Celebrities with distant Canadian roots set to gain citizenship under new Liberal law

2025/12/11 Leave a comment

Not surprising when one looks at grandparents. Unclear how many, if any, will apply:

A group of well-known American public figures, including singer Madonna and former U.S. secretary of state Hillary Clinton, would become eligible to be considered Canadian citizens under a federal law passed last month that removes long-standing limits on citizenship by descent.

Bill C-3, adopted on November 20, eliminates the “first-generation limit,” a restriction introduced in 2009 that prevented Canadian citizenship from being passed to children born abroad if their Canadian parent was also born outside the country.

The change extends eligibility for citizenship to people who would previously have been ineligible, provided they have a Canadian ancestor somewhere in their lineage. Eligible candidates would need to go through an application process once the bill comes into force.

As a result, several prominent Americans with distant roots would be eligible to apply for Canadian citizenship once the law comes into force.

Madonna, who was born in Michigan and holds only U.S. citizenship, has French-Canadian ancestry through her mother’s family, which traces back to 17th-century Quebec. Under the new law, those historic ties would allow the star to apply for Canadian citizenship.

Actor Viggo Mortensen, born in New York to an American mother and Danish father, would also qualify through his maternal grandfather, who was born in Parrsboro, N.S. Mortensen currently holds U.S. and Danish citizenship.

Actress Lily Collins, born in England and raised in California, would also become eligible for Canadian citizenship based on her maternal grandfather’s birthplace in Winnipeg.

Hillary Clinton, whose French-Canadian roots stretch back to New France through her maternal line, would likewise become eligible for Canadian citizenship. Her genealogy was detailed in her 2003 memoir, which traces family ties to Quebec ancestors, including the Filles du Roi.

Musician Jack White of Detroit similarly would qualify through his paternal grandfather, who was born in Nova Scotia.

The government says the law is intended to address long-standing concerns about the first-generation rule and allow Canadian families affected by it to transmit citizenship to their children. Going forward, Canadians born abroad would be permitted to pass citizenship to their own children born outside the country, subject to a “substantial connection to Canada” test.

Although the legislation has passed, an implementation date has not been announced.

Until then, interim measures remain in place that allow individuals affected by the former limit to apply for proof of citizenship online. Applicants approved under the temporary process will not need to reapply once Bill C-3 comes into force.

Source: Celebrities with distant Canadian roots set to gain citizenship under new Liberal law

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Pollara: Populism without populists: New polling reveals Canada’s puzzling political contradiction

2025/12/11 Leave a comment

Interesting:

…Taken together, these patterns define Canada’s distinctive condition of populism without populists: a democratic tension between demand and acceptable political expression. Canadians articulate strong grievances about elite unresponsiveness and systemic unfairnes, and yet resist leaders who adopt the rhetorical and stylistic markers of populism seen elsewhere. The appetite is for accountability and renewal, not for theatrical confrontation or institutional disruption.

For political leaders, this configuration creates a subtle but consequential hazard. Self-identifying as populist offers little reward and significant reputational risk. Canadians overwhelmingly reject figures who embody the style of American right-wing populism. At the same time, the grievances that animate populist movements elsewhere, such as distrust of elites, dissatisfaction with institutions, and perceptions of distant and unresponsive governance, are unmistakably present.

Despite this aversion to populism as a label or style, recent political developments demonstrate that Canadian politicians are increasingly being held accountable by electorates animated by populist expectations around transparency, fairness, keeping promises, follow-through, and genuine influence. Leadership challenges, caucus revolts, and relentless scrutiny signal tensions between authority and responsiveness.

This is the inconvenient democratic reality confronting Canada’s political class. Politicians of all stripes are being held accountable by voters who expect to be heard, respected, and acted upon. Parties should be reminded that in the end, those who govern must answer to those who elected them.

Source: Populism without populists: New polling reveals Canada’s puzzling political contradiction

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Liberals to open new fast track to permanent residency for 5,000 foreign doctors

2025/12/10 2 Comments

Strange that about one month after issuing the levels plan, the government has effectively increased the levels by 5,000. Hard not to understand why this was not within the current levels, as it appears more sleight of hand as were the other one-time additions. Does not help the overall message that the government is getting immigration more under control (even if it is):

The federal government is promising to open up permanent residency for foreign doctors working in Canada as temporary foreign residents in order to tackle the doctor shortage across the country. 

Immigration Minister Lena Diab announced the policy shift in Toronto Monday, saying 5,000 spots for international doctors would be opened over and above current immigration levels. 

“Many of these doctors are already treating patients in our communities. We cannot afford to lose them,” Diab said. 

The plan involves creating a new express entry category for foreign doctors starting in 2026 for physicians with at least one year of Canadian work experience over the last three years who currently have a job offer. 

A government statement said that physicians eligible for the program include primary care doctors as well as specialists in surgery, clinical and laboratory medicine….

Source: Liberals to open new fast track to permanent residency for 5,000 foreign doctors

Some numbers in the Globe article:

Across Canada, the numbers of physicians coming north this year have increased.

Ontario has issued certificates to 493 U.S.-trained physicians this year, up from 209 last year. The College of Physicians and Surgeons of BC has seen 405 applications from U.S.-trained physicians this year, nearly double the total from the previous two years. Nova Scotia has issued provincial licences to 34 U.S.-trained doctors this year, more than double the 2024 total.

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Federal government issued billions to students at private schools, data reveal

2025/12/10 Leave a comment

Sigh….:

The Canadian government gave billions in grants to students at private, for-profit schools, a practice some critics argue has rewarded some institutions with less-than-rigorous academic standards.

Since 2017, the federal government has granted $2.7 billion to students at those schools, according to data from Employment and Social Development Can­ada (ESDC). 

The amount awarded to the students has risen dramatically in recent years, meaning a growing share of taxpayer money is indirectly flowing to for-profit institutions. 

Last month’s federal budget announced the government will no longer offer grants to students at such schools, citing unspecified “integrity issues.”…

Source: Federal government issued billions to students at private schools, data reveal

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Donald Trump’s latest anti-immigration policies may drive migrants to Canada. But are they welcome here?

2025/12/10 Leave a comment

Not with open arms given overall public opinion on immigration having risen too much before the recent reductions:

Since late last month, Toronto resident Hazat Wahriz has been approached by Afghan friends and acquaintances in the U.S. desperately asking about refuge in Canada.

With Washington pausing and reviewing the entire asylum system and immigration processing of applicants from certain countries including Afghanistan, he said his compatriots south of the border are fearful of losing their already precarious status and being deported to the embrace of the Taliban.

“Just imagine you belong to a community that is inadmissible there and is not welcome,” said Wahriz, a former university professor and diplomat in Afghanistan, who came to Canada for asylum in 2013 and is a citizen. “Now the U.S. is not a safe country for them. Deportation for most of these people is going to be a sentence to death.”…

Montreal immigration lawyer Marc-André Séguin said it’s too early to predict how Trump’s policies would affect the refugee flow to Canada, but Ottawa’s stronger border enforcement — and slashing of immigration levels — sends a strong message to would-be claimants abroad. 

“Canada is certainly trying to make it more challenging for asylum seekers to seek refuge on Canadian soil,” said Séguin, who practises American and Canadian immigration law, and has been retained by U.S. clients concerned about their status there.   

“Canada in the recent past has done a lot to to make itself less attractive. To what extent will that play a role in possible demand? It’s hard to say at the moment.”…

Source: Donald Trump’s latest anti-immigration policies may drive migrants to Canada. But are they welcome here?

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More Canadians, including children, detained in U.S. for immigration violations, new data show

2025/12/10 Leave a comment

Not surprising, inevitable result of sweeping crackdowns:

A sweeping immigration crackdown in the United States is increasingly ensnaring Canadians who don’t have criminal records – including at least six children – new U.S. government data show. 

An estimated 207 Canadians have now been held in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody at some point since January, when President Donald Trump took office. The total number of Canadians held in 2024 was 130.

Earlier this year, an initial Globe and Mail analysis revealed that ICE had detained two Canadian toddlers in May at a remote facility in Texas. The analysis also showed that Canadians held by ICE were more likely to have criminal records than many other nationalities swept up in the White House’s mass deportation campaign, which has primarily targeted immigrants from Latin America. 

In the first half of 2025, almost 70 per cent of Canadians placed in immigration detention had criminal convictions or pending criminal charges. 

Now, a growing number of Canadian detainees are being held on immigration violations alone, updated enforcement data covering late July to mid-October show.

Of the Canadians detained during this period, some 44 per cent had no criminal records or pending charges against them, The Globe has found. The detainees include four children ranging in age from under two years old to about 16 years old.

Source: More Canadians, including children, detained in U.S. for immigration violations, new data show

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The median entry wage of new immigrants decreased by 10.6% in 2023 but remained above its pre-COVID-19 pandemic level

2025/12/09 Leave a comment

Of note:

The median wage earned by new immigrants in Canada one year after admission can be a good predictor of their future economic outcomes. The real median entry wage (after adjusting for inflation) of newcomers decreased by 10.6% from 2022 to 2023, the largest decline since 1991.

This drop among immigrants from 2022 to 2023 occurred amid a 1.1% increase in the overall real median wage of Canadians over this period. While entry wages decreased across most immigrant categories, the overall decline is partly related to the fact that the proportion of immigrants admitted as principal applicants under the Canadian Experience Class (CEC), who typically have a higher entry wage, reached an all-time high in 2021, but fell below 2019 pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels in 2022.

This Daily release explores the economic outcomes of recent immigrants in the 2024 Longitudinal Immigration Database (IMDB). It outlines variations in the economic outcomes of newcomers by admission category, pre-admission experience and province. The IMDB is the result of a collaboration between Statistics Canada, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), and the provinces.

Infographic 1 
Median entry wage of immigrants and percentage change from previous year, tax year 1990 to 2023

Thumbnail for Infographic 1: Median entry wage of immigrants and percentage change from previous year, tax year 1990 to 2023

The median entry wage for new immigrants decreases more in 2023 than in 2020, but remains higher than every other year prior to 2021

The median entry wage of immigrants steadily increased from 2010 to 2022, except in 2020 when wages were impacted by the pandemic.

From 2020 to 2021, the real median entry wage of immigrants rose by over one-fifth (+21.2%), increasing from $34,400 to $41,700. It then rose a further 6.7% year over year to $44,500 in 2022. In 2023, the median entry wage of immigrants declined by 10.6% to $39,800 but remained higher than the median entry wage in 2020 ($34,400) and every other year prior to 2021.

This was a relatively large decline, given that the overall real median wage of Canadians increased by 1.1% to $47,650 in 2023.

The decrease in the number of Canadian Experience Class principal applicants admitted in 2022 may contribute to the overall decline of the median entry wage of new immigrants in 2023

In 2023, immigrants from each of the main admission categories saw their median entry wage decline compared with the previous year. Specifically, the median entry wage declined for spouse and dependent economic immigrants (-7.3% year over year to $34,400), for immigrants sponsored by family (-4.1% to $30,300) and for refugees (-1.9% to $25,900).

Economic principal applicants, who are selected for their ability to contribute to Canada’s economic development, had the highest median entry wage among the four main admission categories at $51,500 in 2023. While this was a 5.5% decline from the previous year, each of the specific programs within the economic principal applicant stream experienced smaller decreases or even increases in entry wage.

In 2023, CEC principal applicants, who are selected based on their Canadian work experience, remained the admission category with the highest median entry wage. Their median entry wage rose 3.4% to $60,600 in 2023, following a decline in 2022 from its peak in 2021 ($71,000).

In 2023, principal applicants from the skilled worker and skilled trades (-4.4% to $56,000) and provincial/territorial nominee (-3.8% to $47,700) programs saw their entry median wages decrease from a year earlier. Business (-2.4% to $24,900) and caregiver (+4.9% to $38,500) principal applicants had the lowest entry income among economic principal applicants.

The decreases in the median entry wages by admission categories in 2023 were mostly smaller than what was observed for the overall immigrant population (-10.6%). This discrepancy is likely related to changes in the makeup of the immigrant population and their admission categories.

In 2021, IRCC specifically invited express entry candidates, who were more likely to be physically located in Canada and therefore less impacted by pandemic-related border restrictions, to apply for permanent residency. This was done, in part, by increasing the number of immigrants admitted through the CEC program, the category with the highest median entry wage. Specifically, the share of immigrants aged 15 years and older admitted as CEC principal applicants increased from 12% in 2020 to 27% in 2021. This change contributed to the growth of the entry wage of all new immigrants in 2022. With the removal of border restrictions in 2022, CEC principal applicants were less targeted, and their share declined to 5% in that year. This, in addition to the other factors at play during the post-pandemic period, contributed to the overall reduction in the entry wages of new immigrants in 2023….

Source: The median entry wage of new immigrants decreased by 10.6% in 2023 but remained above its pre-COVID-19 pandemic level

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StatsCan: Portrait of the South Asian populations in Canada

2025/12/09 Leave a comment

Another in StatsCan population portraits:

South Asian populations in Canada nearly quadrupled from 1996 to 2021

In 2021, South Asian populations were the largest racialized group in Canada, numbering nearly 2.6 million people and representing 7.1% of Canada’s total population. This was nearly four times as large as the size of the South Asian populations 25 years earlier, in 1996, when they numbered 669,060 people and made up 2.4% of the population.

According to the latest population projections, South Asian populations in Canada could reach 4.7 million to 6.5 million people by 2041, which would make up 11.0% to 12.5% of the total population.

India is the most common place of birth of South Asian populations in Canada

Overall, approximately 6 in 10 South Asians in Canada in 2021 were born in Southern Asia, 3 in 10 were born in Canada and 1 in 10 were born in other regions of the world.

The most common country of birth for South Asian populations was India (44%), while the other main places of birth in South Asia were Pakistan (9%), Sri Lanka (5%) and Bangladesh (3%).

Other places of birth outside Canada included countries in other regions of Asia (such as the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan), Africa (such as Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda), the Caribbean and Central and South America (mainly Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago), Europe (mainly the United Kingdom), Oceania (mainly Fiji) and the United States (Table 1).

Among the 29% of South Asians who were born in Canada, the largest group was that of people whose parents were both born in India, followed by those whose parents were both born in Pakistan, both born in Sri Lanka and both born in Canada.

The majority of South Asian immigrants who immigrated from 1980 to 2021 are economic immigrants

Among South Asian immigrants living in Canada in 2021 who immigrated during the period from 1980 to 2021, the majority were economic immigrants (54%). This share was larger among those who had immigrated from 2011 to 2021 (69%) than among those who had immigrated from 1981 to 1990 (36%).

From 1980 to 2021, economic immigrants made up the majority of South Asian immigrants across many places of birth, including India (57%), Pakistan (56%) and Bangladesh (61%) (Chart 1). Meanwhile, South Asians born in Sri Lanka were mostly a mix of refugees (42%), immigrants sponsored by family (33%) and economic immigrants (21%)….

Source: Study: Portrait of the South Asian populations in Canada

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HESA: New Statscan Data on Students and Academic Staff

2025/12/09 Leave a comment

Of interest. College sector and business programs were the main abusers:

The student data is the slightly more interesting of the two, because it (finally) shows the system essentially at the height of the international student boom in the late fall of 2023 (Statscan student data is based on an October/November snapshot and therefore does not quite capture the full craziness of what went on in Ontario colleges, where most all international students were on an 8-month schedule with starts happening every four months and so therefore did not necessarily show up on Statscan scans). 

Unsurprisingly, total enrolments in Canadian postsecondary went up. A lot. 140,000 or so, which in absolute terms is the biggest single-year increase in post-secondary enrolments in Canadian history. But as figure 1 shows, that increase was a) highly concentrated in the college sector and b) largely due to international students.

Figure 1: Increase in Post-Secondary Enrolments by Sector and Source, Canada, 2023-24

Figure 2 breaks down the college increase by field of study.  Again, not a huge surprise: the biggest source of increase was business programs (cheap to deliver, required level of English not all that high); if anything, though I am surprised that so many programs saw an increase in enrolments: this result is actually substantially less business-centric than I would have expected.

Figure 2: Increase in College Enrolments by Field of Study, 2023-24

Source: New Statscan Data on Students and Academic Staff

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2025 is not 1984: Bob Rae Notes on President Trump’s “National Security Strategy”

2025/12/08 Leave a comment

Money quote:

…2025 is not 1984. War is not peace. Freedom is not slavery. Ignorance is not strength. 2 plus 2 does not equal 5. And we still choose not to love Big Brother. It will be a world of difficult choices, but our moral integrity and our determination to make our way in the world make subjugation and acquiescence an unacceptable choice. 

Source: 2025 is not 1984: Bob Rae Notes on President Trump’s “National Security Strategy”

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