Over the past few decades, Canada has become known as an open country that opens its doors to newcomers.

Because Canada's immigration policy has included increasing population growth, filling labor gaps and harboring refugees fleeing conflicts around the world.

But in recent months, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said he wants to significantly reduce the number of immigrants allowed into Canada.

The reason for this is that social services are not available due to the increase in the number of immigrants, the cost of living has increased and the cost of housing has skyrocketed.

As a result, the people of Canada are in a state of great concern.

Coming out of this liberalism is a big change for both Canada and Trudeau.

In 2015, the country welcomed multiculturalism as a core part of Canadian identity.

The Trudeau government relied on ambitious immigration targets for economic growth.

Faced with criticism and plummeting approval ratings, the prime minister now says her government made a mistake and needs to "stabilize" Canada's population growth rate so government infrastructure can continue.

On Thursday, Trudeau and the country's immigration minister, Mark Miller, presented their toughest immigration cutbacks ever.

Under these cuts, the rate of people coming to live permanently in the country by 2025 has been reduced by 21 percent.

In other words, although the target of permanent residents is 5 lakh, it will be reduced to 395 thousand in 2025.

In addition, these cuts are mentioned in the temporary residence programs in Canada. This means that temporary foreign workers and international students will also be included in this deduction.

The change in government policy is being cited as an attempt to "stop population growth".

Under which the approval rate of immigration in the country will be greatly reduced. As a result, population growth in Canada will be halted within the next two years.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the government needed this time to strengthen health care programs and housing in various states.

But in explaining such a change in Canada's immigration policy, Justin Trudeau is saying one thing. That is: "Canadians are proud of their immigration system".

"Canada's immigration has made our economy the envy of the world," he said. "That's how we've built strong, diverse communities."

Trudeau, however, acknowledged that his government allowed a record number of temporary residents into the country to address labor shortages that emerged after the Covid-19 pandemic. Because of this, the "balance could not be maintained" in immigration.

This is why it is now necessary to "stabilize" Canada's immigration system.

Trudeau's announcement comes after public support for immigration in Canada has waned.

In Canada since 1977, an organization called the Environics Institute has been monitoring the attitude of Canadians towards immigration.

For the first time in 25 years, 58 percent, the majority of people, said that the number of immigrants to the country has now increased significantly, according to the latest survey in September this year.

According to the organization, the primary reason for this change in people's attitudes is the housing crisis there.

As housing is limited compared to immigration, the natives become quite anxious.

At the same time, Canada's unemployment rate rose to 6.5 percent and the youth unemployment rate rose to 14 percent.

But the economy, overpopulation and how the immigration system is being managed are also big factors in changing people's attitudes.

Trudeau and his government have been criticized for raising immigration rates without building public services or housing, and economists warn that Canada's growing population will put enormous pressure on public service sectors like housing and health care.

In an October newsletter, pollster David Colletto of Abacus Data said,

"I think the consensus on immigration has broken down and hopefully it will be one of the most important issues in federal and provincial politics in the coming year."

Immigration accounted for 97 percent of Canada's population growth last year, according to federal government data.

Since Justin Trudeau was elected in 2015, his government has raised the annual permanent resident target from 272,000 to 485,000.

However, 2021 saw the largest increase in immigration after the Covid-19 pandemic.

Canada has been largely welcoming to immigrants. According to the data, Canada ranks highest in the world in terms of refugee resettlement. The country has developed a reputation for valuing newcomers over the past 50 years.

The Canadian Multiculturalism Act, passed in 1988, recognizes diversity as an integral part of Canada's identity. Its multicultural heritage is also enshrined in the constitution.

"Since the late 1990s or so, Canadian attitudes have been overwhelmingly pro-immigration," University of Toronto political science professor Michael Donnelly told the BBC.

In 2019, Canada had the most positive outlook on immigration among the top 10 immigration destination countries, according to a Pew Research report.

Professor Donnelly said immigrants are a large part of Canada's electorate. Because of which the main political parties cannot take an anti-immigration stance.

Canada has rarely faced the problems that other countries have faced due to uncontrolled immigration.

Canada's geographic location has played a role in this. Because the country is surrounded by three oceans and the United States of America to the south.

People there consider the country's immigration system to be quite open and well-regulated.

But this positive view has changed a lot in the last few years, says Professor Donnelly.

One reason for this is the large number of temporary residents in Canada.

According to the Canadian Bureau for International Education, the number of international students will increase by nearly 30 percent from 2022 to 2023.

Meanwhile, the number of temporary foreign workers in Canada has doubled in the past five years, according to government data.

Another major reason Canadians have a negative perception of immigration is that they feel Canada's immigration system has lost its integrity.

According to Professor Donnelly, the Canadian government's miscalculation is partly to blame.

After Canada lifted visa requirements for Mexican tourists in 2016, the number of refugee asylum applications in Canada increased overnight.

Later this year, the country was forced to reimpose visa requirements for Mexicans.

Canadian media have also reported that some international students are using their temporary visas to claim permanent asylum in the country - a trend Minister Miller called "alarming".

Professor Donnelly said these incidents "have forced people to think that the government no longer has control over migration flows".

The increase in immigration to the country led to a severe housing crisis that affected Canadians across the country.

As there are fewer houses to live in compared to the demand, one has to pay more money than before to rent or buy a house.

Because of this, people's minds about immigration continue to grow.

"Canadians are seeing a lot of new immigrants coming in. That's going to cause a housing shortage and that's the main cause of the crisis," he said.

Professor Donnelly points out that while Canada faces many racist rhetoric about immigration, the way attitudes about immigration have been shaped in Europe or the neighboring United States were not the driving force behind change in Canada at the outset.

Rather, it is the Canadian people's desire for the effectiveness of the immigration process that has gained importance there

"The Trudeau government is clearly trying to send one message. And that is 'we have everything under control.'

However, immigration advocacy groups such as the Migrant Rights Network have criticized the reduction in immigration targets.

The organization wrote an open letter to Trudeau and Miller saying that immigrants are being unfairly blamed for Canada's crisis.

"Immigrants are not responsible for Canada's housing crisis, lack of jobs, or inadequate health care or other public services," they said.

According to them, the root cause of the crisis is "decades of underfunding and privatization of public services due to federal and provincial policies".