Why is the Indo-Pacific region so important for Canada's immigration goals?
The Indo-Pacific region is a large geopolitical area encompassing the countries bordering the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. It includes many countries in Asia, East Africa, the Middle East and Oceania – although some people focus more on Asia and Oceania in their definition of the region. Canada's new strategy also seems to have a narrower focus on Asia. Some major countries in this narrower Indo-Pacific region are India, China, South Korea, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.
Canada's Immigration Levels Plan is targeting 465,000 new immigrants in 2023, 485,000 in 2024 and 500,000 in 2025. This target is expected to either stay the same or grow after 2025. These large numbers of skilled immigrants are crucial to solve the labor shortage in the country. From which countries do these immigrants mainly come? Canada's IRCC (immigration authorities) cited in a press release on November 30 that in 2021, 44% of all new immigrants came from India, China and the Philippines. Not only that, but an astounding 65% of international students in Canada also come from the Indo-Pacific region.
These countries, especially India, China and the Philippines, have large populations of young, university-educated or skilled young people in their 20s and 30s. The median age in Canada in 2021 was 42, while it was 29 in India and 26 in the Philippines. China has a more aging population, but the sheer size of this population (nearly 1.5 billion) makes it have an enormous pool of skilled middle-class workers, about 700 million.
These populations represent a great pool of human capital for the Canadian economy. They are often trained in fields essential for the Canadian economy. The Philippines provides many registered nurses to various countries, for instance. Indeed, the provincial government of Alberta recently signed an agreement with the Philippines to create an immigration pathway for their nurses.
Other factors are working in favor of Indo-Pacific immigration to Canada. Notably, the restrictive Covid lockdowns in China have made emigration rates from the country skyrocket. As reported by Global News, Chinese immigration to Canada is up by 15% in July-September 2022 compared to the same period in 2019, before the pandemic. Nine thousand nine hundred twenty-five permanent residents from China were admitted in these three months of 2022.
