The immigration system of the Canadians and Americans was similar back in the day. They would only take people from Britain and other areas in Europe, but now they take people from all over the place. Now the way we think is different. In 1986 Canada received the Nansen Refugee Award. Some factors that affect our immigration choices are multiculturalism, illegal immigration, and people's thoughts on immigration itself.
In one public opinion poll, Canadians believed that multiculturalism is less important than free national health care but more important than things like the flag, Mounties and Hockey. [footnoteRef:1] When Canada stopped being such a British country and needed to create their own identity, it already had a large francophone minority. 1 The need for bilingualism pushed them to the multicultural society we have today. The Americans, on the other hand, are not as welcoming as the Canadians are. Multiple Republican presidential candidates have routinely slandered Muslim and Latino immigrants. One also even said that he doesn't feel comfortable with a Muslim in charge of this country. [footnoteRef:2] In the recent election, almost 50 percent of the united states voted for the republican party, and they are under total Republican rule. This shows that almost half a country wants what that party wants which is discrimination. [1: Austin, E. G. "The United States v Canada." The Economist. May 20, 2011. Accessed January 19, 2017. ] [2: Wilkinson, A. B. "U. S. Multiculturalism or Cultural Assimilation?" The Huffington Post. October 01, 2015. Accessed January 19, 2017. ] Illegal immigration is something brought up in the news all the time with the recent election in the united states. Donald Trump will be the 45th president of the United States on Friday, January 20th. He has been criticized multiple times for saying things like banning Muslim immigrants and, most popular, building a wall along the American/Mexican border to stop illegal immigration. Canada is also sharing a southern border with the country. That country is the United States. There are not a lot of people wanting to flee to Canada. Therefore, it eases public anxiety about it. Canada also has a smaller population and birth rate than America, which means that more immigrants would help them. America has about 11 million undocumented immigrants. Most of these come from their neighboring country, Mexico. [footnoteRef:3] This could make people skeptical about allowing Mexican immigrants in their country. This also makes Mexicans look bad, and that changes the way people see immigrants in their country. [3: Jordan, Miriam. "Number of Illegal Immigrants in U. S. Holds Steady at 11 Million." The Wall Street Journal. September 20, 2016. Accessed January 19, 2017. ] People from Canada view immigrants differently than most people from America. Most Canadians are convinced that there are positive economic benefits that come with immigration. A recent poll showed that o...
