The importance of immigration in celebrating Canadian Citizenship Week

This week was Citizenship Week in Canada. Each year, there is a designated week to celebrate the rights and responsibilities shared by all Canadians. It is an opportunity for Canadians across the country and around the world to show their pride in their history, culture, achievements and shared citizenship.

Today, many Canadian citizens have come to be through immigration.

Immigration has always been important to the Canadian story, and matters more now than ever before. Approximately 75% of Canada's population growth currently comes from immigration, mostly in the economic category.

Canada also has one of the highest naturalizations rates in the world with roughly 85% of newcomers becoming citizens. Immigration matter when celebrating citizenship week!

Therefore, it is important for all Canadians to celebrate immigration, whether we are immigrants ourselves or not, when celebrating Citizenship Week and thinking about what citizenship means for Canada.

Immigration is a key part of the Canadian story - Canada's immigration system works for all of us.

Immigrants contribute to the economy and create jobs for Canadians. Without immigrants, employers would have difficulty finding enough qualified individuals to fill demand. Canadians are generally living longer and having fewer children so with more people retiring, the pool of Canadian-born potential workers is more limited than it used to be. A larger labour force means more people are paying taxes that help fund our public services.

Many of the immigrants that come to Canada deliver and improve our health and social services. According to the 2016 Census, more than 335,000 immigrants work in health-related occupations. This fills an important need for our country.

Generally speaking, immigrants contribute respectful, law-abiding members of our communities. Immigrants are thoroughly screened before they arrive. Immigrants who don't respect Canadian laws risk losing their immigration status, and therefore immigrants tend to contribute positively to our communities as new Canadians.

As we seek to grow together as Canadians we must always remember and value the contributions of immigrants, and those immigrants who become Canadian citizens. This week, for Citizenship Week, we celebrate and thank you!