Canada made history in 1967 it was the
first country in the world ever to go to
a merit-based point system for
immigration the goal the system is
summed up with this one sentence on a
government immigration website quote we
choose skilled immigrants as permanent
residents based on their ability to
settle in Canada and take part in our
economy so beginning in 67 an
applicant's race color nationality that
no longer mattered to be blunt
being white ceased to be the advantage
it had been Canada like many other
countries had a history of
discriminatory immigration policies
dating all the way back to post-world
War one among those excluded until the
mid 20th century were communists
Mennonites Austrians Turks and Chinese a
ban on black immigrants had been
considered in 1911 but not implemented
the restrictions began to ease after
World War two
in part because of a demand for labour
to fuel the country's robust economy but
racial discrimination wasn't officially
mixed until 62 here's how the
comprehensive merit-based point system
unveiled five years later ranks
potential immigrants goes by work skills
education levels language ability
speaking french or english and family
connections more specifically applicants
must first score at least 67 or better
on a 100 point scale to be considered
for immigration to Canada points are
awarded in these six categories language
skills the more fluency in English and
French
Canada's official languages the more
points you get
education 5 for a high school diploma 19
for a two-year college degree 23 for a
master's and 25 for a PhD work
experience points are applied based on
how skilled the job is plus how many
years the applicants been doing it age
young people in the 18 to 35 bracket get
the maximum and then points decrease
with age job offer from a Canadian
employer that's 10 points then
adaptability this includes things like
family ties to Canadians or past visits
to the country about 63% of those
granted legal permanent residents are
admitted for their economic
skills Canadians they like the system
and they like immigration recent polls
show 82 percent think immigration has a
positive impact on the economy and
support for migration has actually
increased in recent years one public
affairs professor put it this way quote
the advantage of our system is the
people who come in everyone agrees
they've passed some sort of merit system
the Canadian population in particular is
more willing to buy into immigration
they can see it's managed and that's an
advantage