When we emigrated to Canada in the 1970s we didn't need ESL or settlement assistance, nor did we concern ourselves with having our credentials recognized, etc. etc. Indeed, we were the perfect immigrants, being from England we already had the language, arrived with some savings, my Dad's credentials and experience were immediately recognized and he had a good job and housing before we landed, bought our house within a couple of years and we've never needed any social assistance beyond the usual government programs of education, health care, never asked the nation, education or laws of the country to accommodate or change for our needs, etc. Now my Dad is a partner in a large firm, big house, nice car, etc. All his kids have their own houses, new cars, nice jobs, good, prosperous lives.
Today's immigrants to Canada arrive not speaking the language, with no money, nearly worthless (in the eyes of Canadian business) credentials, no housing pre-arranged beyond being stuffed with twenty other countrymen or relatives in crowded apartments or inner-suburban housing, demand special education costs (ESL), accommodation of their cultural needs (sharia law, anyone?), and add massively to our poverty and welfare rolls. If we had continued to bring immigrants from England, much of this could have been abated. Many of today's immigrants to Canada do not, IMO, choose Canada because of its appeal, but because it is a last resort escape from their otherwise dire and awful circumstances of poverty. With the English immigrants, it was much different...sure the home country was in trouble after the war, but my uncles, aunts, grandparents and cousins have all prospered well, but they chose Canada not as a last - no one else will take us - resort, but as a place a little like home.