Toronto could welcome almost 170,000 immigrants over the next 3 years are we ready?

Nearly one million immigrants will be coming to Canada over the next three years, and tens ofthousands of them will wind up in Toronto but is the city ready for an influx of newcomers?

On the heels of the Liberalgovernment's newly-announced strategy toboost immigration levels in the years ahead, Toronto immigration experts are raising questions about whether there is adequate support for therising tide ofeconomic migrants, family reunificationsand refugees, in a city where both stable work and housing can be hard to find.

• Canada to admit nearly 1 million immigrants over next 3 years

"The rate of unemployment for racialized immigrant women is very, very high," says Catherine McNeely, theexecutive director of Newcomer Women's Services, a non-profit settlement organization.

The latest census data shows more than 55 per cent of visibleminority residents in Toronto are living on less than $30,000 a year, she adds.

"When they do get work, it'sminimum wage, it's precarious, it's shift work," she says. "We serve a huge number of women who live just north of the Danforth, where ...57 per cent of the households have incomes under $40,000."

Margaret Eaton agrees. Asexecutive director of the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council, she stresses how most immigrants are highly educated, yet an economic divide persists.

Employers, she says, need to step up and give newcomers a shot. "The heads of these big corporations have to cascade down that message to their hiring managers, and then you have to hire someone."

No. of immigrants climbing to 340,000 in 2020

And that pool of potential workerscould grow quickly, thanks to the plan announced on Nov. 1.

Dubbed"the most ambitious"planin recent history byImmigration MinisterAhmedHussen, it means the number of immigrantscoming to Canada will climb to 310,000 in 2018, up from 300,000 this year.

That number will rise againto 330,000 in 2019 then 340,000 in 2020.

Coun.Jim Karygiannis, who represents Ward 39,Scarborough-Agincourt,praised the Liberals' planand said previous governments haven't been "courageous" enough to move in that direction. He also saysmore people in Toronto means more support is needed.

"We need to get ready for them,"Karygiannisexplains. "We need to make sure our schools are prepared because a lot of the kids coming in do not speak English. We need to make sure we have services."

It's crucial in Toronto specifically, a city which has typically been a "huge magnet" for people coming from abroad, Eaton says.

Hussen says the government plans to prioritize integration of immigrants, ensuring they have access to theresources they require to thrive.

"The supports are there, and they will continue to be there and we are working very closely to the industry," he said.

Toronto home to 17% of recent immigrants

The 2016 census showed the citywas home to more than 17 per cent of all recent immigrants to Canada, even though less than eightper cent of the country's population lives in Toronto.

If that trend continued, the citywould be welcoming more than 50,000 immigrants in 2018 alone, and nearly 170,000 over the next three years.

But as the city continues to strugglewith affordable housing, one expert says it might not be a diasporadestination in the years ahead.

• How do the Canadian and American immigration systems stack up?

Diane Dyson, director of research and public policy at WoodGreen community services, says many of the recent Syrian refugees, for instance,wound up settling elsewhere in the GTA.

"A lot of them arrived in Toronto, were sponsored in Toronto, but they moved outside the city boundaries," she says, to places like Mississauga and Markham where housing is more affordable.

Still, the flow of newcomers might shrink, but it certainly won't slow to a trickle.

"If immigrants are going to come to Toronto and have success, they must be supported," says Eaton.