Canada Calling More STEM Workers for Immigration

Many countries look forward to the public policies that bring them talented and skilled labour from different parts of the world. Canada is one of the countries which is trying to promote the immigration of labour that is skilled in science, engineering, technology, and mathematics.

The continent that has most of the skills mentioned above is Asia, China, India, South Korea, and the Philippines are the prominent Asian countries whose nationals are moving to Canada for employment and are welcomed by the Canadian government too.

The Canadian government supports these immigrants, but many oppose this opinion. A recent survey held in 2019 showed that fifty-three per cent of Canadian adults think that the Asian talent influx in Canada will be beneficial for the economy of the country.

On the contrary, thirty-six per cent believe that immigrants from Asia will affect Canadian culture by getting influenced by cultures from different other areas. 

Sreyoshi Dey, program manager at Asia Pacific Foundation, said that Canada should focus on crafting good economic relations with Asian countries. However, the survey summarized that not only will the culture of Canada be affected, but there will also be an increase in the competition of the labour market. 

The possible solution to these problems is that the policies regarding the work protection of Canadians could be extended to protect the jobs of Canadian citizens even if there is an increase in foreign workers.

On the other hand, the problem of the influence of different cultures over Canadian culture can be solved by increasing the awareness and knowledge of Canadian culture via education, social events, and training. In this way, international workers will get to know the culture of Canada. They will also learn to settle in the new culture and environment. 

The survey further revealed that Canadian citizens were unwilling to welcome Chinese immigrants as compared to other Asian immigrants. The unwillingness observed is because of the relationship between China and Canada.

The main reason is rising tension between the US and China, where Canada sides with the US, for example, on the request of the US, the arrest of the financial officer of Huawei Technologies Co. took place.

Other than that, there was a protest in Canada against the Chinese government on with-holding one million Muslims in Xinjiang, a province of China. Still, under fifty per cent of Chinese students and investors get support from the government. In contrast, the other fifty are either yet to be decided to get help or are rejected for the support. 

Support for Chinese workers is ten per cent less as compared to support for other Asian countries’ workers. Dey stated that three per cent of the surveyed people said that the origin of the worker should be of priority.

On the contrary, nine per cent advised that STEM skills should be given the priority instead of the birthplace. 

The results of the poll showed that the majority of the citizens believed that more importance should be given to the countries that have a good relationship with Canada and would bring a sound economy to the country too.