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Immigration has been a hot topic of political discourse for years now in Canada. And following recently announced immigration targets, the conversation concerning immigration has been reignited. 2022 marked a record year for Canada, welcoming 431, 645 new permanent residents. New targets seek to raise this number to 500,000 new immigrants by 2025.

As questions surrounding immigration persist, experts and political leaders will continue to rely on work done by researchers to inform their decision-making. In a recent article by the Canadian Press, NB-IRDT Director, Dr. Ted McDonald, was asked to lend his knowledge to the conversation. He says, “Raising immigration levels [alone] isn't the right way to address current labour shortages.” Policy regarding immigration must be aligned with problems currently ongoing in the labour market to be effective.

At a time when public trust is at an all time low according to the most recent CanTrust Index, transparency is more important than ever. At NB-IRDT, our goal is to help governments, communities, and partners make trusted, evidence-informed decisions for citizens’ benefit. Recognizing that immigration is a multidimensional issue, ongoing research at the Institute is exploring elements related to immigrant experience, migration and retention, impacts on the province’s systems and the level of success for different programs designed to attract workers to the province.