Thread by @thewalrus

Stay tuned for a Twitter takeover by @ktoughill talking about her cover story on immigration for the May edition of @thewalrus: thewalrus.ca/how-immigratio… 1/14

Hi everyone! I’m @ktoughill, here to tell you the story behind my article on how immigration really works. Meet Yiyun, who lived with my family as an international student. She was the inspiration for this piece. 2/14

Yiyun graduated summa cum laude from a top Canadian university but then couldn’t figure out how to realize her dream of making Canada her permanent home. The official info was just too complicated. #intled #cdnimm 3/14

I figured Yiyun’s confusion over Canadian immigration was a language issue or a cultural issue. I’m good with bureaucracy and assumed I could figure it out for her. I was wrong. 4/14

I discovered that Canada’s official immigration system is bonkers: a labyrinth of shifting eligibility criteria, conflicting programs, and arcane terminology scattered across websites where the info is sometimes flat-out wrong. #cdnimm 5/14

So I dove headfirst down the research rabbit hole to figure out why. I discovered that Canada is probably the most creative country in the world in terms of immigration policy. (That’s both good and bad.) #cdnimm 6/14

Canadian firsts: allowing private citizens to sponsor refugees; using a points system to determine immigration eligibility; and, now, leading a new trend of sharing immigration powers across society. #cdnimm 7/14

Canada has encouraged cities, provinces, nonprofit groups, unions, economic agencies, and industry groups to dream up their own programs to welcome new workers to the country. That creates opportunity—and confusion. #cdnimm 8/14

Canada has more than 100 paths to permanent residence—and there isn’t even a master list! Why do it this way? As @JohnIbbitson wrote in Empty Planet, Canada needs immigrants to drive the economy, and this need is different in different places #cdnimm 9/14 amazon.ca/dp/B07831GCLL/…

There have been some spectacular failures along the way, but the hodgepodge system has meant that more immigrants are settling where they are needed most—outside the hubs of Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal. #cdnimm 10/14

Another tantalizing aspect of Canada’s immigration system: some believe it has inoculated the population against the xenophobic politics that have swept parts of Europe and the US. (This @Gallup poll!) #cdnimm 11/14

Polling by @Environics_Inst shows that public support for immigration has been rising for twenty years in Canada, even through the pandemic. #cdnimm 12/14

And Yiyun? She finally became a permanent resident six years after graduating near the top of her class. Now, she is an essential worker caring for the children of her Canadian friends and neighbours. 13/14 #intled #cdnimm

That’s it from me, @ktoughill. Thanks to @thewalrus for sharing their Twitter account. You can read my story here: thewalrus.ca/how-immigratio… 14/14