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ABSTRACT
Family class immigration has for several decades been a major and sometimes contentious element of Canada's immigration program. While highly popular in some quarters, questions must be asked about the extent to which it is beneficial to Canadians in general rather than primarily to immigrants who wish to sponsor members of their extended family.
It should be noted at the outset that no one objects to independent immigrants bringing in their spouses and unmarried dependent children. Family class immigration becomes an issue when it comes to sponsorship of parents and grandparents along with other relatives who do not have to meet the qualifications required of skilled immigrants.
As far back as the 1950s, it had become apparent that sponsorship of relatives other than spouses and children was bringing in too many unqualified workers. During this period, for example, it was calculated that, for every individual from one particular country who was admitted into Canada as an independent immigrant, another forty-nine gained access through sponsorship (Hawkins, 1972, page 51). The government, therefore, decided to remove such categories as brothers and sisters from sponsorship eligibility. Attempts to implement these changes, however, were met with a storm of protests from ethnic organizations, some segments of the press, and even members of the governing party. The sponsorable classes slated for removal were, accordingly, hastily restored. (Hawkins, 1972 page 6, and Green Paper, 1974, Vol. 2, page 26).
Pressure to increase family class intake continued and increased, particularly after Canada opened its doors to newcomers from non-traditional sources, where economic opportunities as well as social welfare systems were less developed than in the traditional source countries. In response to such pressures, the 1978 Immigration Act gave first priority to the processing of sponsored relatives, with skilled immigrants further down the pecking order. A further point worth noting is that, while the Department could set annual targets, the 1978 Act did not give the power to set limits on the number of immigrants in the various components of the intake. The Department could not, therefore, cut off the number of family class applications because the annual target had been met for that group. (Green and Green, 1996, page 23) This means in effect that, if someone qualifies to...