Canada’s Immigrant Backbone: Who We Are, What We’ve Forgotten, and Why It Matters Now

Editor’s Note: This piece represents the views of Citizen Assembly and is based on current demographic and economic data as of 2023–2025. We are committed to fact-based commentary and honest civic dialogue.

Blame is cheap in this country. Solutions cost more. So when housing is unaffordable, when ER wait times grow, when transit breaks down — the easiest thing to do is blame the new guy. Blame the immigrant. Blame the student. Blame the person still learning the language. It's lazy, it's dishonest — and it's wrong. Because immigration isn't what broke Canada. It's what's keeping it from falling apart.

Immigration Is Why the Economy Still Works

Canada's economy doesn't run in spite of immigration — it runs because of it.

In 2023, Canada welcomed 471,000 new permanent residents, the highest number in history. Nearly 60% arrived through skilled worker and economic streams. Immigrants now make up almost 29% of the workforce, and in some cities, they represent the majority of new business owners.

They:
● Start businesses at twice the rate of native-born Canadians
● Account for over 80% of all labour force growth
● Fill major gaps in construction, healthcare, transportation, and tech

Without immigrants, GDP growth would stall. Labour shortages would intensify. The tax base would shrink. And the services Canadians rely on would suffer.

The truth is clear: Canada's economy doesn't just benefit from immigration — it depends on it.

Immigration Keeps Canada Demographically Alive

Canada is aging, and it's aging fast. The country's birth rate has dropped to 1.33 children per woman, far below the replacement level. Meanwhile, 5 million Canadians are set to retire by 2030, putting strain on pensions, services, and the healthcare system.

Nearly 98% of Canada's population growth in 2023 came from immigration. Without it, our population would be shrinking. Our worker-to-retiree ratio would collapse. And our ability to fund public programs — from schools to long-term care — would evaporate.

Immigration isn't optional. It's demographic oxygen.

What's Causing the Housing Crisis? Not Immigration.

Yes, housing is expensive. Yes, rents are rising. But immigrants aren't the cause — underbuilding is.

According to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), we need 3.5 million more homes by 2030 — above what's already planned — to restore affordability. The reasons we're behind have nothing to do with newcomers:

● Zoning laws that ban multi-unit homes in 70% of urban areas
● Soaring construction costs, up 50% since 2020
● A labour shortage in skilled trades, worsened by retirements
● Approval processes that delay housing projects by years

Even RBC economists point to the need for more skilled immigrants in construction to help speed up the build.

So why blame immigrants? Because it's politically convenient. It's easier to scapegoat people who can't vote than to reform broken systems. But the data doesn't lie: this is a policy failure, not a population one.

Healthcare Is Strained — But Immigrants Are Holding It Together

ERs are overcrowded. Clinics are understaffed. But before we ask who's taking from the system, we should ask: who's keeping it standing?

Immigrants make up:
● 37% of all doctors
● 25% of registered nurses
● 42% of personal support workers
● Nearly half of all dentists and pharmacists

In total, more than one in four healthcare workers in Canada was born abroad.

As over 420,000 Canadian healthcare workers approach retirement, the system is already being propped up by newcomers. The problem isn't immigration — the problem is that we're not investing fast enough to scale services alongside population growth.

Immigrants aren't a burden on healthcare. They're the ones treating you when you show up.

So Who Benefits from the Blame?

Blaming immigrants doesn't fix housing. It doesn't reduce ER wait times. It doesn't build schools or lower food prices.

But it does help:
● Politicians, who dodge responsibility
● Developers, who profit from supply scarcity
● Colleges, who pocket billions from international students with no plan to house or support them
● Corporations, who rely on temporary foreign labour while avoiding long-term commitments

The blame game isn't just wrong. It's profitable.

We've Been Here Before — And Regretted It

History doesn't repeat, but it rhymes.

In the 1910s, the 1930s, and again in the 1990s, Canada turned inward. It closed doors. It cut immigration. And it paid the price — in stagnation, lost talent, and moral failure.

Every time, we came back to our senses. Every time, we reopened the doors. But each return came with a cost — not just in dollars, but in credibility.

Let's not do it again.

This Is Canada — Last Hope, Ever Hope

Canada doesn't have an immigration problem. It has a planning problem — and a fading memory.

Nearly every Canadian — aside from Indigenous peoples — came here by boat, by plane, or by hope. That's what this country is. Not a fortress. A promise. One that says: if you help build it, you belong.

We are not "full." We are underbuilt. Underserved. Underled. But we are not broken — because immigrants are still coming. Still working. Still believing in a country struggling to believe in itself.

This is Canada. Your last hope. Your ever hope. Let's not forget what that means.