Canada's prosperity depends on immigration

When news broke on January 8 that Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 had gone down shortly after departing Tehran, Canadians were startled and horrified to learn how many of the victims had ties to Canada. Of the 138 passengers who were connecting to Toronto and then on to other cities across the country, 63 were Canadian citizens. The reporting that followed revealed — in the most devastating manner possible — a fundamental and poorly acknowledged truth about Canadian society: we would be a far, far less innovative and prosperous country without international students and immigrants. 85 of the passengers on Flight 752 were students, researchers, academics, and engineering or medical practitioners in Canada. Their loss is an unspeakable blow.

Following the tragedy, we dedicated much of this issue to covering important trends related to Canada's international research relationships and to international students in Canada: Lindsay Borthwick examined how, despite rising protectionist and anti-Chinese rhetoric in the U.S., U.K. and Australia, the benefits of research collaboration with China vastly outweigh the risks; Mark Lowey reported on why some experts think Canada would be wise to embrace Huawei's contributions to our 5G networks; and in this month's Opinion Leader column, Century Initiative director Jasmine Gill writes about how Canadian colleges and universities in small cities and rural areas can and should do more to attract international students. If there's one lesson to be drawn from the tragedy of Flight 752, it's that Canada must continue to pursue internationalism in research and education.