Canada faces questions over treatment of Iranian conscripts as U.K, Australia take different approach

2026/09/21 Leave a comment

Would be nice if CBC reporting would focus more on the substantive issue of how Australia and UK have a more nuanced approach than just the individual case stories and hardships:

…U.K., Australia recommend examining cases closely

The United Kingdom and Australian appear to have taken different approaches, where conscripts are not automatically considered “members” of an organization. In March, Australia’s Parliament published guidance on the matter, saying authorities should distinguish involuntary conscripts from supporting members. 

The U.K. government published similar guidance in August, stating military service is compulsory for men and that conscripts are unlikely to be required to commit acts “contrary to the basic rules of human conduct.”…

Source: Canada faces questions over treatment of Iranian conscripts as U.K, Australia take different approach

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ChatGPT and IRCC Open Data Tables

2026/09/21 Leave a comment

Assume many of you may have also tried using ChatGPT to download IRCC data for analysis. Did a quick trial with study permits and remarkably efficient and will likely use it substantially on my next quarterly update as it easily verifiable.

ChatGPT test ircc_quarterly_study_permit_summaryDownload

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Canada’s largest private English-language school files for bankruptcy, leaving 1,300 students scrambling

2026/09/21 Leave a comment

Not surprising, given that previous immigration levels were unsustainable, resulting in business models being equally unsustainable. Hard of the students of course:

…According to Languages Canada’s 2025 Annual Survey Report, member institutions welcomed just 81,636 students recently — down nearly half from the 150,112 students enrolled in 2019. The organization attributes the drop to federal study permit caps introduced in January 2024 and unpredictable visa policies, which choked the pipeline of students entering Canadian colleges and universities through preparatory language pathway programs.

In 2019, the language-education sector directly and indirectly generated $6.75 billion in economic activity for Canada and supported 75,000 jobs, Languages Canada reported. Peralta says those revenue figures have now been cut in half.

ILAC’s collapse comes less than a week after another major international chain, EC English, closed its operations around the world, including three campuses in Canada.

Languages Canada told the Star it has found new academic homes for all 471 students impacted by EC English’s closures at its campuses in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver. 

Staff at ILAC were given virtually no notice of the closure. One ILAC teacher, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of harming future employment prospects, described receiving an email late Friday morning urging staff to attend an urgent virtual town hall call at 4:15 p.m.

During the brief meeting, ILAC chief executive officer John DeFranco read a prepared statement informing staff the school was closing immediately after failing to secure new investors….

Source: Canada’s largest private English-language school files for bankruptcy, leaving 1,300 students scrambling

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Alberta’s shameless attempt to scapegoat immigrants

2026/09/21 Leave a comment

Yes, notable change:

…Though never free from the systemic impacts of racism and xenophobia – not to mention the continuing colonial dispossession of First Nations – Alberta has for decades welcomed newcomers, and celebrated them as an engine of economic growth.

Just a few years ago, the UCP was actively courting migrants, while Ms. Smith mused about an Alberta inhabited by 10 million souls. 

Only recently did the party embrace the type of anti-immigrant rhetoric that paints newcomers as a burden. In February, Ms. Smith stated, without evidence, that immigration has “flooded our classrooms, emergency rooms and social support systems.”

This argument falls apart under scrutiny. Immigrants, including temporary residents, pay taxes. If classrooms and hospitals are overflowing, it’s because the UCP has failed to adequately invest in them.

Scapegoating immigrants is a common tactic in Western democracies. But in Alberta, this plays directly into the hands of the separatist movement – a movement that is not only staunchly anti-immigrant, but a hotbed of xenophobia and racist conspiracy theories.

Voting yes to the immigration questions will normalize the type of reactionary politics typically associated with MAGA and far-right movements in Europe….

Richie Assaly is a freelance writer and former Toronto Star culture reporter. He writes about politics, music and books. 

Source: Alberta’s shameless attempt to scapegoat immigrants

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Valizadeh: How Canada’s immigration caps are trapping its own graduate students

2026/09/18 Leave a comment

Hard to argue against greater predictability and stability. And the impact of drastic changes, without some transitional measures, is particularly unsettling, poor policy and unfair to many of those caught by changes:

…Some policymakers may argue that the system is doing what it is supposed to do: admitting only a select group of graduates and expecting the rest to take their skills elsewhere. 

But a system that relies on abrupt rule changes and unstable pathways isn’t really identifying “the best.” What it’s actually rewarding is whoever can most easily absorb uncertainty, financial risk and administrative complexity, rather than those who are most rooted in Canadian communities or best positioned to contribute over the long term.

For students who have already invested years of work, savings and emotional energy into building a life here, that distinction matters. A fair system should offer more. 

If Canada wants to remain credible as a destination for talented international graduates, it needs to back that reputation with something concrete: clear and stable pathways to permanent residence for the people it has already encouraged to stay.

Negar Valizadeh Geography, Environment and Geomatics, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa

Source: How Canada’s immigration caps are trapping its own graduate students

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Beyond tariffs: 5 worrying ways Trump could escalate his trade war with Canada

2026/09/17 Leave a comment

Interesting detailed analysis. Not sure even the Trump administration would go that far, but labour mobility implications for cross border services etc are something to watch out for:

…Tariffs may be the easy part

None of these scenarios is inevitable.

Some would almost certainly face legal challenges. Others would run against the spirit, and in some cases the letter, of longstanding bilateral agreements. Several would impose serious costs on American companies, workers, and consumers, as well as Canadians.

But that is different from saying the tools do not exist.

For decades, Canada has tended to think about its exposure to the U.S. mainly through trade: how much it exports south, how vulnerable particular sectors are to tariffs, and how quickly it can diversify into other markets. That remains important. But the deeper relationship rests on much more than the movement of goods.

It depends on easy movement of people, trusted border administration, coordinated tax rules, privileged access to American technology, and physical infrastructure that both countries have spent decades integrating.

Those arrangements are usually treated as the background architecture of the relationship. In an even more serious confrontation, they can also become leverage.

And even these five possibilities do not exhaust Washington’s arsenal. At the far end of the escalation ladder sit the president’s emergency economic powers, which can be used to restrict financial transactions and block foreign property under U.S. jurisdiction after a qualifying national emergency is declared. Authorities of this kind sit at the heart of much of the U.S. sanctions machinery used against adversaries such as Iran, Russia, and North Korea. Applying anything comparable to Canada would represent a rupture far beyond today’s trade dispute.

The more realistic lesson is simpler.

Canada’s vulnerability is not only that it trades heavily with the U.S. It is that decades of successful integration have embedded Canadian prosperity inside systems that Washington helps administer.

Those systems make both countries richer in normal times.

In a confrontation, they can also become pressure points.

If the trade war keeps escalating, tariffs may eventually prove to have been the easy part.

Pouya Daneshpajooh is an Editorial Intern at The Hub and a Master of Global Affairs student at the University of Toronto’s Munk School.

Source: Beyond tariffs: 5 worrying ways Trump could escalate his trade war with Canada

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Canada’s 2026 census participation was among highest ever, says StatCan

2026/09/16 Leave a comment

Looking forward to the various datasets:

Statistics Canada says the response rate for this year’s census of the population was 98.4 per cent, one of the highest ever recorded.

The data is collected every five years and the questionnaire includes age, gender, marital status and language use.

That information is used to determine electoral maps, plan social programs and determine funding for municipal and provincial governments.

…StatCan says it’s begun the work to compile the data it collected and it will release seven batches of information beginning in February 2027.

The agency says more than 88 per cent of Canadians chose to fill out the census online, more than have ever used that option before.

Source: Canada’s 2026 census participation was among highest ever, says StatCan

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They came to Canada for safety. Now they’re suspected of supporting the regime they fled

2026/09/15 Leave a comment

Not the first time for this reporting. Valid concerns regarding conscripts who had little choice:

…Hundreds of applicants received similar letters on Aug. 6 and 7, according to Nahid Rahmati, a representative of the Unheard Conscripts Advocacy Network. 

The group seeks to represent people conscripted to the IRGC and advocate for them within the Canadian immigration system.

Rahmati said she’s never seen anyone receive a PFL and be accepted into Canada.

“I have seen lots of cases that have been rejected,” she said. “They got the PFL and they got rejected.”

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada said in a statement it could not confirm the number of letters sent to permanent residency applicants in relation to potential IRGC ties.

CBC News spoke with several recipients of the letters, many of whom declined to speak on the record for fear of retribution from the government of Iran.

Letters part of ‘normal’ process

In a statement, Canada’s immigration and citizenship department said the listing of the guard as a terrorist entity prompts an “assessment of inadmissibility concerns where applications indicate a connection to the IRGC.”

“This is a normal part of applying Canada’s immigration law and does not mean that every person who served in the IRGC is automatically inadmissible.”

Conscripts said it is difficult to prove they did not participate in the IRGC after their mandatory service ended. The IRGC does not keep a list of people who left, according to Hossein Raeesi, a criminal and human rights lawyer who practiced in Iran for two decades.

“Someone who served compulsory military service with the IRGC is not considered as a member of the IRGC,” he said.

CBC News asked the Canadian government which documents it would accept as proof that an applicant was not a member of the IRGC beyond mandatory service. 

“There is no single prescribed set of documents that applies to every case,” the agency said in a statement.

Conscripts served under duress, lawyer says

Many of the conscripts served under duress, according to Arghavan Gerami, an immigration lawyer based in Ottawa. 

Two of her current clients have received PFLs and she worries Canada is expecting them to prove they tried to resist conscription….

Source: They came to Canada for safety. Now they’re suspected of supporting the regime they fled

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La stratégie d’IRCC en matière d’IA réduit les immigrants à des points de données

2026/09/15 Leave a comment

All true, but not all that relevant as given the numbers some forms of AI have to be used to reduce or manage processing times:

…Une demande d’immigration ne se limite pas à un ensemble de formulaires, de documents et de points de données. Derrière chaque dossier se trouve une personne qui a consacré des années de travail, d’études, de revenus et d’espoir à se construire une vie au Canada. Les documents remis à IRCC racontent l’histoire de ces personnes : leur parcours professionnel, leur famille, leurs épreuves, leurs réussites et, souvent, les raisons qui les poussent à chercher un avenir ici.

Lorsque ces parcours sont de plus en plus filtrés par des systèmes automatisés, les personnes immigrantes risquent d’être perçues davantage comme des données que comme des êtres humains. Une efficacité accrue peut certes aider les gouvernements à gérer de grands volumes de demandes, mais elle ne saurait se substituer à leur compréhension.

En fin de compte, le problème ne réside pas simplement dans le fait que l’IA prenne ou non la décision définitive. Il s’agit plutôt de savoir si l’IA modifie la perception qu’a le décideur à l’égard d’un être humain avant même que sa décision ne soit prise.

Neslihan Sriram-Uzundal est doctorante au Département des sciences de l’éducation et chercheuse engagée à l’Université Concordia.

Source: La stratégie d’IRCC en matière d’IA réduit les immigrants à des points de données

… An immigration application is not limited to a set of forms, documents and data points. Behind each file is a person who has devoted years of work, education, income and hope to building a life in Canada. The documents given to IRCC tell the story of these people: their professional career, their family, their trials, their successes and, often, the reasons why they are looking for a future here.

When these paths are increasingly filtered by automated systems, immigrants are more likely to be perceived as data than human beings. Increased efficiency can certainly help governments handle large volumes of requests, but it cannot replace their understanding.

In the end, the problem is not simply whether or not the AI makes the final decision. Rather, it is a question of whether AI changes the decision-maker’s perception of a human being even before his decision is made.

Neslihan Sriram-Uzundal is a doctoral student in the Department of Educational Sciences and a researcher at Concordia University.

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He’s been in Canada for 27 years. Now a former refugee faces deportation over trips back home

2026/09/14 Leave a comment

Well, if you have gone back repeatedly to your country of origin, hard to claim still being a refugee. Time should count less than behaviour:

…An obvious response is that permanent residence is not citizenship. Legally, that distinction matters. Permanent residence can be lost on statutory grounds that generally do not apply to Canadian citizenship.

Yet that does not make time irrelevant. One year of residence compared to 27 years of residence may be connected to the same immigration status, but they’re not socially or emotionally equivalent. Over decades, people become embedded in families, communities and workplaces in ways immigration categories alone cannot capture.

Slepcsik’s case is also striking because some of the conduct considered in the reavailment analysis involved family obligations. A journey undertaken to care for an injured sibling or attend a funeral can become part of the evidence considered under refugee law, while the person making that journey may understand it primarily as an obligation to someone they love.

Migration does not require people to stop caring about where they came from in order to become attached to somewhere new. People can sustain relationships and responsibilities across borders.

None of this means permanent residence should be treated as citizenship, or that the conditions attached to refugee protection should cease to matter with time. But when legal rules point one way and nearly 30 years of work, family and attachment point another, what weight should each carry?

Slepcsik’s case does not provide an easy answer. It asks something more basic: when immigration law decides whether someone may remain after decades of residence, how much should time count?

Source: He’s been in Canada for 27 years. Now a former refugee faces deportation over trips back home

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