Becoming Canadian: Making Sense of Recent Changes to Citizenship Rules

We can tentatively conclude on a positive note: in an international comparison, Canada still does very well (Peuker 2008; Michalowski 2011). Canada has fairly high naturalization rates, and naturalization is clearly not a mechanism for immigration control, as it is in several coun-tries in Europe. On the contrary, the Migrant Integration Policy Index (2013) says Canada’s “new citizenship test and guide is the most professional of all countries.” However, we should not forget that, in Canada, selection takes place predominantly in the policy realm of immi-gration, and there is a growing emphasis on two-step migration (Goldring and Landolt 2013; Banting 2012). 
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