Immigration Minister wants Quebec to increase family reunification capacity

The Immigration Minister of Canada, Marc Miller, has expressed concern regarding Quebec’s family reunification policy. Quebec has significant control over its immigration policy, including family reunification, currently limited to 10,000. With a backlog of 30,000 families waiting to come to Canada, Quebec aims to reduce these numbers. The Plan d’immigration du Québec 2023 reflects Quebec’s strict immigration policy, targeting 49,500 to 52,500 new permanent residents, which deviates from business groups’ proposal to increase immigration levels for labour shortages. Despite the Federal Government’s plan to bring 465,000 newcomers to Canada in 2023, Quebec aims to bring in only half its available number. Furthermore, most of Quebec’s immigrants are Francophone, which restricts the number of incoming immigrants.