like also to table today. Therefore, with your leave, Mr. Speaker, and pursuant to Standing Order 41(2), I now wish to lay on the table of the House, in both official languages, the green paper on immigration policy, together with the text of the explanatory statement to which I have just referred.