&w=64&q=75)
The Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, has expressed concerns over the high influx of immigrants into his country, saying the number of newcomers must be brought under control.
He made this known while addressing an audience at a housing announcement in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, on Tuesday, April 2, 2024.
Trudeau, who is famous for his liberal stance on immigration, said the number of temporary immigrants in Canada has quadrupled in the last seven years.
He noted that the number of temporary workers coming into the country has far exceeded what they can absorb.
"Whether it's temporary foreign workers or whether it's international students in particular, that have grown at a rate far beyond what Canada has been able to absorb.
"To give an example, in 2017, two per cent of Canada's population was made up of temporary immigrants. Now we're at 7.5 percent of our population comprised of temporary immigrants. That's something we need to get back under control," Daily Mail quoted Trudeau.
Speaking further, the Prime Minister said, "We want to get those numbers down.
"It's a responsible approach to immigration that continues on our permanent residents, as we have, but also holds the line a little more on the temporary immigration that has caused so much pressure in our communities."
The North American country confronts a 130% spike in the number of asylum seekers, with Mexicans, Haitians, Turks, Indians, and Colombians leading the pack in that order.
The development has left shelters across the country overwhelmed and officials scrambling with an $822 million crisis.
Shelter systems across cities are overpopulated, forcing the Trudeau government to take drastic measures to stem the inflow of people north.
The rapid growth in asylum seekers in Canada is happening at the same time the country is experiencing record population gains, driven by foreign workers and international students.
In March, the Canadian government announced plans to reduce the size of its temporary resident population, a group that includes asylum claimants and foreigners on temporary work permits.
Mayor of Brampton, Ontario, Patrick Brown, described as "ugly" the situation in Peel, a Toronto suburb, where the shelter system is running at 300 per cent of capacity.
"If Canada's going to allow more asylum claimants into our country, we need to make sure that they're not left abandoned, and frankly, what we've seen is too much of that," Brown said this week.
The Mayor added that about 80% of asylum claimants in Brampton came from African countries, including Nigeria and Kenya.