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Swiss writer Max Frisch once said about the foreign workers brought to Europe after World War II: “We asked for workers, but what we got were people.

Housing Crisis

The demand for housing rises as more individuals relocate to Canada. Property values and rental rates skyrocket due to the 1.3 million immigrants expected to enter the country in 2023 alone. Living in Vancouver, Toronto, and Hamilton is currently very costly. David Ley, a scholar, discovered a direct correlation between increased housing costs and population growth. Younger people struggle to purchase homes as a result, which delays the start of families. And in order to pay for their rent or mortgage, elderly Canadians may need to return to the workforce.

Strained Healthcare

Even immigrants require medical treatment! However, the annual influx of large numbers of foreign nationals is exacerbating our healthcare issues. Over the past 10 years, Canada’s population has increased by five million, yet we have only gained 167 spaces for medical training. More than 471,550 permanent residents as well as about 800,000 foreign workers and international students were welcomed to Canada in 2023. We only admit roughly 4,000 foreign healthcare workers annually, despite government promises to increase the number of doctors and nurses in the country. Thus, more than 6 million Canadians do not currently have a family physician.

Farmland Loss

Even though Canada is huge, only a tiny bit is good for farming, and most Canadians live close to the U.S. border. That’s where immigrants usually settle too, which means cities keep growing. We’ve lost a lot of farmland because of this—about 15 million acres since 1976, and Ontario loses 319 acres every day. That’s like seven small farms disappearing every day since 2001! Losing farmland makes Canada rely more on food from other countries, which isn’t good, especially when things are tense globally. Also, it’s changing our countryside and the way of life in rural areas that many of us love.

Crowding of Schools

As more individuals relocate to Canada, our schools become overcrowded as well. Similar to how issues arise when there are too many people vying for the same thing. Schools and provinces are having difficulty adjusting to the significant increase in the number of children from recent immigrant households. For instance, Prince Edward Island’s Charlottetown and Stratford welcomed 375 more students than they were prepared for. In Surrey, British Columbia, there is a proposal to use big buildings as classrooms! However, the immigrant families are not to blame for it. Because of the government’s immigration policies, everyone is impacted by the packed classrooms, both immigrants and Canadians who were born here.

Foreign Interference

China is allegedly involved in Canadian elections, and foreign influence has resulted in the death of a separatist in Surrey. Politicians denounce this, yet none point the finger at Canada’s large immigrant communities.

However, the reality is that the presence of sizable immigrant populations facilitates foreign intervention. For instance, China views all Chinese people as belonging to China, regardless of where they reside. China’s success depends on its abroad Chinese, according to its leader, Xi Jinping. In international politics, this link between foreign communities and intervention appears to be significant. It has also occurred in Europe, such as when the president of Turkey instructed Turks living in Germany to vote against the German leader.

Declining Living Standards

It is often said that Canada’s economic prosperity depends on a large-scale immigration rate, although this couldn’t be further from the reality. Although Canada’s population growth due to immigration increases the GDP, GDP per capita decreases. Put another way, the majority of people’s share of the economic pie decreases as it grows!

The National Bank of Canada warned in a research that this process has gotten so severe that Canada is in a “population trap,” making it impossible to raise living standards. This is an issue that often arises in growing countries like India or Sub-Saharan Africa!

Urban Sprawl and Densification

The government views immigration as a means of addressing the aging population, increasing economic growth, and job shortages. However, immigrants also require homes! Canada is investing a lot on the construction of new homes and towers to accommodate the country’s expanding population as a result of immigration.

Similar-looking residences are starting to appear in new neighborhoods that are cropping up on the outskirts of cities like Calgary. In a single year, the population of Alberta increased by 184,000, primarily due to immigration. This is probably not going to change. British Columbia is going in a different direction. To allow for the construction of more homes in one location, the rules are being altered. This is to control the immigrant-fueled population growth.

Declining Social Cohesion

The ties that bind a society together, known as social cohesiveness, are impacted by the rise in immigration and cultural variety. Conflicts, such as fights between diaspora groups, may result from this. For instance, disagreements about the Eritrean government resulted in fighting between 150 or more Eritreans in Calgary, Edmonton, and Toronto in September 2023. Videos from November 2023 depicted fights between Sikhs and Hindus in Mississauga, Ontario, around Diwali.

Incompatible Cultural Practices

The majority of immigrants to Canada hail from regions like the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and India. Despite the rich cultural diversity of these areas, there’s often a clash between their values and those of Anglo-Canadian and Quebecois culture. This leads to actions that don’t align well with Canadian norms, such as a furniture store in Richmond, British Columbia, specifically seeking a “Chinese sales person.” In Quebec, a childcare provider discovered that a young girl had undergone female genital mutilation. Some schools in Quebec are even setting up gender-segregated Muslim prayer rooms. Meanwhile, in Brampton, Ontario, a towering 55-foot statue of the Hindu god Hanuman was erected. Discriminatory rental ads specifying “Indians only” are not uncommon, and the emergence of large Chinese “monster homes” in Vancouver, British Columbia, has sparked considerable debate.

Erosion of National Identity

By 2036, about 30% of people in Canada will be immigrants, and by 2050, nearly half of the population will be non-white. In some places, these numbers are already higher. For example, in Brampton, Ontario, most people are South Asian, and in Richmond, British Columbia, most are Chinese. Large-scale immigration is also affecting the French language in Quebec.

If immigration keeps going at this rate, Canada’s ethnic, cultural, and language makeup will change a lot. Many people, both born here and immigrants, might feel uneasy about such a big change to the country they know. What’s more, the government hasn’t asked Canadians if they want this kind of change.