MANILA, Philippines—The Philippines tied with India and China as the number one source of temporary and permanent migrants to Canada, Canadian minister of citizenship, immigration, and multiculturalism told reporters in a press conference Friday.
Jason Kenney, who was on a brief visit to the country, said there are now 450,000 people of Filipino origin in Canada. “We continue to welcome more people from the Philippines every year,” he said.
Calling it unprecedented, he said the influx of Filipinos to Canada jumped 10-fold from over 2,000 in 2000 to almost 20,000 in 2008.
The official also pointed out that Canada is the second source of remittances from overseas Filipinos last year after the United States.
Kenney said that Canada issued permanent resident visas to more people from the Philippines than anywhere else in the world, noting a 30-percent increase in issuances of said visas from 18,370 in 2005 to almost 30,000 last year.
Every year, he said, between 15,000 and 20,000 Filipinos come to Canada as permanent residents. This is apart from the thousands who come as temporary workers or who come through Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, and Saudi Arabia.
Kenney said Canada recognizes that immigrants play a vital role in building the country, contributing to the economy and society. “Canada believes that immigration will play an essential role in our economic growth,” he said.
That is why, he said, Canada maintains the most ambitious immigration programs in the world, last year attracting more than half a million people, from all over the world.
“Canada now has a higher proportion of immigrants than we have had in more than 75 years,” he said.
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