Worswick: In this economy? It’s time to welcome foreign students again

2025/02/26 Leave a comment

A more strategic approach to international students and rebalancing in favour of universities and college programs where there is high labour force needs:

…In the short term, we should prioritize international university students over their college counterparts, since they pay higher tuition. Algonquin College in Ottawa lists international tuition and book costs at $16,000 to $22,000, which is much less than across town at Carleton University, where international tuition ranges from $34,000 to $53,000. To be clear, these are both fine academic institutions that are important parts of the Canadian educational system. However, an international student at Carleton contributes more to Canadian national income through tuition revenue than does their counterpart at Algonquin.

Also, university students have higher average earnings upon graduation than college students and are more likely to meet the admission criteria under the Skilled Worker immigration program after graduation. And unlike college students, university students are more likely to be involved in academic research, which helps with our productivity challenges, and they are more likely to be the leaders of technology spin-off companies.

Should we have international students at colleges? Yes, but at lower numbers than in the recent past and concentrated in key fields. Students doing programs in the building trades should be prioritized given the need to expand our housing stock. International students in health care programs should also be prioritized, as this will help us to expand our strained health sector.

Will increasing international students create another population surge? Not necessarily. One sensible first step would be to quickly wind down the lower wage part of our Temporary Foreign Worker Program.

Each temporary foreign worker’s impact on housing and health care is similar to that of an international university student. Replacing temporary foreign workers with international university students in the same communities would lead to a boost in tuition revenue and improve our pool of highly skilled potential immigrants, but without affecting the demand for local housing and health care. This makes even more sense ahead of a possible tariff-driven recession where unemployed auto workers may wish they had access to jobs held by temporary foreign workers….

Source: In this economy? It’s time to welcome foreign students again

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Climate change may mean migrants can’t be returned to hard-hit regions: internal IRCC document

2025/02/25 Leave a comment

Appropriate flagging of potential future issues:

Canada’s immigration department may soon need to factor in climate change when deciding whether to deport some asylum seekers to their home countries, an internal government document suggests.

The analysis on “climate mobility” by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada says that the federal government may not be able to deport people to regions hit hard by floods, drought or rising sea levels.

The 2024 internal IRCC document, obtained through an access to information request, says “Canada does not have a formal position or strategy on how to address the complex nexus between climate events and mobility.”

It notes that climate events are not currently a ground for protection under the UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees or Canada’s system of determining asylum cases.

But it says that refugee claims may be affected by a “watershed” 2020 decision by the United Nations Human Rights Committee that concluded climate change may trigger obligations not to deport some people….

Source: Climate change may mean migrants can’t be returned to hard-hit regions: internal IRCC document

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FIRST READING: Immigration minister says Canadian universities bringing in too many Indian students

2025/02/24 Leave a comment

Ongoing pivot. Takes some political courage to deliver these remarks in Brampton, given its large Indo-Canadian population, but the issues of exploitation of Indian students, by colleges, consultants and others are clear:

Immigration Minister Marc Miller accused Canadian universities of sourcing too many students from India, and said he expects a better “diversity” of international students in future.

He also said Canada needs to return to relying on “quality” over “quantity” of immigrants. “I think we do need to make sure that the Canadian brand does focus on excellence, on quality, and less quantity,” he said.

The comments were delivered at a media roundtable in Brampton, Ont., one of the Canadian cities most impacted by an unprecedented spike in immigration overseen by the Trudeau government since 2021. Miller was hosted by Brampton Centre MP Shafqat Ali.

In just the last three years, Canada’s population has grown by 2.9 million — an average influx of 81,000 new people every month. Many of those have come in on temporary visas; as per a November report by Statistics Canada, there are now three million non-permanent residents in Canada.

Brampton has experienced this immigration wave more acutely than anyone else, with immigration making it the country’s fastest growing big city. In just a single year between 2021 and 2022, the city’s population jumped by a record 89,077.

This has also made Brampton the home of Canada’s fastest-growing rents. And it’s made the city a focal point for a new phenomenon of job fairs being utterly overwhelmed by applicants. In one example from 2023, a mid-sized Brampton grocery store advertising open positions attracted a line-up of several hundred applicants snaking around the block.

In October, Miller introduced a package of reforms to “pause population growth,” including stricter quotas on both permanent and non-permanent immigration.

Miller opened the Brampton event by saying that he expected “hopes will be dashed” as many of Canada’s millions of temporary residents see their visas expire without having secured permanent residency.

“It’s going to be a rough ride; part of cleaning up this challenge that we see will mean that people’s hopes will be dashed to some extent,” said the minister, adding that “no one was guaranteed automatic permanent residency.”

He also said, “The solution is not to give visas to absolutely everyone simply because they don’t want to leave.”

Miller also maintained that none of the massive increase in immigration was his government’s fault, placing the blame instead on colleges, provincial governments and other “bad actors” who sponsored outsized numbers of international migrants, sometimes under fraudulent grounds.

Although he allowed that there “probably should have been better oversight, but that’s water under the bridge.”

Miller also accused schools of relying too heavily on students from India – who at times have comprised up to half of all international students in the country.

“I would say universities and colleges have been going to one or two source countries, and constantly going back to the well on that — we expect diversity of students,” he said.

The minister said he’d asked universities and colleges to “put a little more effort into the price of acquisition.”

“You have to be able to invest more in the talent you’re bringing here, and that includes going to more countries,” he said.

The event was held just as Miller’s office published information showing that in 2024 alone, 50,000 people entered Canada on study permits and then never showed up to class.

Canada has also been seeing rising rates of students claiming asylum in an apparent bid to stave off deportation. In just the first nine months of 2024, 14,000 people who entered Canada on student permits claimed asylum.

“It doesn’t make sense that you come here, spend a year, and that if you didn’t have the conditions in your home country to cause you to be an asylum seeker on day one … that you should be entitled to (the asylum) process,” he said, adding that any exceptions are “rare.”

The current waiting list just to have an asylum claim reviewed is up to three years — during which time the claimant can stay in Canada and even secure work permits and government benefits. Miller said that if Parliament wasn’t currently prorogued, he would introduce a bill to ensure that student asylum claims were dealt with in a “more efficient” fashion.

The Feb. 8 roundtable occurred just a few days after Canada was given a reprieve from tariffs threatened by the United States over the issue of border security.

Miller mentioned that Canada receives far more illegal border-crossers from the U.S. than vice versa, but said that the Americans had a point in that security along their northern border keeps intercepting foreign nationals who “have come through airports at Montreal and Pearson (Toronto).”

“That’s not right, we need to have proper control over the issuance of our visas,” said Miller.

Source: FIRST READING: Immigration minister says Canadian universities bringing in too many Indian students

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Saunders: Canada’s border is broken, but not the way Trump thinks. Here’s how the next government can fix it

2025/02/24 Leave a comment

Good long and thoughtful commentary:

…There has to be a sensible Canadian space between Trumpist mass deportations and closed borders on one hand, and on the other the current reality of a set of policies and institutions that make Canadian governments unable to control who enters the country.

Luckily, there seems to be an awkward political consensus around this. Both the federal Conservatives and the major Liberal leadership candidates appear to be united (though they might not admit it) around a common set of aspirations: a return to a focus on permanent, citizenship-focused immigration of intact families and a reduction of temporary migration to a minimum; immigration targets tied to economic conditions and population-growth needs; a refugee policy driven by genuine humanitarian need and not by irregular border crossings or opportunism.

Those goals won’t easily be attained with mere tinkering of the sort that governments this century have engaged in. Rather, they require a set of systemwide reforms. After interviewing a dozen former immigration officials and experts, I found a strong consensus on the changes that would make the system work:…

Source: Canada’s border is broken, but not the way Trump thinks. Here’s how the next government can fix it

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German study: Immigration does not raise crime rate

2025/02/22 Leave a comment

Of note, similar to other countries:

Immigrants or refugees do not have a higher tendency to commit crime and there is no correlation between the proportion of immigrants in a given district and the local crime rate, according to a new analysis of the latest German crime statistics carried out by the renowned ifo institute.

The Munich-based institute correlated the latest national crime stats from 2018 to 2023 with location-specific data in the new study to show why the fact that immigrants are overrepresented in crime statistics had nothing to do with where they came from.

Migrants tend to settle in urban areas, where there is more population density, more nightlife, and more people in public spaces at all hours of the day. That means the general crime rate is higher, and crime suspects are just as likely to be German as of foreign background. In other words, districts with higher levels of “immigrant” crime also have higher crime rates among Germans.

“These places increase the risk of becoming perpetrators for residents, regardless of nationality, due to the infrastructure, economic situation, police presence or population density,” the study said.

The researchers pointed to other reasons why immigrants tend to be overrepresented in crime figures: Immigrants are generally younger and more often male than the German population — but those, according to the researchers, were less important contributing factors.

Studies contradict the populist narrative

The supposed propensity of immigrants to commit crimes has become the dominant narrative in the current German election campaign. In a recent Bundestag debate on restricting immigration, Friedrich Merz, chancellor candidate for the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU), spoke of “daily occurring gang rapes in the asylum seeker milieu.”

Those words echoed the narrative now routinely propagated by the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD). In early February, the AfD’s Beatrix von Storch told German public broadcaster ARD, “We have two gang rapes a day, we have ten normal rapes a day and we have had 131 violent crimes a day on average over the last six years — by immigrants, primarily Syrians, Afghans and Iraqis.”

“We have skyrocketing crime statistics. We have skyrocketing crime among foreigners, youth crime, migrant violence,” AfD co-leader and chancellor candidate Alice Weidel said in 2024. “Rapes are high, knife crimes are high, 15,000 in the last year.”

The numbers were found to be false by media outlets’ fact-checking teams.

Much-reported attacks by people of immigrant background in Munich, Aschaffenburg, and Magdeburg have fueled this popular narrative, but statistical studies draw a very different picture.

“Even for violent crimes such as homicide or sexual assault, the study shows no statistical correlation with an increasing share of foreigners or refugees,” the ifo researchers said.

Source: German study: Immigration does not raise crime rate

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Meggs: L’immigration : Quels sont nos objectifs?

2025/02/22 Leave a comment

Good general set of questions that apply to Canada and Quebec alike from former senior Quebec immigration official:

Il y en a certains qui aiment poser la question « pourquoi de l’immigration? » Comme nous avons pourtant souligné dans la chronique précédente, la migration humaine existe depuis le début des temps; elle est normale et inévitable. L’important est de bien la gérer pour s’assurer qu’elle demeure une force positive.

La vraie question donc est « De l’immigration pour quoi? » « Quelles sont nos attentes relatives à notre gestion de l’immigration? »

C’est la question la plus importante et la plus complexe à résoudre lors des consultations à venir ce printemps au Québec sur la planification pluriannuelle d’immigration. Les objectifs de cette planification seront très spécifiques au Québec compte tenu de sa situation géopolitique, linguistique et culturelle.

Convenons d’abord que l’immigration n’est pas la seule réponse aux défis québécois, ni la seule cause de ceux-ci. Elle constitue un élément qui peut aider à régler certains problèmes actuels, mais qui peut aussi les exacerber. D’où l’importance de bien la gérer et de trouver l’équilibre nécessaire.

La planification de l’immigration au Québec comprend traditionnellement deux types d’objectifs, des objectifs sociétaux et ceux du nombre et du rythme des arrivées1.

Objectifs sociétaux complexes

Les objectifs sociétaux incluent les enjeux, tels que la démographie, la langue française, l’économie et le marché du travail, les considérations humanitaires et familiales. Ces objectifs font appel aux caractéristiques ou aux critères de sélection des personnes qui arrivent (âge, langue, expérience de travail, domaine de formation, région de destination) ainsi qu’à la proportion de l’immigration permanente qui sera accordée à chaque catégorie — économique, humanitaire et familiale.

La démographie, par exemple, comprend plusieurs volets – le vieillissement de la population, le taux de fécondité et même les déplacements internes et externes.

Quels sont nos objectifs sur le plan de la démographie? Voulons-nous augmenter la taille de la population du Québec, la maintenir à peu près telle quelle, ou sommes-nous à l’aise avec une baisse de la population? Quelle priorité faut-il donner à l’enjeu du poids démographique du Québec au sein du Canada? Quelle structure des âges visons-nous? Quelle est l’importance de la rétention des personnes immigrantes et de la répartition de la population sur le territoire?

Les réponses à ces questions détermineront notamment l’importance de l’âge et de jeunes familles parmi les critères de sélection, ainsi que la connaissance du français. La connaissance du français et la présence de jeunes enfants sont deux facteurs qui jouent sur le taux de rétention des personnes qui arrivent.

De plus, les enfants d’âge scolaire contribuent à la pérennité de la langue française grâce à l’obligation de fréquenter des écoles françaises. Il est également à noter qu’il y a plus d’enfants de moins de 15 ans parmi les admissions de la catégorie familiale.

En ce qui concerne les objectifs économiques, comme notés dans l’Énoncé en matière d’immigration et d’intégration adopté en 1991 à la suite de la signature de l’Accord Canada-Québec, ils « permettent de concilier à la fois les motivations de l’immigrant et les intérêts de la collectivité québécoise. En effet, l’immigrant veut pour sa part améliorer son sort et celui de ses descendants; la société d’accueil, quant à elle, veut faire appel au potentiel de l’immigrant en fonction de ses besoins. »

Pour y arriver, d’une part, les économistes prônent la sélection des personnes hautement qualifiées qui travailleront dans les industries de pointe et qui pourront s’adapter à l’évolution des exigences du marché du travail. Les critères de sélection importants sont donc l’expérience de travail et la formation recherchées.

Ces personnes apportent de l’innovation et contribuent au développement et, avec des salaires plus élevés, elles paient plus d’impôts, contribuant ainsi au filet social qui sert à l’ensemble de la population.

D’autre part, le patronat signale que ces personnes sont souvent surqualifiées pour plusieurs des secteurs qui sont en pénurie de main-d’œuvre actuellement, particulièrement en région. Il ne faut pas oublier cependant que les personnes peu éduquées à bas salaire, immigrantes ou nées au Québec, ont besoin de soutien pour améliorer leur sort. L’intégration socioéconomique réussie est plus longue.

Quelles sont les priorités économiques au Québec qui détermineront le rôle que jouera l’immigration et les critères de sélection à favoriser? Quelle est la proportion à donner à la catégorie économique de l’immigration en équilibre avec les catégories familiales et humanitaires?

Enfin, en matière de langue, les bassins de recrutement à l’étranger des personnes qui utilisent déjà le français sont assez limités. Quels arbitrages sommes-nous prêts à faire entre les objectifs démographiques, économiques et linguistiques?

La capacité d’accueil

Avant d’établir les objectifs en ce qui concerne le nombre et le rythme des arrivées, il est crucial non seulement de clarifier les objectifs démographiques, mais également d’identifier et de mesurer les facteurs constituant la capacité d’accueil, et ce, idéalement par région administrative.

La plupart des composantes de la capacité d’accueil touchent la vie quotidienne de l’ensemble de la population et déterminent la qualité de vie tant des personnes arrivant de l’étranger que celle des personnes déjà établies.

Donnons quelques exemples : la disponibilité de logements abordables, les places dans les écoles et les garderies, l’accès à un médecin de famille, le temps d’attente dans les cliniques de première ligne et les hôpitaux ou pour une consultation avec un psychologue, la disponibilité des transports en commun, les services d’insertion en emploi, le taux de chômage, l’utilisation du français au travail et en public.

La capacité d’accueil inclut également l’accès aux services spécifiques au milieu d’immigration, tels les services de francisation, d’accueil et d’intégration socioculturelle.

La plupart de ces facteurs n’ont jamais fait partie du calcul des seuils de l’immigration permanente, encore moins de l’immigration temporaire dont la planification a été inexistante jusqu’à cette année.

Dans chaque cas, il faudrait déterminer quels indicateurs sont les plus pertinents à mesurer et quel seuil permet de dire qu’on est capable d’accueillir un certain nombre de nouvelles personnes.

Par exemple, en ce qui concerne la disponibilité du logement, il y aurait des indicateurs comme le taux d’inoccupation des logements en location, le prix moyen des loyers en fonction du salaire moyen des personnes immigrantes nouvellement arrivées, les mises en chantier. Chaque secteur de service public a déjà ses indicateurs pour mesurer le niveau de fonctionnement optimal.

Pour y arriver, une idée serait de créer une unité d’expertise à l’Institut de la statistique du Québec chargée d’élaborer une mesure de la capacité d’accueil, alimentée par les données administratives des divers ministères et organismes, ainsi que les données socioéconomiques, qui serait suivie en continu. Idéalement, les coûts associés à ces diverses composantes seraient également estimés et suivis.

La planification des niveaux et du rythme des admissions au Québec, et même par région, serait basée sur ces données. Les mesures à prendre, par exemple en matière de construction de logements ou de places en garderie, pour pouvoir accueillir convenablement les personnes nouvellement arrivées, seraient claires, ainsi que les coûts afférents.

Un tel chantier de recherche prendrait plusieurs mois à opérationnaliser et d’autres formules sont sûrement envisageables. L’important est de fixer les seuils d’immigration sur la base des données probantes et de retirer cet aspect de la planification de l’arène partisane.

Une planification de l’immigration basée sur les objectifs sociaux qui font consensus et sur des données probantes relatives à la capacité d’accueil serait un modèle inédit dans le monde. Elle aurait aussi le grand avantage de rassurer notre société que nous sommes bien capables d’accueillir des gens de partout pour bâtir le Québec de demain ensemble.

Anne Michèle Meggs is a former director of planning and accountability at the Ministère de l’Immigration, de la Francisation et de l’Intégration, and former director of research and evaluationat l’Office québécois de la langue française.

Source: L’immigration : Quels sont nos objectifs?

There are some who like to ask the question “why immigration? As we pointed out in the previous column, human migration has existed since the beginning of time; it is normal and inevitable. The important thing is to manage it well to ensure that it remains a positive force.

The real question then is “Immigration for what? “What are our expectations for our immigration management? ”

This is the most important and complex question to be resolved during the upcoming consultations this spring in Quebec on multi-year immigration planning. The objectives of this planning will be very specific to Quebec given its geopolitical, linguistic and cultural situation.

Let us first acree that immigration is not the only answer to Quebec’s challenges, nor the only cause of them. It is an element that can help solve some current problems, but that can also exacerbate them. Hence the importance of managing it well and finding the necessary balance.

Immigration planning in Quebec traditionally includes two types of objectives, societal objectives and those of the number and pace of arrivals1.

Complex societal objectives

Societal objectives include issues, such as demographics, the French language, the economy and the labour market, and humanitarian and family considerations. These objectives rely on the characteristics or selection criteria of arriving persons (age, language, work experience, field of training, region of destination) as well as the proportion of permanent immigration that will be granted to each category — economic, humanitarian and family.

Demography, for example, includes several aspects – population aging, fertility rate and even internal and external displacements.

What are our demographic goals? Do we want to increase the size of Quebec’s population, keep it pretty much as it is, or are we comfortable with a decline in the population? What priority should be given to the issue of Quebec’s demographic weight within Canada? What age structure are we aiming for? What is the importance of the detention of immigrants and the distribution of the population in the territory?

The answers to these questions will determine in particular the importance of age and young families among the selection criteria, as well as knowledge of French. Knowledge of French and the presence of young children are two factors that play a role in the retention rate of people who arrive.

In addition, school-age children contribute to the sustainability of the French language through the obligation to attend French schools. It should also be noted that there are more children under the age of 15 among the admissions of the family category.

With regard to the economic objectives, as noted in the Statement on Immigration and Integration adopted in 1991 following the signing of the Canada-Quebec Agreement, they “make it possible to reconcile both the motivations of the immigrant and the interests of the Quebec community. Indeed, the immigrant wants to improve his fate and that of his descendants; the host society, for its part, wants to appeal to the potential of the immigrant according to his needs. ”

To achieve this, on the one hand, economists advocate the selection of highly qualified people who will work in advanced industries and who will be able to adapt to changing labor market requirements. The important selection criteria are therefore the work experience and training sought.

These people bring innovation and contribute to development and, with higher wages, they pay more taxes, thus contributing to the social net that serves the entire population.

On the other hand, employers point out that these people are often overqualified for many of the sectors that are currently in labor shortages, particularly in the regions. We must not forget, however, that people with little educated and low pay, immigrants or those born in Quebec, need support to improve their fate. Successful socio-economic integration takes longer.

What are the economic priorities in Quebec that will determine the role that immigration will play and the selection criteria to be favored? What is the proportion to be given to the economic category of immigration in balance with the family and humanitarian categories?

Finally, in terms of language, the recruitment pools abroad of people who already use French are quite limited. What arbitrations are we prepared to make between demographic, economic and linguistic objectives?

The reception capacity

Before establishing objectives with regard to the number and pace of arrivals, it is crucial not only to clarify the demographic objectives, but also to identify and measure the factors that make up the reception capacity, ideally by administrative region.

Most of the components of the reception capacity affect the daily life of the entire population and determine the quality of life of both people arriving from abroad and those already established.

Let’s give some examples: the availability of affordable housing, places in schools and daycare centers, access to a family doctor, waiting time in front-line clinics and hospitals or for a consultation with a psychologist, the availability of public transport, job placement services, the unemployment rate, the use of French at work and in public.

The reception capacity also includes access to specific services for the immigration environment, such as francization, reception and sociocultural integration services.

Most of these factors have never been part of the permanent immigration threshold calculation, let alone temporary immigration, the planning of which was non-existent until this year.

In each case, it would be necessary to determine which indicators are most relevant to measure and which threshold allows us to say that we are able to welcome a certain number of new people.

For example, with regard to the availability of housing, there would be indicators such as the vacancy rate of rental housing, the average price of rents based on the average salary of newly arrived immigrants, construction starts. Each public service sector already has its indicators to measure the optimal level of operation.

To achieve this, one idea would be to create an expertise unit at the Institut de la statistique du Québec responsible for developing a measurement of reception capacity, fed by administrative data from the various ministries and organizations, as well as socio-economic data, which would be monitored continuously. Ideally, the costs associated with these various components would also be estimated and monitored.

The planning of levels and pace of admissions in Quebec, and even by region, would be based on this data. The measures to be taken, for example in the construction of housing or daycare places, to be able to properly accommodate newly arrived people, would be clear, as well as the related costs.

Such a research project would take several months to operationalize and other formulas are surely possible. The important thing is to set immigration thresholds on the basis of evidence and to remove this aspect from the planning of the party arena.

Immigration planning based on consensual social objectives and evidence of reception capacity would be an unprecedented model in the world. It would also have the great advantage of reassuring our society that we are capable of welcoming people from everywhere to build tomorrow’s Quebec together.

Anne Michèle Meggs is a former director of planning and accountability at the Ministère de l’Immigration, de la Francisation et de l’Intégration, and former director of research and evaluation at the Office québécois de la langue française.

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Canada’s cuts to newcomer English language programs puts communities’ well-being at risk

2025/02/21 Leave a comment

While one can always make the case for more, harder to justify when the government implements reductions to permanent and temporary migrants.

Would also be helpful if the article made reference to the 2018 IRCC evaluation of the settlement program and the degree to which recommendations were implemented.

Still surprising that IRCC does not update settlement services data on open data (it is available upon request but should be updated on a monthly basis like other data sets:

…By reducing funding available for English-language classes, the federal government is denying thousands of people their fundamental right to education. The current budget cuts will inevitably contribute to growing social stratification and increase the challenges faced by the already overwhelmed immigration and educational sectors. 

A recent statement by TESL Ontario, the certification body for educators who teach English as another language in Ontario, urges the Canadian government to consider impacts on language teachers who face precarious employment and low pay, a concern shared by unions across the public sector. 

Language learning programs are foundational to ensuring sustainable settlement in Canada. A truly sustainable development strategy would see the continued funding of English-language programs as essential to ensuring the continued economic and societal well-being of all people living in Canada.

Source: Canada’s cuts to newcomer English language programs puts communities’ well-being at risk

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Gazan families sue Canada for visa application delays

2025/02/21 Leave a comment

Not unexpected but may be hard to prove in court. But ongoing issue in lack of transparency on progress or not of applications:

Eleven families from Gaza are taking the Canadian government to court for prolonging their “exposure to life-threatening and inhumane conditions” by delaying application processing under a program meant to offer relief from the Israeli-Hamas conflict.

The families represent 53 people, including 27 babies and children, who have applied for visas under the temporary resident pathway for Palestinian extended family in Gaza program, launched in January 2024. 

The measure provides a temporary haven for Palestinians directly affected by the war in Gaza who have ties to family members here who are Canadian citizens or permanent residents and are willing to support them.

Canadian anchor relatives are required to submit a web form to the Immigration Department with supporting documentation on behalf of their family members in Gaza. Officials then review the forms and documents before providing each applicant in Gaza a unique reference code to begin the visa application process.

All of the litigants’ Canadian relatives say they submitted web forms with the proper documentation within a month of the program’s opening. To date, none have the codes, nor do they have a refusal for incompleteness, or any justification for the delay.

The program, which had been expanded from the initial intake of 1,000 applications to 5,000, ends April 22 or when all spots are filled. As of Jan. 4, immigration officials said 4,782 applications were accepted into processing.

“They were afraid that they would lose their opportunity,” said lawyer Damey Lee, who represents the group along with colleagues Hana Marku and Debbie Rachlis.

“They are just frustrated and wholly disappointed in the Canadian government for not even providing them an explanation as to where their family members are in the process and why it has taken a year to issue codes.”

According to affidavits submitted to the court, the applicants — all with identities withheld under a court order to protect their safety — have experienced attacks first hand, witnessing airstrikes and bombings, sometimes with “no warning.”…

Source: Gazan families sue Canada for visa application delays

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Akbar: Canadian immigrants are overqualified and underemployed — reforms must address this

2025/02/20 Leave a comment

Well, labour economists would disagree regarding competitiveness given the current mix of temporary workers and students but interesting that CERC academics recognize the value of AI without automatically expressing concerns of algorithmic biases. Kahneman argues convincingly that such systems ensure greater consistency, albeit with the risk of coding of biases:

…Canada’s long-term competitiveness is hindered not by immigration, but by systemic labour market discrimination and inefficiencies that prevent skilled newcomers from fully contributing to the economy. 

Eliminating biases related to Canadian work experience and soft skills is key to ensuring newcomers can find fair work. The lack of recognition of foreign talent has a detrimental effect on the Canadian economy by under-utilizing valuable human capital.

To build a more inclusive labour market, a credential recognition system should support employers in assessing transferable skills and experience to mitigate perceived hiring risks related to immigrants. 

For international students, enhanced career services at educational institutions are critical. Strengthening partnerships between universities, colleges and employers can expand internships, co-op placements and mentorship programs, providing students with relevant Canadian work experience before graduation. 

Such collaboration is also key to implementing employer education initiatives that address misconceptions about hiring international graduates and highlight their contributions to the workforce. 

Artificial Intelligence (AI) can also play a role in reducing hiring biases and improving job matching for new immigrants and international graduates. Our recent report, which gathered insight from civil society, the private sector and academia, highlights the following AI-driven solutions:

  • Tools like Toronto Metropolitan University’s AI resume builder, Mogul AI, and Knockri can help match skills to roles, neutralize hiring bias and promote equity.
  • Wage subsidies and AI tools can encourage equitable hiring, while AI-powered programs can help human resources recognize and reduce biases.
  • Tools like the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council Mentoring Partnership, can connect newcomers with mentors, track their skills and match them to employer needs.

Harnessing AI-driven solutions, alongside policy reforms and stronger employer engagement, can help break down hiring barriers so Canada can fully benefit from the skills and expertise of its immigrant workforce.

Source: Canadian immigrants are overqualified and underemployed — reforms must address this

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HESA: How We Choose to Respond to Crises

2025/02/19 Leave a comment

Some good questions where universities and academics should make a contribution regarding current and future challenges, some driven by Trump, some long-term. Surprising no immigration questions (e.g., how to manage population demographics without relying solely on immigration, how do we come up with a balanced immigration policy that incorporates pressures on housing, healthcare and infrastructure):

…The first and most important way that could happen? By putting the collective brainpower of Canadian academia to work on very specific problems that our governments—with their brutally short-term focus—cannot hope to answer quickly. Imagine if all Canadian universities got together right now and said: we are putting our best minds together for the next 12 weeks (which is about how long it will take for an election to occur, assuming the Liberals lose a confidence vote in late March) and we’re going to answer the following questions about the future of Canada.

  • What does a post-NATO foreign policy look like. Who are our allies now?
  • What does an independent defense policy look like now? What can we learn from, say, Finland’s posture with the Soviet Union in the 1970s and 1980s? Is universal national service an option?
  • How can Canada improve the status of its domestic knowledge-based industries? How do we make “smart” pay?
  • What would it take for Canadian businesses to genuinely pivot to new markets? What are the barriers and how can they be overcome?
  • More generally, how do we once again generate economic growth?
  • How can we best balance the protection of our democracy with the maintenance of norms of free speech?

It’s obvious the country needs answers to all of these hard questions. It’s equally obvious that the country’s universities are collectively the largest source of expertise to answer them. So let’s do it, now. Get a couple of hundred of the best minds in the country, relieve them of whatever other duties they have for the next few weeks and put together a lightning Royal Commission the likes of which we’ve never seen. It would be tough to organize, but who knows? It might remind people that universities are worth funding (Lord knows nothing else seems to be working on that score).
 

  •  But I think universities will also need to go further. They will also need to look critically at whether what universities currently do is aligned with the new priorities. So maybe a second group of top minds could answer questions such as:
  • What would be the impact on national productivity if we re-shaped the bachelor’s degree to be default three years instead of four?
  • Would we be more growth-oriented if we had more bachelor’s graduates, or fewer? What about graduate degrees?
  • How would postsecondary education change if we introduced a form of national service?
  • What role could business faculties play in promoting trade diversity? Would requiring students to take more foreign language courses help?
  • How might more specialist outfits like Citizen Lab contribute to Canadian domestic and foreign policy?

I suspect many will recoil from even posing such questions. Sacred cows, etc. But we have to. We can either, as a sector, act to protect and improve the state we have, or we can leave it easier prey to the bullies, liars, and thieves that are currently assaulting democracies around the globe. Those are the choices.

Canada made difficult choices and took bold action thirty years ago. I am certain we can do it again. But the country—and the higher education sector—first has to take the threat seriously. Will we?

Source: How We Choose to Respond to Crises

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