IRCC Minister Sean Fraser will announce a new immigration pathway this morning at 11:30 AM Eastern Time.
NOTE: This is a developing story. CIC News will update it as more information becomes available.
The minister is delivering a speech in Toronto at the Empire Club of Canada that will be streamed live on YouTube (the video link is available below).
Fraser’s speech is entitled “Addressing Canada’s Labour Shortages.”
The event description states the minister will speak “about how Canada’s immigration measures will help employers across a wide range of sectors and industries address labour shortages.”
Under the Immigration Levels Plan 2023-2025, this target is set to rise to 485,000 immigrants in 2024, and 500,000 immigrants in 2025.
Last year, Canada welcomed just over 437,000 immigrants.
Canada’s record levels of immigration numbers, combined with record foreign student and worker admissions, resulted in the country’s population growing by over one million people for the first time in history last year.
Canada’s ambitious immigration targets are largely aimed at addressing the country’s high number of labour shortages.
Canada offers more than 100 different economic class immigration pathways.
The leading economic class pathway is the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP), which enables provinces and territories to identify candidates who meet their local economic needs .
The leading federal pathway is the Express Entry system.
Both pathways have been seeing a lot of activity recently.
Four provinces announced their latest PNP results over the past week.
Meanwhile, IRCC has held two major Express Entry draws over the past two weeks, inviting 14,000 candidates in total to apply for permanent residence.
