Immigration policy as population policy

We turn to consider some of the implications for public policy and Canada's social geography, given the present tendency for immigration to drive population growth. We organize our thoughts around three main issues: the highly concentrated geography of immigrant settlement in Canada and related impacts on urban environments and housing markets; the participation of immigrants in the Canadian labour force and concerns over the economic difficulties experienced by many who arrived during the recession of the early 1990s, and the evolving nature of Canadian identity and citizenship in an age of rapidly growing population diversity.