News Briefs – Centralization and Family Class Redesign Pilot

Earlier this year, CIC concluded its evaluation of the Centralization and Family Class Redesign Pilot (the Pilot), established to test the feasibility of centralized processing and of the redesigned FC application kit.

The reports suggest that no increase in productivity was gained from processing applications centrally in Canada, and no improvements in processing times were found. It was found, however, that redesign of the Family Class application kit could yield significant results.

Population Growth Relying on Immigration

Statistics Canada says the country's fertility rate is falling
compared with that of the United States, but it is still well above other
developed countries, Prof. David Foot said Wednesday.

Overall, in 1999, Canada's population growth rate was 8.6 per 1,000,
compared with 12.3 in the United States. About 337,200 babies were born in
Canada in 1999. Had Canada's fertility rate been the same as that of the
United States, the country would have had an estimated additional 123,000
births, bringing the population growth rate to 12.7 per 1,000.

Low birth rates mean that immigration has become the main contributor to
population growth. At present levels, deaths are expected to exceed births
in Canada in about 20 to 25 years. U.S. population projections indicate
that births will continue to exceed deaths for the next 50 years.