Mexicans head North to Canada

The CS Moniter reports:

For a small but growing number of Mexicans the promised land of "El Norte" means life above the 49th parallel. And while the US is fortifying its borders and tightening entry requirements, Canada is putting out the welcome mat.

"Canada has awakened to Mexico and vice versa," says Mendel Green, an immigration lawyer in Canada. "It's a fit."

To date, the number of Mexicans going to the far north is only a trickle compared with the flood still heading to the US each year. In 1995, just 482 Mexicans became permanent residents of Canada, according to the Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration (CIC). By 2004, that number had more than tripled, to 1,648. (By comparison, the US gave 173,664 immigrant visas to Mexicans in 2004.)

"Canada needs immigrants," explains Canada's ambassador to Mexico, Gaëtan Lavertu, flatly. Canada's vast land, small population (32 million), and low birthrate (about 1.61 children per couple), combined with its strong economic growth (the fastest of all the G-8 countries in the past 10 years) explains this attitude. "We have always looked at immigration as a way to bring in new talent and faces. And now the dynamism of our economy requires it," says the ambassador.