Canadian Government Executive - Volume 24 - Issue 04

July/August 2018 // Canadian Government Executive / 31 POLICY The promise of a redefined government- citizenship relationship may not be too far away. Cities of migration While newcomers immigrate to Canada, they settle in our cities and local com- munities. Canadian cities are consistently ranked as the best places to live in the world. In 2014, Toronto placed first in the Grosvenor Resilient Cities Index, followed by Vancouver and Calgary. Canada’s eco- nomic strength and soft-power rests with the diversity and resilience of its urban communities. For example, almost 50 per cent of Toronto and Vancouver identified in the 2016 census as members of visible minorities. Medium-sized cities like Saska- toon, Regina, Oshawa, and Brandon have become more ethnically diverse. Cities provide well-paying jobs and gen- erate a disproportionate amount of tax revenue that support social programs. The spatial proximity of urban institutions and knowledge brokers helps to mobilize ex- pertise in the service of difficult problem- solving activities. “Smart” urban governance is what en- ables the world’s most vibrant cities – Lon- don, Berlin, New York, Tokyo, Paris, and Toronto – to function as international gate- ways while remaining incredibly resilient to contemporary geopolitical shocks and security threats. 4 Toronto’s resilience is be- ing tested this summer as it tries to cope with a large-scale influx of refugee claim- ants amidst a provincial-federal jurisdic- tional dispute over the cost of housing more than 3,000 newcomers. 5 Embedded within the political drama is a sobering re- minder that while newcomers migrate to Canada, they settle in Canadian cities and local communities. It is precisely for that reason that the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, has committed to working collaboratively with city may- ors on the global refugee crisis. 6 In addition to acting as national “shock absorbers,” resilient cities function as cen- tres of learning and laboratories of innova- tion. By contrast, struggling cities are often those which are locked-in to mature and often inefficient manufacturing technolo- gies. Migration destination countries that are incapable or unwilling to adapt to un- foreseen circumstances in a timely man- ner may suffer a similar fate as manufac- turing cities that were unprepared for the global shift to the post-industrial economy. Pioneering cities To remain a preferred destination for mi- gration, tourism, and business investment, it is imperative that Canada’s metropoli- tan centres and medium-sized cities be re- sourced with the “soft” infrastructure that will enable them to optimize the social and economic dividends of future migra- tion flows. Specifically, an agile and responsive migration management regime should integrate municipalities into the national policy making process, notwithstanding the fact that cities occupy the lowest po- sition in the federal hierarchy. One pos- sible remedy would be to duplicate the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) at the city level. A piloted program in a major migration city like Vancouver could serve as a powerful catalyst for both the federal Innovation Agenda and the proposed Cas- cadia Innovation Corridor. Integrating cities into the immigration planning and decision-making process would also ac- celerate Vancouver’s potential as a global knowledge and innovation leader. At its core, migration management in the coming decades will be a story about visionary leadership, managerial fore- sight, and strategic adaptation. In the same way that forward-looking public policy in the U.S. created the con- ditions for the internet to scale to critical mass, Canada’s future immigration policy could be used to accelerate urban eco- nomic innovation and to push out the na- tion’s productivity frontier. References: 1. United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, International Migration Report 2017 (2017). http://www.un.org/ en/development/desa/popula- tion/migration/publications/mi- grationreport/docs/MigrationRe- port2017_Highlights.pdf. 2. World Tourism Organization (WTO), “2017 World Tourism Re- sults: The Highest in Seven Years,” Press Release (18 January 2018). http://media.unwto.org/press- release/2018-01-15/2017-interna- tional-tourism-results-highest- seven-years. 3. World Economic Forum (WEF), The Known Traveller: Unlocking the Potential of Digital Identity for Secure and Seamless Travel (February 2017). http://www3. weforum.org/docs/WEF_The_ Known_Traveller_Digital_Iden- tity_Concept.pdf. 4. Richard Dobbs, Urban World: Mapping the Economic Power of Cities, McKinsey Global Institute (2011). http://www.mckinsey.com/ global-themes/urbanization/ urban-world-mapping-the-eco- nomic-power-of-cities 5. Alanna Rizza and Gabrielle Roy,” Deadline looms for hundreds of asylum seekers temporarily housed in Toronto student resi- dences,” Globe and Mail (08 Jul 2018). https://www.theglobeand- mail.com/canada/article-deadline- looms-for-hundreds-of-asylum- seekers-temporarily-housed-in/. 6. Damien McElroy, “UN refugee chief says world response is changing after Syria.” The Nation- al (18 September 2017). https:// www.thenational.ae/world/the- americas/un-refugee-chief-says- world-response-is-changing-af- ter-syria-1.629757, Bruce Katz and Jessica Brandt, “The Refugee Cri- sis is a City Crisis,” Metropolitan Revolution, The Brookings Institu- tion (3 November 2017). https:// www.brookings.edu/blog/met- ropolitan-revolution/2017/11/03/ the-refugee-crisis-is-a-city-crisis/. G rant D uckworth is the founder of Vancouver Strategic and Integrated Research (VSIR), a management consul- tancy specializing in knowledge mobili- zation and strategic intelligence. He is also a former Senior Analyst with the Government of Canada. To remain a preferred destination for migration, tourism, and business investment, it is imperative that Canada’s metropolitan centres and medium-sized cities be resourced with the “soft” infrastructure that will enable them to optimize the social and economic dividends of future migration flows.