Development of the Constitution Act of Canada and the sections which apply to immigration - Essay Example

Development of the Constitution Act of Canada and the Sections Which Apply to Immigration The laws concerning immigration in the constitution of Canada have gone through several amendments to the present day Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. Canada has concurrent administration where there is the Federal law and the provincial law. However, in instances where the two laws appear to be conflicting or are concurrent, the federal law always remains supreme and overrides the provincial law. Immigration law is considered as a concurrent law and this post will concentrate on federal law (Makarenko, 2012).

Since the year 1867, the government of Canada has constantly acknowledge the need for immigrants into the country. Immigrants were freely allowed in to Canada so that they could occupy the available lands and create market for Canadian commodities. Two years later, in 1869, the government passed the first immigration Act that had a few discriminatory restrictions. The discriminations were for strategic reasons and was supported by some Acts such as the1885 Chinese Head Tax and Exclusion Act (Makarenko).

The Second World War made the Canadian government to enact more legislations on immigration that did not allow immigrants from enemy countries. These restrictions were enacted in the Wartime Elections Act and War Measures Act. After the world war there was need to create a more socially integrated nation that would favor economic growth considering that there were immigrants from counties that were perceived as enemies. Later the government banned immigration of Chinese people due to Canadians losing their jobs to immigrants.

In 1976, the Canadian government introduced another law that provided a new policy for admission of immigrants and it gave categories of immigrants. The categories were independent, humanitarian, assisted-relative and family classes. Later, in 1978, the government recognized refugees as legal immigrants (Makarenko).The government still recognizes the earlier reasons for the need for immigrants. The country still needed immigrants for economic growth and thus in 2001 the government passed Immigration and Refugee Protection Act that put restrictions on immigration eligibility (Government Of Canada, 2001).

Later the government got into agreement with America and British-Columbia so as to regulate inflow of refugees from these two countries (Makarenko, 2012).ReferencesGovernment Of Canada. (2001). Part 2: Refugee Protection. Retrieved from Justice Law Website: http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/I-2.5/page-41.html#h-51Makarenko, J. (2012, August 12). Immigration Policy in Canada: History, Administration and Debates. Retrieved from Maple Leaf Web: http://mapleleafweb.com/features/immigration-policy-canada-history-administration-and-debates