Introduction
Immigration refers to entry persons into a particular country with an intention of settling there while immigration policies are set of rules, regulations as well as directives set by the government in order to control the entrance of people from other countries. Canadian immigration policies are therefore, acts of parliament that limits individual persons from entering into the country.
Canadian immigration is marked with discrimination in its history. This discrimination was felt in form of class, gender as well as race. The immigration department had an intense bias on those people who were poor and only accepted people on the basis that they were rich and therefore would work into the benefit of the Canadians (Arat-koc, 1999. 208).
The Canadian government had stated racist laws and practices which were meant to restrict certain groups of people in terms of class, race as well as gender. However, these policies changed with the introduction of point system policies which advocated for non-discriminatory immigration hence changing the face of the Canadian immigration policy (Arat-koc, 1999. 209).
This paper critically evaluates ways in which assumptions about class, gender and race shaped Canadian immigration policies before and after the introduction of the points system in 1967. The paper also points out the consequences for social inequality in each period.
How assumptions about class, gender and race shaped Canadian immigration policies before the introduction of the points system
According to Arat-Koc, 1999, before the introduction of Canadian points system in 1967, Canada experienced massive discrimination in terms of gender, class and race (p. 208). This was so intense in that the immigrants were undergoing severe maltreatments instances meted out by the Canadian government. Gender was one of the bases of restriction stated in the Canadian policy.
In history, Canada is known to discriminate against women whereby women were seen as a burden to the society. Only those women who belonged to a certain racial group or from a recognized ethnic membership were treated differently since they were viewed to represent a positive form of Nation building.
Women were generally seen as biological and cultural reproducers. This is due to the fact that they gave birth to children who represent a certain culture depending on the race and ethnic group from which they belong. They were also seen as cultural transmitters since they could be married in different racial background as well as different ethnic group.
In this case, they were restricted to make an entrance into Canada to prevent those cultural transmissions. Hence only married women who belonged to a certain race or a certain ethnic group were allowed to migrate in Canada (Arat-Koc, 1999. 208).
In addition, women were seen as dependents on men. This meant that women were not supposed to own anything by themselves including skilled women. They were not supposed to have an identity card, visa or any other legal documents.
They were simply identified by their husbands. In cases where single women were allowed to migrate, they were allowed as domestic workers who would meet the needs of middle class families as well as with the expectation that these women would be married and be mothers with a full citizenship (Carty, 1994.190).
Women discrimination helped in shaping Canadian immigration policies in that it lessened the number of dependents since the Canadian government viewed women as dependents. Women were denied chances to acquire education hence, increasing the number of dependent in contrast. Thus, by allowing women as domestic workers to the middle class families, the policies reduced dependents hence improvement of Canadian economy.
On the other hand, women discrimination in Canadian policies robbed the country of potential investors. If women were given chances to acquire education, they could have equally improved the economy since they had potential to work to the development of the country (Anderson & Kirkham, 2009. 10).
Economic implications shaped the policies in terms of class hence it was also a contributing factor to the immigration department in Canada. They viewed poor and disabled people as a blocking factor to the economic resources hence only those immigrants who had assets or those who would help in improving the economy of the Canadians were allowed into the country.
This helped the Canadians in reduction of less privileged persons to the country since they were viewed as a burden to the society. Carty ,1994, observes that the Canadians policies had set laws restricting people without a set amount of money to enter the country. This however, blocked highly skilled personnel who had potential to transform the Canadian economy.
It is of the essence to note that, economy of a country does not depend on how much money people have but it highly depends on the potential of the people in the country (p. 194).
In addition, racial discrimination was a determinant factor for the immigrants into the Canadian territory. Immigrants especially from African countries were discriminated against and therefore could not gain entry into Canada. A few who managed entry faced discrimination in terms of settlement, social places as well as markets.
Although they had potential to improve on the economy, they were restricted by the racial discrimination which they faced (Tator, 1996). It is important to note that due to assumptions against gender, class and race, Canada underwent economic recession hence forcing the government to consider the county’s immigration policies (p.155). Racism greatly affects healthcare.
According to Sannie and Annette, 2008, the Canadian healthcare is inaccessible especially to Aboriginal people. This is due to their living standards which are a result of years of discrimination by the Canadians. They worked for more hours yet received little payment which was unable to cover their needs. In this case they were forced to work over-time hence lacking time to take care of their health (p. 110).
How assumptions about class, gender and race shaped Canadian immigration policies after the introduction of the points system
In early 1960, the face of the Canadian immigration changed as the point system policies were introduced. The point system advocated for non-discriminatory immigration hence bringing change in the country at large.
More immigrants were allowed to gain entry into the country as racial, gender as well as class discrimination ceased to dominate in the Canadian immigration policies. This gave way to traditional cultures from African countries to gain an opportunity to invest in the country (Arat-koc, 1999. 210).
According to Charles et al, 2006, this shift to point system however, tends to create problems on the level of skills of the immigrants. This is due to the processes that were in progress in which the Canadians were shifting towards a more urban-industrial economy (p.8). Hence, there was a need to bring the process into the same level of skills that would help to support this transformation.
It is important to note that in order to succeed in this transformation, the immigration policies had to change. This was achieved through creation of point system which would help the Canadians in assessing the prospective immigrants while trying to up-grade the level of skills of the new immigrants.
Nevertheless, despite the positive shift in the Canadian immigration department, the point system became the policy which was used to assess which economy class, business class, investors, entrepreneurs as well as self-employment immigrant would be granted visa entry into Canada. In addition, family class and humanitarian class were also assessed by the point system while a person who sought entry through family class were considered since the point system advocated for family reunion (Charles et al, 2006. 9).
The prospective immigrants assessed by the point system needed to gather over 50 points out of 100 points which were needed in order to obtain an entry visa while those who sought entry through family class were awarded 15 points as a bonus. This meant that the relatives had greater chances to gain entry visas.
In order to obtain the desired points for the visa, the immigration department assessed the prospective immigrants on a wide variety of factors including education, age, work experience as well as occupation. The point system was lenient as it had stated that the prospective immigrant did not need to get points in all of those areas but some areas with higher points were enough to be given an entry visa (Tator, 1996. 153).
As time passed, the occupation factor was changed as occupational needs were reduced while more points were awarded to age, education and official language fluency. It is worthy to note that more emphasis was given to these three categories while from mid-ninety, more emphasis was given to education, age and native language with a pass mark of over 60 points.
This shift in points and weights brought about more change in the Canadian immigration policies which put more emphasis on factors that would lead to acceptance of more immigrants who would bring about a positive shift in the Canadian economy in the long-run (Charles et al, 2006. 9).
Consequences for social inequality before point system
Social inequality had dominated Canada before the introduction of point system. This was due to the fact that there was massive discrimination against gender, class and race in the Canadian immigration policy. Due to discrimination, the nation was experiencing so many difficulties at the time. One of the consequences of social inequality was health issues.
According to Anderson and Kirkham, 2009, the social status in which people lives in greatly affects their health. In Canada, the people who were discriminated especially Aboriginal people faced more health care problems since they were living in adverse poverty (p.8). They worked a lot yet they received less hence they did not have time to take care of their health. This resulted into more poverty as feeding habit was also a problem.
Consequently, due to discrimination, women were poor and therefore worked for long hours. This limited them into taking time to manage their health. This accordingly led to decrease in the labor force as there were more death cases due to poor health. Economic inequality is yet another consequence.
It is evident that the Canadians immigration policies were discriminatory. For example, people who belonged to a certain economic class were getting more attention in terms of health care facilities as well as allowances while other less privileged people languished in poverty.
This led to unequal economy since rich people continued to be rich while poor people remained poor. Thus, economic inequality is greatly influenced by poverty since nations with higher economic and social inequality have the highest level of poverty (Arat-koc, 1999).
Poverty is yet another consequence of social inequality. It is evident that most of the immigrants were living in adverse poverty. This was brought about by immigration policies which discriminated against the immigrants before the introduction of point system policies (p. 208). Poverty and economic inequality work hand in hand as they greatly affect the health of individuals.
Poor infrastructure development was also as a result of social inequality. This was brought about by unfair distribution of natural resources. It is evidence that in Canada; only some people from a certain economy class had access to social amenities like good health care and good housing among other social amenities (Charles et al, 2006, 10).
Consequences for social inequality after point system
The point system policy in Canada was effective as it brought about change in the Canadian immigration department. This is due to the fact that the system advocated for non-discriminatory immigration. This led to massive migration of people into the country hence changing the face of Canada. Although point system brought about change in the face of the Canadian immigration policies, social inequalities have continued to dominate in Canada.
Consequently, more poverty is evident as most people especially the Aboriginal people have continued to live in abject poverty (Tator, 1996). In addition, income inequality has continued to dominate Canada even after the introduction of point system. This is due to social inequality which limits the use of the resources available to only those people who belong to a certain class (p. 153).
Although immigration policies have changed over the years, it is evident that most people in the labor market earn less income. This is aggravated by the level of poverty among many people in Canada due to social inequality. Likewise, health inequality has been a problem especially to the poor who use most of their time working in order to cater for their needs.
This makes it impossible for the poor to set time so as to care for their health. Besides, health facilities tend to be expensive hence inaccessible to poor people. Consequently, the community experiences a high mortality rate as well as deteriorating labor market due to poor health (Charles et al, 2006. 8).
Conclusion
In reference to the discussion above, it is evident that immigration policies in the country can be the determining factor in the economic success of the country. This is seen in the findings of the Canadians immigration policy which was characterized by discriminatory policies. It is clear that the discriminatory policies in Canada limited the country into improvement of the country’s economic level.
This was due to the fact that they restricted the migration of the potential investors who would have prevented the country from economic recession. It is important for the country to give foreigners the opportunities to work or to do business in the country since these are the potential investors who would help in raising the economy of the country.
Just like the change into the point system policy in Canada, it is crucial to remove restrictions especially discriminatory policies which would otherwise hinder social and economic growth
References
Anderson, J., & Kirkham, S. (2009). Constructing Nation: The gendering and racializing of the Canadian health-care system. Burnaby, BC: Simon Fraser University; 7-14.
Arat-koc, S., (1999). Gender and Race in non-discriminatory immigration policies in Canada. Canada: Canadian Scholars’ press: 207-232
Carty, L. (1994). African Canadian women and the states: Labor A only, please. Toronto: University of Toronto press: 189-210.
Charles, M., Alan, G., & Christopher, W. (2006). Impacts of the Point System and Immigration Policy Levers on Skill Characteristics of Canadian Immigrants. Canada: Queen’s University; 1-76.
Sannie, Y., & Annette, J. (2008). Race matters: Racialization and egalitarian discourses involving Aboriginal people in the Canadian health care context. Canada: University of British Columbia;109-127.
Tator, C. (1996). Anti-Racism and the human service delivery system. Toronto: University of Toronto press; 152-170.