StatsCan – Fertility and intentions: Socioeconomic factors

2026/01/28 Leave a comment

Interesting differences among visible minority groups, born in Canada and immigrants, religious non-religious:

In Canada, women’s family trajectories have seen major changes in recent decades. Increased educational levels, greater participation in the labour market, changing social norms and the widespread use of contraception have contributed to diversifying life paths, notably in terms of childbearing.

This reality is directly related to the sharp decline in fertility observed in Canada. In 2024, Canada became part of the group of countries with “ultra-low fertility,” with a total fertility rate of 1.25 children per woman. This strong decline in fertility is due not only to a decreased birth rate, but also to an increase in the number of women who do not have children either by choice, by circumstance or because they are delaying motherhood. In fact, the average age of mothers at the birth of their first child has been increasing in Canada for decades. In 2024, it reached an all-time high of 31.8 years. Although the decline in fertility is partly due to women delaying having children, the proportion of women aged 50 years and older with no children has also been increasing over a period of more than 30 years, from 14.1% in 1990 to 17.4% in 2022.

In a context where having children is being increasingly delayed, understanding the fertility intentions of women without children who are still of reproductive age is essential because having children as planned can affect the well-being and life satisfaction of individuals and families. To address these issues, the 2024 Survey on Family Transitions (SFT) was designed to explore the experiences of families in Canada over time by examining how individuals and families change throughout various life stages. The results can be used to develop programs and policies to improve the well-being of children and families.

Using these data, this release first examines the proportion of Canadian women of childbearing age (i.e., women aged 20 to 49 years without any biological or adopted children) and then considers their fertility intentions. The release highlights sociodemographic characteristics associated with not having children and with fertility intentions, such as age group, education level, employment status, marital status, immigrant status and population group. It aims to increase understanding of current trends and shed light on issues related to the diversity of women’s parental trajectories in a low-fertility context.

Source: Fertility and intentions: Socioeconomic factors

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In surprise move, Spain to grant legal status to thousands of immigrants lacking permission

2026/01/28 Leave a comment

Of note, rare exception:

Spain’s government announced Tuesday it will grant legal status to potentially hundreds of thousands of immigrants living and working in the country without authorization, the latest example of how the country has bucked a trend toward increasingly harsh immigration policies seen in the United States and much of Europe.

Spain’s Minister of Migration, Elma Saiz, announced the extraordinary measure following the weekly cabinet meeting. She said her government will amend existing immigration laws by expedited decree to grant immigrants who are living in Spain without authorization legal residency of up to one year as well as permission to work.

The permits will apply to those who arrived in Spain before Dec. 31, 2025, and who can prove they have lived in Spain for at least five months. They must also prove they have no criminal record….

Source: In surprise move, Spain to grant legal status to thousands of immigrants lacking permission

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Fixing a broken system – Canada’s immigration security screening: Adam Hummel

2026/01/28 Leave a comment

Suspect that there is likely more coordination. But security lapses undermine confidence in management of immigration and agree that tighter screening is not incompatible with non-discrimination, as long as care is taken with the procedures and criteria:

…The problem is straightforward: too many agencies, too little coordination, and no single point of accountability. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) conducts initial assessments. The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) provides security screening recommendations. The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) handles intelligence analysis. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) manages biometrics. Each maintains separate databases, uses different risk indicators, and operates on distinct timelines. When everyone is responsible, no one is accountable. The solution is equally clear: consolidate the process under unified leadership with integrated systems.

This isn’t about closing borders or abandoning Canada’s humanitarian commitments – it’s about fixing a bureaucratic structure that hasn’t kept pace with modern problems. A fragmented multi-agency model designed for a different era now buckles under increased applications, emerging security challenges, and information silos that allow dangerous individuals to slip through undetected.

The Mess: Four Agencies, No Clarity

Canada’s immigration security screening operates as a “trilateral program” involving IRCC, the CBSA, and CSIS. The RCMP are also engaged. In theory, this multi-layered approach provides thorough vetting. In practice, it creates confusion about who’s responsible when things go wrong….

Getting the Politics Right

Immigration is politically charged, and any discussion of enhanced screening triggers accusations of discrimination. But the alternative – a system that fails to protect Canadians while creating uncertainty for legitimate applicants – serves nobody’s interests.

This isn’t about cutting immigration or targeting specific communities. It’s about ensuring that whoever comes to Canada, through whatever pathway, has been properly vetted using modern tools and coordinated processes. Most applicants pose no security risk and deserve timely processing. But the small percentage who do, require effective screening that actually works.

This means resisting both extremes: those who want to gut immigration programs entirely, and those who dismiss any screening concerns as bigotry. Canadians broadly support immigration but expect competent administration. The Eldidi case damages public confidence not because people oppose refugee protection, but because basic screening failed.

Why This Matters Now

Canada faces a critical juncture on immigration policy. Public support has declined amid housing pressures, service strains, and high-profile security failures. The federal government has already reduced immigration targets and tightened temporary resident programs. The system is under stress, and it is getting close to its limits.

Getting security screening right is essential to maintaining the broad consensus that has made Canada’s immigration system work. If Canadians lose faith that the government can distinguish between legitimate applicants and security threats, political pressure to slash immigration will intensify, harming Canada’s economic prospects and international reputation.

The solutions outlined here are practical, achievable, and consistent with Canadian values. They require political will, adequate resources, and willingness to challenge bureaucratic silos. But they’re far preferable to the status quo: a system that fails to protect Canadians while creating unnecessary hurdles for legitimate applicants.

The Eldidi arrests should be a wake-up call, not a political football. Parliament should direct the government to implement comprehensive reforms before the next failure occurs. Canada can have both generous immigration policies and effective security screening – but only if we’re willing to fix the broken system we now have.

Adam Hummel is an estates litigator at Donovan Kochman LLP and the principal lawyer at Hummel Law PC practising immigration law. His recent book, Essays From Afar: 700 Days of the Diaspora Experience Since October 7, is available on Amazon.

Source: Fixing a broken system – Canada’s immigration security screening: Adam Hummel for Inside Policy

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Jewish group calls on Ottawa to launch commission on antisemitism

2026/01/27 2 Comments

Not convinced that having separate envoys for antisemitism and islamophobia improves understanding and integration. Former envoy Deborah Lyons was candid about her experience and frustrations:

Jewish advocacy group B’nai Brith is calling on Ottawa to launch a commission on antisemitism and appoint someone to the envoy role that has been left vacant since July.

The group is holding a midday press conference on Parliament Hill today, a day before the annual remembrance ceremony at the National Holocaust Monument.

It’s asking Ottawa to fill the role of special envoy for combating antisemitism that has been vacant since Deborah Lyons resigned in July, three months before her term was set to expire….

Source: Jewish group calls on Ottawa to launch commission on antisemitism

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“Jack Jedwab: Reducing the Holocaust to yet another story of colonialism distorts history”

2026/01/27 Leave a comment

Needed reminder:

…“Holocaust survivor and Nobel laureate the late Elie Wiesel warned repeatedly against precisely such historic revision and the distortion to which it has given rise. For Wiesel, the Holocaust was not merely one genocide among others, nor simply another chapter in humanity’s long record of cruelty. Rather, it was a singular event rooted in a uniquely European legacy of antisemitism, culminating in the systematic and industrialized attempt to murder Jews.

Wiesel’s insistence on this point was not at all about being indifferent to other victims of mass violence. On the contrary, he affirmed the sanctity of all human suffering. His concern was that careless comparison between genocides risked cancelling the very things that distinguished each horrific tragedy.

Today there is real need to heed Wiesel’s warning, as colonialist framings of the origins of the Holocaust gain traction with influencers and many academics. Recognizing the historical specificity of the Holocaust is in no way an obstacle to broader empathy or compassion for victims of other genocides. Rather it is essential in identifying the key lessons needed to prevent future atrocities. When it comes to the Holocaust, one hard truth must not be blurred: reducing it to yet another story of colonialism”

Source: “Jack Jedwab: Reducing the Holocaust to yet another story of colonialism distorts history”

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Krishnaraj: And How Will You Be Paying for Your Baby Today? [birth tourism]

2026/01/26 Leave a comment

Good in person account of how birth tourism and other medical services affects doctors and the healthcare system:

…The primary intended use for the credit card terminal was to collect fees from uninsured, non-resident patients. These patients, who are not covered by provincial, federal, or private insurance, need to pay out of pocket for services provided in the hospital. If they are admitted, the hospital cashier collects fees for services like the bed, food, medication, and nursing care. But doctors must collect their fees directly from these patients. The amount that they bill for each specific service is guided by a document of standardized fees published by the Ontario Medical Association.

If doctors don’t bill and work in a fee-for-service system, they do not get paid for their work. Which is why in the doctors’ lounge at Humber Regional Hospital, the question was not how much to bill, but rather how to have these conversations, and when.

Is it on admission, hoping for no complications, and no further charges? Prior to letting the non-birthing parent into the operating room during a caesarian? Or do you ask the new mother to reach for their wallet as the baby is learning to nurse?

Turns out there’s no good time to give someone a bill for their baby.

This is a side of practising medicine in Canada that is rarely discussed. There were an estimated 5,430 non-resident births in Canada in 2024, according to analysis of Canadian Institute of Health Information data published by Policy Options. This is just below the historic peak of 5,698 in 2019. In 2023 — the year I was at Humber —the hospital had the highest rate of non-resident births in the country, accounting for roughly one in 10 deliveries.

I witnessed this firsthand. Almost every day, I would be asked to assess the newborn baby of an uninsured, non-resident mother on the postpartum ward….

Gautham Krishnaraj MDc PhD is a Fellow in Journalism & Health Impact at the University of Toronto’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health. 

Source: And How Will You Be Paying for Your Baby Today?

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“How Trudeau Liberals’ DEI obsession helped kill Canadian culture”

2026/01/26 Leave a comment



Good long and disturbing read:

…Some blamed a misreading of DEI as “Diversity, Equity, and Exclusion,” or the Canada Council’s zealous “decolonization” agenda; others noted that with only about 25 per cent of editorial staff male, female editors naturally preferred female perspectives; and some disputed that White male authors were disadvantaged at all, or, if true, that it mattered. Whatever the cause, male writers appear to have fallen out of fashion. The 2025 Sobey Arts Award shortlisted twenty-six women and twelve Indigenous artists among thirty nominees — none of the four men were White. Recent Giller and Governor General’s prizes show similar trends: roughly two-thirds of winners were women, and only one White man among them. These results likely reflect publishing priorities rather than overt bias, yet they signal a profound cultural shift.

Fundamental to any program to resurrect Canada’s book business is the necessity to reform its major cultural institutions. Over the last decade or more, they have become deeply politicized, pursuing a specific and polarizing social and economic agenda. They have turned it into a wedge that excludes certain people from consideration, certain forms of address from polite society, and certain manners of speaking as incompatible with good behaviour. The penalties for violating these often ambiguous standards can be devastating. These strictures have narrowed the boundaries of discourse and cast a chill on what can be said, written, or shown, radically restricting artists’ freedom of expression.

Diversity, equity, and inclusion were never supposed to evolve in this direction. Properly understood, it is not a negative, punishing exercise in ideological purity, but a formula for discovering and celebrating what had previously been arbitrarily suppressed. Murray Sinclair, the chairman of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, made the point explicitly when he explained that reconciliation was not about tearing down the statues of John A. Macdonald, but raising up statues to Big Bear. It is a program that calls for a deep understanding of both the good and the bad in historical figures and events. It assumes that people are sufficiently sophisticated to hold two thoughts in their heads at the same time. Some of the things Macdonald did were good; some were bad. There is no need to choose sides, only to see clearly what happened. That is precisely why it was called the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

When major funders like the Canada Council set out to “decolonize” Canadian literature, they are pursuing a political agenda as surely as the censors of the Soviet Union insisting that all writing conform to the dictates of “socialist realism.” When tenured bureaucrats can harass people for wrongthink, and when it’s possible to lose essential public support for straying beyond the boundaries of correct and morally appropriate thinking, creators and cultural workers will be cautious, often second-guessing themselves. Great work flourishes in environments where people can take risks, knowing that the worst consequence will be failure, not penury and banishment.

The DEI project in Canada’s cultural agencies, government, publishing houses, and media needs to be recalibrated. It needs to focus on its original aims of combatting racism, sexism, and intolerance. It needs to seek truth, not for the purpose of punishment, but for learning. When mistakes are made, when the wrong word or hurtful language is thoughtlessly used, it needs to be treated as a teachable moment, not as a call to puritanical vengeance. It needs to start from an assumption that the overwhelming majority of Canadians are people of good will. Do they sometimes make cruel mistakes? Of course. The important thing is to learn together and bank the fires of self-righteous rage.

— A former executive vice-president of the CBC, Richard Stursberg has written widely on Canadian media and cultural policy. His previous books include The Tower of Babble, named by the Globe & Mail as one of the best books of the year, and The Tangled Garden, which was short-listed for the Donner Prize for the best book on public policy written by a Canadian.

Source: “How Trudeau Liberals’ DEI obsession helped kill Canadian culture”

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Genetic Data From Over 20,000 U.S. Children Misused for ‘Race Science’

2026/01/26 Leave a comment

Sigh…:

Genetic researchers were seeking children for an ambitious, federally funded project to track brain development — a study that they told families could yield invaluable discoveries about DNA’s impact on behavior and disease.

They also promised that the children’s sensitive data would be closely guarded in the decade-long study, which got underway in 2015. Promotional materials included a cartoon of a Black child saying it felt good knowing that “scientists are taking steps to keep my information safe.”

The scientists did not keep it safe.

A group of fringe researchers thwarted safeguards at the National Institutes of Health and gained access to data from thousands of children. The researchers have used it to produce at least 16 papers purporting to find biological evidence for differences in intelligence between races, ranking ethnicities by I.Q. scores and suggesting Black people earn less because they are not very smart.

Mainstream geneticists have rejected their work as biased and unscientific. Yet by relying on genetic and other personal data from the prominent project, known as the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study, the researchers gave their theories an air of analytical rigor.

earch group were ineligible to obtain data from the ABCD project. But one of them gained access through an American professor who was already being investigated by the N.I.H. over his handling of another child brain study.

Their papers have provided fodder for racist posts on social media and white nationalist message boards that have been viewed millions of times. Some of the papers are cited by A.I. bots like ChatGPT and Grok in response to queries about race and intelligence. On the social media platform X, Grok has referred users to the research more than two dozen times this month alone.

“It’s evil,” said Dr. Terry L. Jernigan, national co-director of the ABCD Study and a neuropsychologist at the University of California, San Diego. “It’s not just that the science is faulty, but it’s being used to advance an unethical agenda.”…

    Source: Genetic Data From Over 20,000 U.S. Children Misused for ‘Race Science’

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    List of suspected Nazi war criminals welcomed in Canada should stay secret, information watchdog rules

    2026/01/26 Leave a comment

    Seems a bit too precious given not released earlier prior to the Russian attack on Ukraine:

    …LAC had told Caroline Maynard, the Information Commissioner, that disclosing the list would result in significant injury to Canada’s relationship with a foreign government. LAC also told her it would “cause significant injury to the defence of a foreign state allied with Canada,” Maureen Brennan, an investigator in Ms. Maynard’s office, said in the e-mail. 

    The e-mail said the harm would extend “beyond Canada’s relations with the foreign government in question” and would adversely affect Canada’s relationships with other allied states.

    “I reviewed LAC’s consultation materials and note that there was an overall consensus that, in the current political climate, disclosure of the information would give rise to serious concerns about reasonably expected harm,” Ms. Brennan said. 

    Dozens of leading scholars from around the world, including Sir Richard Evans, former Regius professor of history at Cambridge University and author of 18 books, including Hitler’s People, have called on Canada to declassify the report.

    On Friday Canada’s Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center, named after the famous Nazi hunter, reacted with dismay that the information watchdog had upheld Ottawa’s decision to keep the list secret. 

    “The government’s claim that revealing the truth about Nazi war criminals living in Canada could somehow be a threat to national security or international diplomacy is an insult to the intelligence of the public,” said Jaime Kirzner Roberts, senior director, policy and advocacy at the center. 

    “It is long past time for the facts to come out about the Nazi perpetrators of genocide and war crimes who were allowed to escape justice and live comfortable, protected lives in our country.”

    A research team led by UCLA historian Jared McBride, an expert on war crimes in the Second World War, last year unearthed what he concluded was an earlier annotated version of the secret list.

    The Information Commissioner’s office argued that this list had been released through an access to information request in 2019, “at a time which predates the relevant current global context.” 

    Among the names on this list, seen by The Globe, was Helmut Oberlander, a member of the Nazi Einsatzgruppen death squads during the Second World War. The Canadian government spent years trying to strip him of his citizenship, but he died at the age of 97 in 2021 while the matter was still before the courts.

    Professor Per Rudling of Lund University in Sweden, who has researched the settlement of alleged Nazis in Canada, said he found the decision to keep the list secret “curious.” He said Ukraine had opened up its own KGB archives and the U.S. has released the bulk of its documents pertaining to alleged Nazi war criminals. 

    “Of all comparable Western liberal democracies, Canada stands out as being particularly restrictive on archival materials in regards to purported war criminals,” he said in an e-mail. 

    Source: List of suspected Nazi war criminals welcomed in Canada should stay secret, information watchdog rules

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    May: The Executive Cuts

    2026/01/26 1 Comment

    The latest overview of the approach in considerable detail:

    Too many layers. Everyone knew it.

    The executive ranks have been climbing for decades despite warnings about bloat and slow decision-making. Now a 12-per-cent cut is coming: about 1,120 executive jobs disappearing across 90 or so departments.

    The cuts will ensure Canada’s executive hierarchy is “a pyramid, not a cylinder,” says one senior bureaucrat. The big driver is saving money. But it’s also about speed. Fewer layers, faster decisions. That’s the plan, anyway.

    There are 9,155 bureaucrats who occupy five levels of executives (EX-1 to EX-5) between directors and assistant deputy ministers. But it’s not just them.

    Many expect PCO clerk Michael Sabia to also trim the deputy minister ranks, too, as he reshapes the senior bench of public service leaders. He started with a pre-Christmas shuffle — bigger than any seen in years — and promised another. No one at the top is safe, it seems.

    “The cuts are a shock to the system, like a taser,” says one senior official. But can cutting layers fix the public service and speed up decision-making like the Carney government expects?…

    Source: May: EXs, cuts and layers

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