Canada and the ICEM

Abstract

As a country built on immigration, it seems paradoxical that Canada has withdrawn from the Intergovernmental Committee for European Migration (ICEM) on December 31, 1962. A charter member of this organization, which was established in 1951 to cope with two particular problems overpopulation in Western Europe, and the residue of the refugee problem remaining after the liquidation of the International Refugee Organization Canada has contributed in experience to ICEM and has also gained from participation in it. What then is its reason for withdrawal, and what impact can its resignation be expected to have both on the ICEM and on Canadian immigration policies? That the decision to withdraw from ICEM was made solely by the Diefenbaker government, came out clearly in two exchanges in Parliament in November, 1962. In response to Liberal questions on November 1 and 13, the government justified its decision on two grounds: the Canadian preference for relying on bilateral arrangements and on Canada's own immigration facilities; and the cost of participation in ICEM which Mr. Howard Green, the Secretary of State for External Affairs, suggested was high in relation to Canada's use of ICEM's services. Maintaining that financial considerations were not the primary reason for Canada's withdrawal he declared that it had become increasingly difficult to justify paying such a price for an organization of marginal use to Canada. Beyond this, the decision was motivated by the Canadian government's lack of belief that national migration requires or justifies by itself the existence of an international agency particularly when it was apparent that the European economy was now able to absorb most of what was formerly its surplus population, and the refugee problem in Europe had been substantially reduced. To some degree, these arguments might appear to be justified. There is no doubt but that the remarkable economic development within Western Europe has resulted in transforming a situation marked by overpopulation into one in which there is persistent and growing demand for skilled and semi-skilled labour. Moreover, the freer movement of persons within the Common Market area means that in place of seeking outlets for skills abroad, Western Europeans are far more likely to follow the pattern so characteristic of the United