A new study by a former Director General of the Canasda's Citizenship and Multiculturalism Branch suggests immigrants are now less likely to become citizens.
Photo Credit: Andrew Griffith

Canada: Dramatic drop in citizenship, concern over disengaged immigrants

A former Director General of the Citizenship and Multiculturalism Branch, at the miinistry of Citizenship and Immigration Canada says there’s been a dramatic drop in the number of immigrants becoming citizens, and Andrew Griffith suggests this could lead to a greater disengagement of immigrants from Canadian life.

In a paper to presented this week at the 17th National Metropolis Conference in Vancouver, Griffith says the number of eligible immigrants taking up citizenship dropped from 79 per cent in 2000 to 26 per cent in 2008.

The Toronto Star newspaper quotes a Citizenship and Immigration Canada spokesperson Johanne Nadeau saying Canada has one of the highest naturalization rates in the world, “as 86 per cent of eligible permanent residents for Canadian citizenship decide to acquire it,” and suggesting Griffith is misinterpreting the data because “he is not taking into account those (permanent residents) who are not yet eligible to become citizens because they haven’t met all of the requirements needed to begin the citizenship process.”

More information:
Andrew Griffith – Multiculturalism in Canada: Evidence and Anecdote – here
Andrew Griffith website – Multicultural Meanderings – here
Toronto Star – Canada faces dramatic drop in citizenship, prompting concerns about disengaged immigrants – here

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Categories: Immigration & Refugees, International, Politics, Society
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