Family class and immigration in Canada

As the proportion of family class admitted to Canada declined relative to the number of economic immigrants, so too did the proportion of parents and grandparents in relation to the other family class categories such as spouses, partners and children. [...] In 1994, Canada admitted 41,477 parents or grandparents (44% of the family class) and 36,545 spouses and partners (39% of the family class).8 Throughout the rest of the 1990s, the number of parents and grandparents who immigrated continued to drop (a low of 14,201 in 1998). [...] In comparing the decline in the admission of women and men as parents and grandparents during the past ten years, one finds that in 1994, 22,780 women and 18,697 men entered Canada. [...] If they came as family members they were admitted through immigration policy regulations that gave recognition to a particular form of the family unit and designated them as ‘dependants’ of the male ‘head of the family.’ The husband, as the presumed head of the family, became the guarantor of others “to ensure that these family members did not become a ‘public charge’” (Côté et al. [...] The 1967 changes to the Immigration Act finally abolished in principle discrimination on the basis of national and ethnic origin and firmly established a point system that assessed immigrants on the basis of age, education and occupational demand (Li 2003).13 The 1976 Immigration Act was crucial in distinguishing between family members accompanying the principal applicant upon landing and individu