When it comes to policies that are considered immigrant-friendly, Canada ranks among the best in the world.
Canada placed fourth on the Migration Integration Policy Index’s recently released international scorecard, which ranks 52 countries from five continents based on the performance of their policies around immigration.
Canada received a score of 80 due to its immigrant-friendly policies, which the index says focus on equal rights, opportunities and security for newcomers.
The only countries that scored higher than Canada were Sweden — which had the highest score of any nation with 86 — Finland, and Portugal, which scored one point higher than Canada.
India, Indonesia, Russia and China were among the lowest-ranked countries on the index. India’s score was 25, the lowest score of any country.
Thomas Huddleston, director of research for the Migration Policy Group, said in a press release that Canada is becoming a more attractive country for immigrants.
“Among English-speaking countries, Canada is becoming a more attractive and inclusive global destination,” said Huddleston. “Canada, along with New Zealand, is taking the place of previous top-ranking countries such as Australia, the U.K. and the United States, which all go down in the MIPEX rankings this round under pressure from populist political forces.”
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The Migration Policy Group says the index is created in order to better help countries and policymakers around the world regarding immigration policies.
It says Canada’s greatest strength is its anti-discrimination policies and has world-leading laws and policies, including the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and its national policies on multiculturalism.
However, Canada lost points because there is no way for non-citizens to participate in government.
“Canada loses points because non-citizens have no opportunity for political participation at the local and national level, and there is a lack of representation of non-citizens in policy-setting bodies,” the Migration Policy Group said.
Anna Triandafyllidou, the Canada Excellence Research Chair (CERC) in Migration and Integration at Ryerson University, said in a press release that the index helps policy analysts compare Canada’s performance over a period of time and is helpful in identifying areas where there is room for improvement.
“The MIPEX scores allow us to gauge how well our policies support or hinder newcomers on their path to settle into Canadian society,” said Triandafyllidou.
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