A refugee advocate says the revelation that a dozen public servants broke Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada’s rules by improperly accessing its data system could stem from a lack of official communication from the department to applicants.
The immigration minister never said she was launching a new ‘program’ to which people could apply, but the piecemeal rollout and failing to correct the record ‘invited deceit by unscrupulous actors,’ says Tamara Mosher-Kuczer, a top-ranking immigration lawyer.
Canada is drawing on the human capital of countries with fragile health systems while stepping back from investing in those same systems.
Details have trickled out about plans, including to scrap the French-outside-Quebec criteria as a consideration in the core economic immigration program, but it would remain in place for category selection immigration programs.
NDP MP Heather McPherson says the government’s failure to expedite these applications is ‘an international embarrassment.’
The declining birthrate of francophones offers a nightmare scenario for Quebec.
When residents cannot access the care they need, they cannot work, contribute, or participate fully in society.
A 2023 House motion called for Canada to accept 10,000 Uyghur refugees by the end of 2026. But a senior departmental official told the House Immigration Committee last month that fewer than 300 people have arrived in Canada.
A petition asking to extend temporary work permits by 24 months ‘will ensure people are not forced into uncertainty after already enduring significant hardship,’ says NDP MP Jenny Kwan.
The investigation concluded ‘the true intent’ of Christiane Fox, then-deputy minister at the department, was to help Bjorn Charles ‘find new employment, and this occurred under her watch through the creation of a position in her department to fit [his] needs.’
The auditor general found the federal department investigated only 4,057 out of 153,324 foreign students who were potentially non-compliant with their study permits in 2023 and 2024.
We are still operating a credentialing system optimized for the 1980s economy. We should reimagine policy, and train workers for the Canadian labour market in their home countries before they emigrate.
The impact of this destructive regime is by no means confined to foreign lands. It’s time to confront it with resolve.
A PBO report shows that the government is following plans to slow population growth after a recent surge in temporary workers and foreign students, but critics say future effects are not measured, and the fate of many temporary residents remain uncertain.
If passed as is, Bill C-12 will impede the right of people fleeing persecution and torture to access asylum in Canada, undermining our government’s obligations under international law and risking our status as a global leader in the field of refugee protection.
If Canada continues to designate the U.S. as ‘safe’ while lethal immigration operations continue, then our realism is selective. We cannot claim moral leadership while outsourcing our conscience to a treaty signed under political conditions that no longer exist.
Conservatives are capitalizing on the recent drop in public support for immigration, but risk being seen as too MAGA adjacent, say observers. Meanwhile, the immigration minister’s own colleagues question her handling of the file.
Amid promised referendums in Quebec and Alberta, former public servants should keep in mind the ammunition they could provide to the separatists’ cause—and keep it quiet.
The law would grant cabinet broad authority to suspend, terminate, or cancel entire categories of immigration applications whenever deemed to be in the ‘public interest.’ Without clearer definitions and safeguards, such powers could be exercised in response to short-term political pressures.
The bill’s proposal for a new timeline for refugee applications that would be in effect starting in 2020—more than five years prior to the bill even being passed—and the power to cancel large numbers of immigration documents at once are causing concerns.
The Sudanese Civil War has produced the world’s largest active humanitarian crisis with millions of people displaced. Meanwhile, Canada’s resettlement stream has been plagued with delays.
The challenge is how to make our way safely down from the old high-birth-rate regime to a new low-birth-rate future because the present pace of change will leave us dealing with inverted population pyramids for about a century. Each generation born will be dramatically smaller than the older ones, which imposes a heavy burden on the young.
IRCC says the measures that allowed 2023 earthquake survivors to stay in Canada were intended to be temporary, but many of those from hometowns that were decimated are looking for a ‘fair’ and ‘reasonable’ pathway to continue the lives they’ve built in this country.
Ending Canadian experience requirements nationwide would activate talent that already exists within our borders, requiring no new physical infrastructure, no new recruitment campaigns, and no major public expenditure.
The Carney Liberals have restricted access to asylum in Canada, reduced overseas refugee selection, paused private sponsorship, and further tightened admission of asylum seekers arriving via the United States.
