Speaker:
Dan Hiebert
Professor Emeritus, Department of Geography, UBC
Talk title:
Immigration Levels Planning in Canada: Balancing Complex Demographic Trade-offs
Toronto, Canada. Photo: Ferdinand Stohr unsplash
Toronto, Canada. Photo: Ferdinand Stohr unsplashTalk Abstract:
Abstract: In this presentation I consider the broad relationship between immigration and demography by focusing on the levels planning process in Canada. Immigration is frequently portrayed as a demographic ‘fix’ for Canada. To what extent is this true? What are the key trade-offs involved? If we place demography at the centre of our analysis, is there an optimum level of immigration for Canada? At the most generalized level, should Canada establish a population policy that would serve as a guide for immigration levels planning (akin to the way the Bank of Canada sets interest rates according to a desired range for inflation)?
These are particularly pressing questions in an era when natural increase in Canada is about to cross the zero threshold (probably in 2029) and become negative. Unless Canadians dramatically alter their fertility, all population growth in Canada for at least the next 50 years will be driven by immigration. Given that reality, what is a ‘reasonable’ (or ‘responsible’ or ‘sustainable’) level of immigration?
And, as always, when asking such a basic social question, there is an even deeper one lurking beneath it: who gets to decide Canada’s population future, and under what principles?
Speaker Bio:
Dan Hiebert is Professor Emeritus, Geography Department, UBC. In retirement he continues to be interested in international migration. At the broadest scale, this involves trying to understand how policy and regulatory systems shape migration, and also how people become mobile, with or without the consent of states. He tries to understand Canadian immigration policy within this wider context, and consider it in relation to the policies of other countries, especially in Europe and Australasia. At the local scale he studies the consequences of immigration in Canadian cities, highlighting Vancouver’s situation (with a foreign-born population exceeding one million). More specifically, he looks at the integration of newcomers in the labour and housing markets of cities, and how this changes their residential structure and social relations. This work is highly integrated with public policy; throughout his career he has participated in advisory roles at the local and national level in Canada, and also have regular interaction with government agencies in several other countries. This culminated in his secondment to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, from 2022-2024, in the role of Academic in Residence.
This is hybrid event hosted in Geog 229 and on zoom.