295). During this time, there was much controversy between people of different countries against the British Empire. Many of the people who were involved in this were disciplined for their actions by being confined and arrested. During the Second World War and the Great Depression, the government prevented immigrants who were understood to have a communist view from entering into Canada, which they then saw a decrease in immigration soon after. .
In 1952, the Immigration Act reinstated that any denied entry into Canada was based on the individual's nationality, origin, and customs of them themselves and their families. This caused much controversy, and it was not long after when this act was abolished and based on the individual's personal characteristics (Abu-Laban & Gabriel, 2003, p.295). As the years continued to go on, the country of Canada began to make some major changes to its system in relation to immigration. Immigrants were not based on their nationality, origin, customs, language, ethnic and racial preferences but based on the skills that were essential to the individual and to our country. Canada's development of the point system, in which Canada still continues to use today, evaluated applicants based on education and skill level (Abu-Laban & Gabriel, p.296). In 2001, Canada opened up its borders to immigrants who would be of great necessity to our country and who wanted to change their life for the better and kept out unwanted immigrants. This act was called the Immigration and Refugee Protection act (IRPA). This new law allowed for some new and better changes for Canada through the family class program, which allowed common-law and same-sex couples to immigrate as well as the highly skilled immigrants.
Canada's current policy has three classifications of immigration: Family Reunification, Economic Immigrant, and Refugee. Approximately 30% of immigrants come through the Family Reunification program (Citizenship and Immigration Canada, 2009).