Lorinc | Donald Trump has created a golden opportunity for Canada

2025/02/12 Leave a comment

Good suggestion, talent focussed:

….This time around, Trump’s MAGA warriors have perversely turned their sights on scientists and graduate students living inside the U.S., particularly those working in health, public health and bio-medical research by halting federal research grants.

We ought to take full advantage of the fall-out from Trump’s post-fact/anti-science crusade. The Canadian government, provincial higher education ministries and individual universities should be racing to find ways to attract American scientists whose research funding has suddenly dried up in the face of political attacks.

As happened in 2017 with the U.S. travel ban, Canadian research teams have already been caught up in the disruption because the collaborative and multi-disciplinary nature of science means that NIH-funded projects include principal investigators outside the U.S. They’re all witnessing the impact of these freezes in real time, with tangible implications for their research programs.

Of course, established scientists working in well-resourced institutions can’t just pull up stakes, re-direct their mail and move. But we know that some are pondering their own futures, and the future of their work, so anything that Canada can do to entice those individuals to re-locate will be well worth the effort. After all, we can offer proximity, shared languages and reasonably robust public institutions.

Such a move needs to be situated within a wider policy pivot necessitated by the Trump shocks. In recent weeks, there’s been a lot of talk about diversifying our export base, bringing down interprovincial trade barriers and potentially providing Canadians displaced by tariffs with some kind of emergency assistance. The Conservatives also want to cut corporate taxes.

To this list, I’d add, as have many others, that Canada needs to confront its stubbornly low productivity. One important way to do that is to build a policy environment that encourages investment all along the productivity food chain, from R&D to the commercialization of emerging Canadian technologies to proactive measures that incentivize companies and governments to invest in these tools.

Welcoming American researchers and post-docs to relocate to Canada is one piece of that puzzle. The others include: improved funding for university-based technology transfer offices, which help commercialize basic and applied R&D; targeted policies that encourage early-stage investors to back and grow Canadian start-ups; and tax and procurement tools designed to encourage Canadian corporations and governments to invest in those technologies….

Source: Opinion | Donald Trump has created a golden opportunity for Canada

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Canada’s cuts to international student permits lead to fear of a brain drain

2025/02/12 Leave a comment

Surprising that none of the experts mentioned note that the majority of students, particularly attending business programs in colleges, are not among the talent Canada seeks:

…Banerjee notes that immigrants and non-permanent residents are often younger and come in as international students, who are more likely to participate in the labour market. Their reduced numbers further accelerate the decline in much-needed labour supply amid a rapidly aging population.

Scotiabank economist Rebekah Young agrees that the drastic cuts to both permanent and temporary immigration are going to have an impact on the economy.

Thousands of international students and workers on post-graduate work permits, once planning to stay, are now taking their talent elsewhere due to uncertainty surrounding immigration and the high cost of living.

“When you look at international students and those who have come into rigorous, recognized programs and disciplines in high demand and sectors of high productivity, there’s a real opportunity cost that Canada loses out on,” Young said.

Banerjee said the rising cost of living further discourages foreign students from investing their lives in Canada as they often face barriers in the job markets and earn significantly less than their Canadian peers upon graduation as they struggle to find jobs that match their qualifications.

For example, in 2023 international students with a bachelor’s degree earned a median annual income of $52,000, 20 per cent lower than Canadian graduates who earned $65,200, according to new research from Statistics Canada. This is partly because these students are over three times more likely than Canadian graduates to work in sales and service jobs that tend to pay less….

Source: Canada’s cuts to international student permits lead to fear of a brain drain

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Lalande | To successfully fight Trump, Canada needs one thing: more Canadians

2025/02/11 Leave a comment

Certainly, not as many as the CI advocates. Competitiveness is real, and depends less on population growth than smart economic and immigration policies. The grave mistake was CI’s early advocacy for a larger population, Barton’s recommendations, and the Liberal government’s not thinking critically about what that would mean for housing, healthcare and infrastructure:

Time discovers truth.

In this case, it’s a brutal one.

The federal government’s decision to cut immigration targets by 21 per cent in 2025 and 24 per cent in 2026 was a grave mistake. Alarmingly, the consequences are rearing their ugly head at the worst possible time.

By reducing immigration levels, Canada is facing the economic fight of our lives with one arm tied behind our back. This is a moment when we should be projecting strength and growth — yet, instead, we have chosen to shrink. And unfortunately for us, this policy shift is occurring at the same time as another major demographic headwind: the retirement of five million Canadians by the end of the decade.

The economic impacts of these reductions are dire. A new Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) report examined the impact of reduced immigration levels and found that by 2027, Canada will see 1.3 billion fewer hours worked and a $37 billion reduction in nominal GDP, on average, over the next three years. These economic impacts will cripple Canada’s tax base, erode our economic resilience and reduce access to public services that Canadians rely upon.

We also haven’t yet factored in the proverbial elephant in the room that is the ongoing threat of tariffs and trade warfare. When we accept the true extent of economic volatility on the horizon, it becomes clear that Canada is in the midst of an economic emergency.

It’s one made considerably worse by the fact we have undermined our own bargaining power. The Conference Board of Canada has warned of a $6.9 billion reduction in real consumer spending in 2025, growing to $10.8 billion in 2026 — a consequence of both fewer workers, fewer people and a contracting market.

Understanding how we got here is critical. The absence of a national strategy for population and economic growth has left us vulnerable. The only way out is through a renewed focus on Canada’s competitiveness.

First, let’s radically improve our business climate so we can meaningfully diversify the Canadian economy and sharpen the tools in our economic toolbox. Trade wars may be a race to the bottom, but we can at least position ourselves as a stronger and more diversified, self-reliant economic competitor.

In 2023, Canada earned $152 billion from oil and gas exports to the United States, dwarfing all other sectors. Auto manufacturing, by comparison, only accounted for $51 billion worth of exports in 2023. We are doing ourselves a disservice by relying disproportionately on oil and gas exports at the expense of other industries, which can also be sources of innovation, investment and prosperity.

We also need to invest in a pro-growth agenda at lightning speed, attracting entrepreneurs and making it easier for large capital projects to set up shop in Canada and seize our early advantage in burgeoning industries such as artificial intelligence. Highly skilled immigrants are a key part of the equation, bringing entrepreneurial ambition and foreign investment capital with them. This pro-growth agenda must focus not only on attracting new businesses but retaining them for the long-term.

Second, let’s focus on talent.

With U.S. immigration tightening, Canada has a golden opportunity to attract workers — but only with a compelling pitch. Instead of vague promises, we must offer a clear vision: strong job prospects, affordability, accessible health care, and inclusive communities. This pitch should target highly skilled American workers facing growing uncertainty about their residency status, but also prioritize workers for industries where we have shortages such as construction, trades, green economy, and health care.

To win the war for talent, Canada must modernize its immigration points system to prioritize high-demand skills. And we must invest in housing, transit, health care and child care to ensure newcomers don’t just arrive, but stay.

These aren’t new solutions — experts have pushed for them for years. But the current threat of tariffs and trade warfare makes action not only more urgent than ever, but possible. This is a rare political moment where everyone’s attention is focused on Canada’s economic future. Whatever happens in the coming months, we should not look away from the threat.

For once, the political necessity to act is matched by the political will to act. So let’s seize this moment.

Source: Opinion | To successfully fight Trump, Canada needs one thing: more Canadians

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The Unauthorized Immigrant Population Expands amid Record U.S.-Mexico Border Arrivals

2025/02/10 2 Comments

Helps explain some of the Trump administration concerns with the Southern border (but not the Northern one). Good series of explanatory charts:

Amid record encounters of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border in fiscal years (FY) 2021 and 2022 and wide use of humanitarian parole to allow entry of migrants arriving without visas, the size of the unauthorized immigrant population has reached its highest level yet. The Migration Policy Institute (MPI) estimates that approximately 13.7 million unauthorized immigrants lived in the United States as of mid-2023, up from 12.8 million the year prior. MPI revised upwards its estimates for 2022 and prior years, using an updated methodology that permits better addressing the Census Bureau’s undercount of new immigrants.

Between 2019 and 2023, the unauthorized immigrant population grew by 3 million, or an average of 6 percent per year (see Figure 1). The nation had not seen yearly increases this large since the early 2000s.

This growth is partially explained by increased irregular arrivals at the U.S.-Mexico border, with a rising mix of nationalities from across the Western Hemisphere from countries such as Venezuela, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, and Nicaragua, as well as hundreds of thousands of people who entered with humanitarian parole from Ukraine, Mexico, Haiti, and other countries. And it also stems from sizable numbers of Europeans and others who overstayed their nonimmigrant visa.

Most of the changes are expected continuations of trends that started several years ago. For example, the unauthorized immigrant population from Venezuela started to grow quickly following the severe economic and political turbulence that began there in 2015. Likewise, the unauthorized populations from Honduras and Guatemala grew rapidly starting around 2019….

Source: The Unauthorized Immigrant Population Expands amid Record U.S.-Mexico Border Arrivals

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Young: The hidden truth about migrant deaths at the Canada-U.S. border

2025/02/08 Leave a comment

While every death is a human tragedy, the known numbers are small compared to the number of irregular arrivals and other asylum seekers. Useful to have some data:

…Death at the border

Our research identified 15 deaths at the Canada-U.S. border between 2020 and 2023, and another 23 deaths going back to 1989. Given the lack of official records, the actual number is likely higher.

We filed access-to-information requests on both sides of the border. The RCMP acknowledged just one death in Canada, and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) produced no results. Instead, we systematically collected media reports on border deaths and analyzed that data.

Roughly three-quarters of migrants whose deaths were covered in news reports were travelling towards the U.S. Their remains were mainly recovered on the Canadian side of the border. 

Migrants face a range of dangers when crossing the Canada-U.S. border irregularly, but drowning represents the most significant threat, followed by hypothermia — 23 and six of the 38 recorded deaths, respectively.

Three people died in encounters with border patrol agents, with two fatally shot on the American side and one dying in a car crash while being chased by Canadian agents.

Invisible deaths

Our requests for official data on border deaths in both the U.S. and Canada came up empty-handed. After more than a year and the conclusion of an independent complaint investigation into the RCMP’s lack of response to our Canadian request, we were provided with information on one single death. The request filed in the U.S. returned no information. 

Researchers in both countries regularly report frustration with slow processes and a lack of results from such requests.

This experience led us to believe that border enforcement agencies do not track deaths along the Canada-U.S. border in either country. This is a problem. The public is left in the dark, while potential migrants are not provided with information about the dangers of irregular crossings.

It is particularly odd that American authorities don’t provide information on deaths at this border, given that deaths along the U.S.-Mexico border are tracked and publicly reported.

If there’s been a policy decision not to track deaths at the Canada-U.S. border, it reveals a lack of concern and a willingness to obscure the full picture from the public. Both the Canadian and American governments need to change their approach to documenting border deaths, detailing all known cases publicly.

More death on the horizon

Trump’s return to the American presidency might lead to an increase in irregular migration between Canada and the U.S. The Canadian government’s move to beef up border security enforcement, in turn, makes it more likely that migrants will perish after choosing dangerous crossing points. 

Even when migrants die amid human smuggling operations, a lot of the responsibility lies with government decisions. 

As Public Safety Canada warned in 2023, more difficult border crossings lead to increased criminality in human smuggling. Government decisions drive people away from safer crossing points and into the influence of criminal organizations.

The governments of Canada and the United States have a moral obligation to inform the public about deaths — and do everything in their power to prevent further tragedies.

Kira Williams (University of Toronto Scarborough) and Caroline Cordeiro (Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy) contributed to the research for this article.

Source: The hidden truth about migrant deaths at the Canada-U.S. border

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Ottawa accused of stalling on visa approvals for thousands of Gazans stranded at critical time

2025/02/08 1 Comment

Suspect the necessary security clearances are part of the reason for delays:

Almost 5,000 Palestinians who applied last year to take part in a special Ottawa program to help them flee war-torn Gaza and join relatives in Canada have been deemed eligible by the government, but so far only 620 – or fewer than 15 per cent – have arrived.

Immigration lawyers representing Palestinians and their Canadian relatives are accusing the government of deliberately stalling applications, and are urging officials to take advantage of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire and reopening of the Rafah crossing to press Israel to allow applicants still in Gaza to exit.

They say scores of Palestinians have paid thousands of dollars in bribes to cross into Egypt to complete biometric checks in Cairo required by the Canadian government and have been waiting for months there for final approval. Others are waiting in Gaza for confirmation that their visas have been approved.

Yameena Ansari, an immigration lawyer, said Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada “is fully capable of expediting processing of applications. They do it regularly for many lines of business. So, if the Gaza applications are not being expedited, that is not an accident.”

Immigration lawyer Warda Shazadi Meighen of Landings LLP in Toronto said Canada must act swiftly to uphold its commitments under the Gazan program. “For those still seeking relocation – particularly individuals with family in Canada – this moment presents a crucial opportunity to fulfill our humanitarian obligations,” she said.

Matthew Behrens, who co-ordinates the Rural Refugee Rights Network, said “it is inexcusable” for IRCC to sit on applications for over a year, warning that “the border could be closed again at a moment’s notice.”

Ottawa’s program faced criticism over security concerns when it was announced. Last year, Marco Rubio, then a senator and now secretary of state in President Donald Trump’s administration, wrote to the U.S. Homeland Security Secretary, warning that the program raised the risk of allowing people with ties to terror groups, such as Hamas, to get easier access to the United States….

Source: Ottawa accused of stalling on visa approvals for thousands of Gazans stranded at critical time

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International student graduates earn much less than Canadian peers, study shows

2025/02/07 1 Comment

Of concern, particularly at masters and PhD levels:

International students earn substantially less than their Canadian counterparts upon graduation, and a larger proportion of them end up in sales and service jobs, new research from Statistics Canada shows.

The data – part of a report by the agency examining the labour-market outcomes of university and college graduates in Canada – capture the inequity in wages and types of jobs that international students eventually obtain compared with Canadian graduates.

Over all, international student graduates earned 19.6 per cent less than Canadian graduates three years after graduating, the report found. Moreover, their annual incomes were lower than Canadian graduates at all levels of study, regardless of if they earned a diploma or a doctorate degree.

The report used data from a 2023 national survey of graduates conducted by Statscan, and focused on the graduating class of 2020.

Foreign students with a bachelor’s degree, for example, earned a median annual income of $52,000, compared with Canadian graduates at $65,200. At the master’s level, international students earned 16.6 per cent less than Canadians – $70,000 compared with $83,900, annually.

A critical difference in the employment outcomes for foreign students compared to Canadian graduates can be seen in the proportion of international students who work in sales and service occupations. Across all education levels, approximately 28 per cent of international student graduates worked in sales and service jobs, compared with roughly 12 per cent of Canadian graduates.

Some examples of sales and service occupations, according to the National Occupation Classification system, include retail and restaurant workers, door-to-door salespeople and call-centre operators. These jobs tend to pay lower wages than, for example, management occupations or jobs in business and finance.

Brittany Etmanski, the report’s author, suggested that one reason for the significant earnings differential between foreign graduates and Canadian graduates was because more of the former group tended to be college and bachelor’s degree holders employed in the low-wage sales and service sectors.

“However, this does not explain the difference in income at the masters and doctoral levels,” she wrote….

Source: International student graduates earn much less than Canadian peers, study shows

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Why are Canadian immigration lawyers up in arms over proposed rules to target ‘ghost agents’?

2025/02/07 Leave a comment

Of note, applying to everyone rather than where the risk of fraud greater:

A government proposal to give authorities more power to investigate immigration consulting frauds is being criticized by lawyers as an overreach that fails to target the real culprits.

The proposed changes would grant immigration officials broad inspection power to investigate, adjudicate and penalize those who are unauthorized to give immigration advice for a fee, as well as licensed lawyers and consultants “counselling fraud and misrepresentation on their clients’ applications.”

However, provincial law societies and the Canadian Bar Association said lawyers are already subject to tight professional regulations. And they say the new rules would put them in a bind between their obligations under solicitor-client privilege and the ability to fight for their innocence.

“The regime would infringe on the law societies’ exclusive authority to govern their licensees,” the Federation of Law Societies of Canada, representing the 14 provincial and territorial law societies, said in a submission Monday in response to the government’s proposed changes. 

“The broad powers under the regime to inspect documents may be in conflict with the law of solicitor-client privilege in Canada.”

Currently, anyone who provides immigration advice for a fee must be a member of a law society or the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants, and immigration applicants are supposed to declare who their authorized representatives are.

While the professional regulators have the power to police and discipline their members for wrongdoing, many “ghost agents” — those who are unlicensed and offer immigration advice under the radar — have continued to operate without paper trails; many are overseas and beyond the reach of the regulators’ jurisdictions.

A parliamentary report in 2017 on improving oversight of immigration consultants raised concerns about weak governance of the consultants’ regulator and insufficient resources for investigations and enforcement. Among the recommendations were a policy review addressing the practice of “ghost consultants,” and considering increased fines and sentences.

The Immigration Department said unscrupulous agents “counselling fraud and misrepresentation” on clients’ applications are a threat to the integrity of Canada’s immigration and citizenship systems.

Source: Why are Canadian immigration lawyers up in arms over proposed rules to target ‘ghost agents’?

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Canada faces calls to suspend asylum agreement with U.S., saying Trump orders undermine migrants’ rights

2025/02/06 Leave a comment

Real dilemma for the government given that USA is becoming less safe and the risk of significant increases in asylum claimants from the USA without the STCA to help control and manage inflows:

The federal government is facing calls to suspend a long-standing agreement with the U.S. to return asylum seekers at the border, with immigration experts saying the United States should no longer be considered a safe place for people fleeing persecution.

They say U.S. President Donald Trump’s executive orders that make it easier to deport or detain migrants – including plans to hold 30,000 migrants accused of criminality in Guantanamo Bay – undermine their rights to such an extent that Canada should halt returning asylum seekers to the U.S.

Under the Safe Third Country Agreement, which came into effect in 2004, asylum seekers must make a claim at the first country in which they arrive. The agreement means that most asylum seekers arriving at the Canadian border are automatically returned to the U.S., with some exceptions such as people facing the death penalty.

Immigration lawyers and refugee advocates say Mr. Trump’s policies that make it easier to deport asylum seekers without a court hearing and increase detention may breach international law and should prompt Canada to rethink or suspend the agreement.

“The executive actions in the U.S. will materially impede access to asylum, and result in the routine imprisonment of refugees, contrary to UN standards,” says Erin Simpson, a partner at immigration law firm Landings LLP in Toronto.

“When Canada returns refugees to the U.S. under the Safe Third Country Agreement, they risk deportation to persecution and torture, and prison. Canada has the authority to suspend the agreement, and should exercise that authority until it is satisfied the agreement is not harming refugees.”

…But some experts warned that scrapping the agreement could lead to an influx of asylum seekers to Canada, who could not be turned back.

James Yousif, a Toronto-based lawyer who was director of policy to former Conservative immigration minister Jason Kenney, said the move would be “reckless” and “risk destabilizing Canada’s social and economic foundations.”

“Canada would face a surge in asylum claims from undocumented migrants in the United States, overwhelming public systems. Provinces and cities would be required to provide health care, social assistance, education and housing supports,” he said, adding they would be “severely strained.”

Source: Canada faces calls to suspend asylum agreement with U.S., saying Trump orders undermine migrants’ rights

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This licensed Canadian immigration consultant was impersonated by a fraudster. How migrants are being scammed by ‘ghost agents’

2025/02/06 Leave a comment

Sigh…:

About a year ago, immigration consultant Kerry Molitor started to get email alerts from the Immigration Department: letters for her clients had been sent to her online account. The problem was she had never heard of these clients.

Concerned about the consequences of the missed letters intended for the actual study and visitor permit applicants, she reported the incidents to immigration officials. 

Then last August, Molitor stumbled upon an Instagram account that used her name and her old office address and promoted a website that looked almost like hers. She clicked on the link that led her to an immigration company that showed her as the CEO, but with the photo of a white male. It also posted a fake licence certificate purported to be hers.

“These people are committing frauds in my name,” said Molitor. “I’m very fearful for the people that are contacting these scammers because I’ve had several victims or potential victims contact me to verify. They are getting a lot of attention, a lot of customers. According to Instagram, they’ve been active since December 2023.”

For a long time, the immigration consulting industry has been tackling the “ghost agents” who pretend to be accredited consultants. Canadian law only allows a consultant licensed by the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants and a lawyer by a law society to give immigration advice for a fee.

But with business increasingly conducted online, combating these frauds — many of them originating abroad — is getting even harder.

Someone looking for help in immigration may come across a fake website or post on social media, find a matching name on the directory of the regulator and fall into the trap.

While the professional reputation of the impersonated consultants is certainly at stake, victims of the scammers ultimately pay the price as their applications will likely never be filed, or they will be refused for not having all the required documents….

Source: This licensed Canadian immigration consultant was impersonated by a fraudster. How migrants are being scammed by ‘ghost agents’

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