Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) would like to invite you to participate in an online consultation on immigration levels planning.

The purpose of this consultation is to seek your feedback on immigration to Canada, specifically on the total number of new permanent residents Canada should welcome and how this overall total should be distributed among immigration categories.

The consultation will explore a number of issues related to three main questions:

1. What is the appropriate level of immigration for Canada? Should the number of immigrants per year change?
2. What is the appropriate distribution – or mix – between the number of economic immigrants, family class immigrants and refugees?
3. Economic immigration is recognized as a key immigration objective for Canada’s long-term economic growth. What role can immigration play to support Canada’s economy?

Prior to completing the questionnaire, please read the following background document (which is also attached for your reference). This serves to give you a sense of some of the challenges and realities we face as we strive to best answer the difficult questions involved in managing Canada’s immigration system. The full questionnaire is attached if you wish to view and/or print the document to plan your responses before submitting your feedback online. Please note that this attachment is included for reference purposes only; responses must be submitted using the online questionnaire.

A report on the consultations, including a summary of responses to the online consultation questionnaire, will be available on our website in fall 2012 or winter 2013.

More information about this consultation process is available on the CIC web site at: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/department/consultations/index.asp.  The online consultation will be available from July 31 to August 31, 2012.

We invite you to forward this email to other organizations or individuals you feel would be interested in participating.

Thank you in advance for your input.