Canada is set to welcome more than 1 million new immigrants over the next three years, with an annual intake that could reach as high as 390,000 in 2022.

On Tuesday, Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino released the much anticipated multi-year immigration plan, which will see the country usher in as many as 1.14 million newcomers between 2020 and 2022.

Despite fears of a global recession due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Toronto-based immigration policy analyst Kareem El-Assal said the high immigration intake is justified with more than 9 million Canadians reaching retirement age in the next decade.

“We need to be proactive in immigration policies. New immigrants are not here just to fill immediate job vacancies. With baby boomers retiring in the next 10 years, we need to put ourselves in healthy economic standing by increasing the immigration level,” said El-Assal, director of policy and digital strategy at CanadaVisa, an immigration website run by a Montreal-based law firm.

According to the plan, Canada will bring in about 341,000 newcomers this year, 351,000 in 2021 and 361,000 in 2022. The majority will come under one of the economic immigration streams, which make up about 58 per cent of the intake; followed by those sponsored by Canadians as spouses and parents/grandparents (about 26 per cent); with the remaining 16 per cent as refugees or on humanitarian grounds.

In response to the labour market needs of an aging population, especially in remote communities, Ottawa will also raise the annual intake of caregivers, agri-food workers and immigrants willing to settle in smaller communities in Canada’s north, from 5,200 in 2020 to 9,500 in 2022.

However, the overall targets will remain the same for family-class immigration, meaning only 70,000 spouses and children and 21,000 parents and grandparents will be admitted in each of the next three years.

Mendicino said the plan strikes a balance between meeting Canada’s economic needs and obligation to reunite families and shelter refugees in need of protection. The increased annual immigrant intake also allows him to turn a pilot project to attract immigrants to the Atlantic provinces into a permanent program.

“It’s vitally important that we continue to leverage immigration as a way of creating economic opportunity and growth,” Mendicino told the Star in an interview. “The vast majority of Canadians support immigration. My message to the doubters is to believe in immigration because it has proven to be a net positive to our economy and to our country.”

Canada also slightly raised the number of refugees the federal government is sponsoring from 10,700 this year to 11,450, while the target for those sponsored by church and community groups remains unchanged at 20,000 a year.

“Canada continues to demonstrate leadership at a critical time when refugee needs are growing worldwide,” said Rema Jamous Imseis, the representative in Canada for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. “This is great news not only for the Canada of today, but also for future generations to come, as refugees make essential contributions to our country’s economy and our communities.”

In 2019, Canada welcomed the highest number of new immigrants in more than a century last year, opening its doors to 341,180 people from 175 different countries, exceeding Ottawa’s initial target of 330,000. A whopping 45 per cent — or 153,340 newcomers — settled in Ontario, followed by British Columbia (50,845), Alberta (43,685) and Quebec (40,545).