Immigration : Immigration

The provinces are limited in that any laws they may pass must not be “repugnant to any Act of the Parliament of Canada.” The principal federal legislation governing immigration is the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act,4 which permits the minister of Citizenship and Immigration to enter into agreements with the provinces. [...] This objective was to be achieved primarily by Quebec’s formal role in advising about the number of immigrants it wishes to receive, the attempt to ensure numbers of immigrants proportional to the population of the province, and Quebec’s assumption of all integration services, with a particular emphasis on providing permanent residents with the means to learn the French language. [...] Admission in relation to immigrants means the application of the criteria relating to criminality, security and health, in addition to the administrative processing of applications and physical admission to Canada at ports of entry. [...] This latter requirement reflects the fact, noted in one of the recitals at the beginning of the Accord, that the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees freedom of movement to all permanent residents in Canada. [...] Since the introduction of the Accord, the Joint Committee’s mandate has included monitoring the speed of processing immigrants destined to Quebec, providing an opinion on any changes Canada might wish to make to the definition of classes of immigrants and the inadmissibility criteria, and studying annually the reception and integration services offered by both Canada and Quebec.