Immigration Minister Tells US Public Broadcaster Canada an ‘Open Country’

Marc Miller arrives for a cabinet swearing-in ceremony at Rideau Hall in Ottawa on July 26, 2023. (The Canadian Press/Justin Tang)

In his recent appearance on a U.S. radio program, Immigration Minister Marc Miller said Canada had made a “conscious decision” to be an “open country” for immigration.

The comments relate to an interview Mr. Miller participated in for the American public broadcaster NPR in the program Freakonomics last month, as first covered by Blacklock’s Reporter. According to a report from Blacklock’s, his office did not respond to further questions regarding the interview.

In the NPR interview, Mr. Miller said, “There is no doubt that we have made a conscious decision to be an open country and a country that needs to grow,” adding, “The reality is we don’t have much of a choice.”

Canada’s population has surged in recent years, with most of the growth coming from immigration into the country.

While Mr. Miller noted during the interview that the population of Canada had reached 40 million, Statistics Canada estimates stated earlier this month that the figure had surpassed 41 million.

StatCan said that temporary visas for workers and students made up most of the population growth rate as over 800,000 temporary residents arrived in Canada last year, compared to just over 470,000 permanent residents.

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As of January 1, 2024, StatCan estimates that there are over 2.6 million non-permanent residents in Canada overall.

Mr. Miller also told NPR that illegal immigration was a minor issue for Canada.

“You know we have an ocean to the left of us and an ocean to the right, a nuclear superpower to the south and a block of ice to the north,” he said and added, “So geographically it’s difficult to reach Canada.”

Despite geographical difficulties, thousands of illegal immigrants have entered Canada in recent years, with the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB) recording 31,475 entries in 2023.

Costs associated with housing and caring for asylum seekers who have entered Canada illegally have totalled in the hundreds of millions of dollars. In 2023, Ottawa spent $769 million on hotels and meals for refugees and illegal immigrants, according to government data.

The cost of hotels for asylum seekers in the tourist hub of Niagara Falls cost the government over $100 million in the span of a year, with the average asylum seeker’s accommodation costing around $208 per day.

Minister Miller told NPR the demographic challenges of an aging population “keep me up at night” and said “It’s something that we need to fix now or else we’ll be in serious trouble for all the broad social services that we provide as a country. That can’t be filled domestically through baby booms alone. It has to be filled through immigration.”