Big Thinking Lecture: “The secret to our success: Immigration policy in Canada”

Next Big Thinking lecture: April 3, 2014
“The secret to our success: Immigration policy in Canada”

Date: Thursday, April 3, 2014 (7:30am – 8:45am)
Location: Parliamentary Restaurant, Centre Block
Cost: $20.00, includes a hot breakfast. Free for parliamentarians and the media.
Please note that photo ID is required for entrance into Centre Block on Parliament Hill.

Despite a much higher proportion of immigrants than many other Western countries, Canadians are far more open to, and optimistic about, immigration than residents in Europe and the United States. What accounts for Canada’s success with immigration policy? Many observers point to the luck of geographic isolation from clandestine migration and a point system favoring more skilled immigrants. But geography and economic selection alone do not explain Canadian exceptionalism. Research shows that just as important is the Canadian view of immigration as nation-building, backed by government policies of multiculturalism, settlement programs, open citizenship acquisition, and investment in permanent residence.

Join Barnes Chair of Canadian Studies and CIFAR Senior Fellow Irene Bloemraad, from the University of California, Berkeley, as she explores the pillars of success undergirding Canada’s immigration policy to date, and cracks in these pillars moving forward.

Click here to register by March 31.

This lecture is organized by the Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, in partnership with CIFAR, the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research.