Canada threw open its doors to visitors after the pandemic. Now, many don’t want to leave

2024/04/24 Leave a comment

Yet another example of an immigration policy failure, likely politically-driven by then Minister Fraser, leaving yet another mess for Minister Miller. Money quote: “They made a decision with a full understanding that there would be an impact on in-Canada asylum processing,” said Sharma. “There’s significant cost and it’s not just the refugee (determination) system. There are other downstream effects.”:

A special program Canada brought in last year to make it easier for tourists, business travellers and those with relatives in this country to visit has led to some unexpected consequences.

Newly obtained documents show that a striking percentage of people who took advantage of the expedited visitor visas that the program offered have now applied to stay here — as asylum seekers.

It’s a situation, some say, that reflects among other things the pent-up demand for asylum created during the pandemic, when the border was closed.

The Immigration Department said as of Feb. 29, 2024, about 152,400 visas were issued under the time-limited program, including 7,300 applicants for the so-called “Super Visas” for parents and grandparents, who come frequently to visit Canadian children and grandchildren.

A government internal memorandum obtained by Star under an access-to-information request said 19,400 asylum claims were made by visitors granted visas under the special program, though few were Super Visa applicants.

That means almost 13 per cent of these visa holders have already sought protection in Canada.

It’s a rate that appears to be abnormally high.

For instance, in 2019, before the pandemic, there were 5.7 million temporary resident visas issued and 58,378 people asked for asylum, but that number also included those who arrived as international students, foreign workers and irregular migrants walking through the United States land border.

The asylum seekers emerging from the program account for 14 per cent of the 137,947 new refugee claimants received by Canada in 2023.

The number is further expected to grow as many visa holders have yet to come before their admission document expires.

“A lot of these individuals would probably have been refused for visas but for the relaxation of the rules,” said Calgary-based immigration lawyer Raj Sharma.

“The program is done by December. That means that they’ve got a six-month entry. This surge or uptake will be with us for some time.”

Effective between Feb. 28 and Dec. 7, 2023, the temporary policy waived the requirements for applicants to prove they had enough financial resources for the travels and would leave Canada after their visits. But they must have submitted a visa application before Jan. 16 last year and not been previously denied. All must still pass security, criminal and medical clearances.

“With the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic now behind us, international travel is resuming and the Government is focused upon Canada’s economic recovery,” said a notice of the public policy signed by then immigration minister Sean Fraser.

“To position Canada to maximize the benefit of the movement of tourists, business persons and family visitors, the Government is committed to reducing processing times for visitor visas.”

Toronto immigration lawyer Adam Sadinsky attributed the high rate partly to the pent-up demand for asylum from people fleeing persecution during the pandemic between March 2020 and September 2021, when the border was closed. The relaxation of the rules also allowed some who would otherwise have been refused to get here, he noted.

“The reality is that during the time that people weren’t able to travel to Canada, the types of persecution that people face that lead them to flee their countries and seek protection abroad didn’t cease,” said Sadinsky, a spokesperson for the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers.

“It’s natural that among the group of people who applied for temporary residence, there was a cohort of individuals, whose plan, it seems, was to claim refugee protection in Canada because there were nearly two years in which they weren’t able to do that.”

He pointed out that the easing of the rules also took effect around the time that Ottawa and Washington expanded their bilateral border agreements in March to ban asylum seekers from crossing between the two countries, which has essentially made it impossible for irregular migrants to cross the land border for asylum.

The land border restrictions, he said, mean only the most privileged who are able to secure a visa to fly to Canada can have access to asylum.

“It has always been possible for individuals to make refugee claims after they come to Canada with a visitor visa, a student visa or a work permit,” said Sadinsky.

“The reality is that people flee their countries and they do that in ways that it is possible. Canada has international obligations to grant protection to those who are within our border.”

Sharma said the federal government had the options to either return applications and refund applicants caught in the backlog, or simply inform people about the backlog and ask them to wait if they could.

He said the special public policy was unprecedented because the visa relaxation applied system-wide regardless of country of origin, but said the measure was harmful.

“They made a decision with a full understanding that there would be an impact on in-Canada asylum processing,” said Sharma. “There’s significant cost and it’s not just the refugee (determination) system. There are other downstream effects.”

An Immigration Department spokesperson said the special public policy has been successful in clearing most of the older temporary resident visa applications in the system. According to its website, there are currently 1.14 million such applications in the queue, almost half exceeding service standards, down from 64 per cent in February 2023.

Source: Canada threw open its doors to visitors after the pandemic. Now, many don’t want to leave

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Asylum claims by international students have skyrocketed since 2018, figures show

2024/04/23 Leave a comment

Good collection and analysis of the data, showing the extent of the abuse of study permits, with good comments by Earl Blaney and Richard Kurland, among others. Another unfortunate signal that the Canadian immigration system has lost its way and the need for corrective action, which the Liberal government has initiated:

Asylum claims by international students have risen more than 1,500 per cent in the past five years, figures obtained by The Globe and Mail show, as experts warn that the study-permit system is being exploited as a way to enter and remain in Canada.

The sharp increase is particularly acute at colleges, where claims at some schools have climbed in excess of 4,000 per cent since 2018. Students at major universities, however, tend to lodge fewer claims than at colleges, the figures show.

The increase in asylum claims coincides with a steep rise in the number of international students arriving here over the past five years, which the government has now taken steps to reduce, partly to ease pressure on housing.

In January, Immigration Minister Marc Miller imposed a two-year cap on international study-permit applications to curb the rapid growth in foreign students entering Canada.

Figures from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, obtained by The Globe, show that in 2018 there were 1,515 claims for asylum among international students, with the number rising to 25,465 in 2023.

The IRCC data on asylum claims at each college and university have not been published.

Earl Blaney, a licensed immigration consultant from London, Ont., said it was easier for people from some countries to enter Canada by obtaining a study permit than a visitor’s visa, as they have a better chance of being allowed into the country if they possess the right credentials to study here.

“To effectuate a front-of-the-line claim for refugee status, you need to be in Canada. The issue is that there is exploitation happening using a legitimate study-permit framework to legitimize entry,” he said. “Some immigration consultants are encouraging students to claim asylum to stay.”

At many colleges, the increases in asylum claims are significant. At Seneca College in Ontario, which offers courses ranging from accounting to civil engineering and fashion, there were 45 asylum claims in 2018, and 1,135 in 2023 – an increase of 2,400 per cent.

At Niagara College, the number of asylum claims jumped to 930 in 2023, from 20 in 2018, a rise of 4,550 per cent. At Conestoga College, there were 25 asylum claims among 6,000 study-permit holders in 2018. Five years later, there were 665 asylum claims among the 81,335 permit holders.

At Cape Breton university in Nova Scotia, there were 15 asylum claims in 2018. That increased to 665 asylum claims last year. And at the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, there were only 20 asylum claims by students in 2018, and 700 in 2023.

The numbers are less pronounced at universities. For example, only 35 international students at McGill University, compared with five in 2018, lodged claims for asylum last year, according to the IRCC figures. Fifty-five students at the University of Toronto applied to stay in Canada as a refugee, up from 10 five years ago.

Toronto lawyer Vaibhav Roy said it was “common knowledge amongst the legal community” that students who would not have the scores required for permanent residence – with steep competition for express entry – have been claiming asylum to try to stay in Canada.

“A lot of immigration lawyers are telling them to file refugee claims to stay in the country,” he said. “It’s a last strategy to keep staying here.”

Immigration lawyer Richard Kurland said a lot of international students had been promised by consultants working abroad that a study permit was a route to permanent residence, which is not always the case.

“Where does that leave them? Return home poor and in embarrassment, or claim refugee status, which gets them another three to four years,” he said, adding that they could then qualify for a work permit.

Syed Hussan, executive director of Migrant Workers Alliance for Change, said many international students claimed asylum while here because the situation in their home countries changed.

He said some from Haiti studying in Quebec have claimed asylum as civil order has broken down in the Caribbean country, which has been ravaged by gang violence, and that many asylum claims have been lodged by Indians who have seen fundamentalists target particular ethnic groups.

In the two-year cap imposed in January, IRCC allotted a limited number of study permits to provinces, which they could then allocate to postsecondary institutions.

Figures from the Ontario government show that public colleges are being allocated far more study permits than public universities, this year, while private colleges have been squeezed out.

Ontario is awarding 35,788 study permits to public universities, including Toronto and Carleton in Ottawa, and 186,167 to public colleges.

Seneca College has been allocated 20,388 study permits, compared with 3,362 for the University of Ottawa this year. The University of Waterloo has been allotted 1,212 study permits while Conestoga College has been allocated 19,885.

Queen’s University only has 749 permits, while Fanshawe College of Applied Arts and Technology has 16,752. The University of Toronto has been allowed 6,256 study permits and Niagara College 9,516.

Conservative Immigration critic Tom Kmiec criticized the government for not acting earlier to deal with rising asylum claims among international students.

“Instead of acting immediately when they saw worrying trends in asylum claims by international students, they tried to ignore the problem for years until it was too late,” he said.

This month’s federal budget detailed $1.1-billion over three years for municipalities and provinces to help meet the rising cost of housing asylum seekers, including those fleeing war-torn countries. It followed complaints, particularly from Quebec, that they lack funds to accommodate the steep rise in asylum claimants.

Some asylum seekers have been living in shelters for homeless people or on the streets, with many housed in hotel rooms while their claims are processed.

The budget also earmarked $141-million for Ottawa to pay for temporary lodging for asylum claimants, who cannot be accommodated because provincial places are full.

Michael Wales, director of communications at Niagara College, said he did not want to speculate on whether the reduced number of study permits this year would translate into fewer asylum claims.

“Providing advice or support to students contemplating an asylum claim is beyond the scope of our licensed international student advisers,” he said. “If asked, our advisers would refer the student to a community agency that is qualified to offer that type of advice or support.”

Source: Asylum claims by international students have skyrocketed since 2018, figures show

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Bribes, fake jobs and the ‘desperate’ situation facing Canada’s temporary residents

2024/04/22 Leave a comment

Of note, the impact of the government’s partial reversal of previous ill-advised policies:

What’s a person looking for a chance to become a permanent resident to do?

Already in Canada but with work permits expiring, many temporary residents are facing limited prospects for permanent residence under the federal government’s scoring system. The rankings are supposed to be based on personal attributes such as age, education and language proficiency, which count for points.

But since Ottawa started cherry-picking candidates on its priority list last summer, many would-be candidates with higher scores are finding the odds stacked against them. Desperation has prompted some to essentially bribe their way to job offers to boost their chances.

“The abuse … of LMIAs has been going on since time immemorial,” said Peter Veress, who has worked in the immigration consulting industry for 27 years and is based in Calgary. “But because of the massive numbers (of temporary residents) that we’re talking now, I’m hearing it more and more.

“It’s become more open because people are more desperate.”

At the heart of the abuse allegations is the Labour Market Impact Assessment, an evaluation process to verify an employer’s need to hire a foreign worker to fill a vacant position. A positive LMIA is proof of an arranged employment in an immigration application, worth an additional 50 to 200 points for a candidate, depending on how important the job position is. 

Last month, in announcing a reduction in the number of temporary residents in Canada to slow down the country’s population growth amid a housing crisis, Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault acknowledged the problem and said he’s committed to cracking down on the misuse of the temporary foreign worker program.

“I don’t want anybody putting up a job that is then used to lure somebody here to take an LMIA,” said Boissonault. 

“This is not what it’s designed for. If we find and actually locate people who are doing that, then the authorities will get involved.”…

Source: Bribes, fake jobs and the ‘desperate’ situation facing Canada’s temporary residents

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Creso Sá: Canada must be more audacious with efforts to attract global talent

2024/04/22 Leave a comment

Pretty boilerplate and skimpy on the how:

….The  urgent debate on immigration needs to place greater emphasis on the tools meant to make Canada a prime destination for global talent.

More rigorous program reviews tied to a fundamental commitment to learning and adapting can help overcome the bureaucratic inertia that allows ineffective initiatives to continue.

Now more than ever, it is essential that Canada strive to attract the most innovative and capable scientific and entrepreneurial minds on the planet.

Experimenting with policy approaches may at times produce disappointing or underwhelming results. But that is less important than trying and learning from putting new ideas into practice so Canada doesn’t fall even further behind in a global race that will shape the future of the country.

Source: Canada must be more audacious with efforts to attract global talent

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Canada’s plan to overhaul its temporary foreign worker program revealed

2024/04/19 Leave a comment

Good overview:

The federal government is looking to roll out a new temporary foreign worker regime starting next year that would add protections for workers and simplify the current program.

The new program would cover more year-round occupations in agriculture and food processing.

It would also allow migrant workers to change employers within the same industry, so they wouldn’t be beholden to a potentially exploitative workplace, according to a copy of the proposal obtained by the Star.

Under the proposal, the four existing worker streams would be reduced to two — for workers covered under bilateral agreements with their home countries and an “open-source” category for those from other places where there are no such government deals with Canada.

Canadian farm owners, fisheries and food processing companies have faced chronic labour shortages and must rely on the import of foreign workers to fill jobs that tend to be physically demanding, sometimes seasonal in nature, and located in rural and remote areas.

The pandemic underlined the importance of securing the country’s food supply chain, and exacerbated and exposed the poor working and housing conditions experienced by some migrant workers….

While details of the plan have to be finalized after consultation with employers, workers, community groups and foreign governments, the proposal says the key features are “likely” to include:

  • Introducing sector-specific work permits that give workers job mobility within a sector for up to two years;
  • Granting employers permits to hire workers to fill reoccurring seasonal work over a two-year period; 
  • Reforming the existing wage and deduction structure to better reflect current housing rates and employer costs;
  • Updating employer-provided housing requirements to ensure greater protections and safety to workers.

The plan also assures agriculture and food processing employers that there continues to be no cap on the percentage of foreign workers at a worksite, and an exemption from the $1,000 processing fee for authorization to hire workers for farm work….

Source: Canada’s plan to overhaul its temporary foreign worker program revealed

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Human-rights groups outraged at plan to detain immigrants in federal prison

2024/04/19 Leave a comment

Expected:

Human-rights groups are expressing outrage at government plans to lock up immigrants who have not been convicted of a crime in federal prisons.

Tuesday’s federal budget proposes changes to the law to allow people facing deportation deemed to be high risk – including posing a potential flight risk or a threat to public safety – to be incarcerated in federal prison.

The move follows the decision by provinces to end immigration-detention agreements with the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) to house immigrants in their jails this year…

Source: Human-rights groups outraged at plan to detain immigrants in federal prison

And the Minister’s response:

Immigration Minister Marc Miller confirmed to Radio-Canada that the federal government will be using its penitentiaries to hold some foreign nationals for immigration purposes.

He said those detainees will be separated from the prison population, but that both groups could be sharing services.

“It would be separate housing and it would not be in the general population, because they are not criminals,” Miller said, following Radio-Canada’s story on the government’s proposal buried at the bottom of the federal budget tabled Tuesday.

The Trudeau government wrote it wants to “enable the use of federal correctional facilities for the purpose of high-risk immigration detention.”

The statement has angered human rights organizations, some calling the plan “completely unacceptable,” as reported by Radio-Canada Wednesday.

Source: Immigration minister responds to critics over plan to detain migrants in penitentiaries

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Budget 2024: Statement on Gender, Diversity, and Inclusion, varia

2024/04/18 Leave a comment

Definitely worth a look, for the richness of the data as well the insights into the government’s diversity and inclusion priorities and how it stitches the narrative together with political and Canadian public priorities.

Intro has the key messages:

  • “Early Learning and Child Care, which is supporting better economic outcomes for women, by making it possible for more women to participate in the workforce, while securing access to quality child care and learning, thus contributing to positive childhood development and the future well-being of children.
  • The interim Canada Dental Benefit has helped hundreds of thousands of children get the oral health care they need, and once fully implemented in 2025, the new Canadian Dental Care Plan will improve the long-term health of 9 million Canadians, who may have previously been unable to visit an oral health professional due to the cost.
  • The National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence provides targeted action to protect Canadians who experience or are at risk of experiencing violence because of their sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, or perceived gender.
  • The Federal 2SLGBTQI+ Action Plan advances the rights and equality for Two-Spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and other sexually and gender diverse people in Canada.
  • The Implementation of the National Action Plan to End the Tragedy of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls is providing targeted, culturally-appropriate supports to Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people, while working to address the root causes of the violence they face.

In Budget 2024, the government is making investments to close the divide between generations. For younger Canadians, the government is taking new action to reduce tax advantages that benefit the wealthy, is investing to build more homes, faster, is strengthening Canada’s social safety net, and is boosting productivity and innovation to grow an economy with better-paying opportunities.

These efforts will improve the lives of all younger Canadians, and their impacts will be greatest for lower-income and marginalized younger Canadians, who will benefit from new pathways to unlock a fair chance at building a good middle class life.

This starts with a focus on housing. Resolving Canada’s housing crisis is critical for every generation and the most vulnerable Canadians. The government is building more community housing to make rent more affordable for lower-income Canadians, including through:

  • The $618.2 million Federal Community Housing Initiative;
  • The $15 billion Affordable Housing Fund, including a $1 billion top-up in Budget 2024;
  • The $1.5 billion Co-Operative Housing Development Program; and,
  • The $4.4 billion Housing Accelerator Fund, including a $400 million top-up in

These investments provide Canadians and younger generations with opportunity ––finding an affordable home to buy or rent; having access to recreational spaces, amenities, and schools to raise families.

Having a place to call home creates a broad range of benefits. When survivors of domestic partner violence can find affordable housing, this creates a safe home base for their children to break cycles of violence and poverty. When Indigenous people can find affordable housing that meets their specific needs that means they can access culturalsupports to help heal from the legacy of colonialism. When persons with disabilities are able to find low-barrier or barrier-free housing, this enables them to utilize the entirety of their homes.

To ensure that young people and future generations benefit from continued actions for sustained and equitable prosperity for all, this budget makes key investments to guarantee access to safe and affordable housing, help Canadians have a good quality of life while dealing with rising costs, and  provide economic stability through good-paying jobs and opportunities for upskilling.”

Interestingly, no mention of the employment equity task force and its recommendations, although it is mentioned in the Budget.

Immigration aspects are limited to “continued funding for immigration and refugee legal aid” (but the Budget has significant funding for immigration and reflects the government’s pivot away from unlimited temporary workers and international students and post 2015 ending annual increases).

The Budget also has a reference to “Permit the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) to disclose financial intelligence to provincial and territorial civil forfeiture offices to support efforts to seize property linked to unlawful activity; and, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada to strengthen the integrity of Canada’s citizenship process (with little to no detail).”

No surprise, but the 2019 and 2021 election platform commitments to eliminate citizenship fees remain unmet.

The Government’s proposed reduction in the public service by 5,000 public servants over four years (1,250 per year) is meaningless as the 2022-22 EE report shows annual separations more than 10 times that:

One thought that crossed my mind while browsing this close to 40 page document is whether this level of detail and effort would survive a change in government. Unlikely IMO, given the pressure to reduce spending and the CPC general aversion to excessive employment equity reporting and measures.

Source: Budget 2024, Statement on Gender Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion

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Century Initiative:Great budget, Ottawa, but how to execute it when Canada fails to retain talent?

2024/04/18 Leave a comment

The latest from CI, still maintaining their focus on population growth but more attentive to other issues. But arguably some of the failings of immigration policy and integration have resulted in retention issues, with churn as immigrants pursue opportunities elsewhere.

On foreign credential recognition, count me cynical but this is a perennial issue that neither the previous or current government have made significant progress on beyond consultations and process. At the provincial level, however, where professions and trades are regulated, there has been some significant progress to temper my cynicism.

And of course, like the budget itself, the belated recognition of the links between housing and immigration:

…As one example, there have been positive steps in building the Indigenous economy, including higher rates of new business creation among Indigenous peoples compared with the population over all. We need to build on this progress with government, business and labour exploring further opportunities for partnership and Indigenous-led development.

The need to expand work-force participation and economic opportunity extends across demographics and can be addressed in three specific areas.

First, skills development. In a destabilizing year for the postsecondary institutions, work with provinces and territories to support expanded program delivery, particularly in health care, technology and skilled trades, is urgently needed. Employers, who share an interest in investing in their work force’s development, should also be given incentives for work-integrated training programs.

Second, retention. We have enormous untapped potential among Canadians who are already here. And the plain truth is the longer it goes untapped, the greater the risk that talent leaves. Indeed, 0.7 per cent of our population leaves for the United States every year, with independent research showing tech workers are paid more than 46 per cent more in the U.S.

Clearly, we need policies that encourage growth and scale for our own innovators, expanding their ability to offer competitive pay. Additionally, pathways should be created for temporary foreign workers to secure permanent positions and residency. These measures must be coupled with investments that enhance quality of life, such as affordable housing, health care and child-care capacity.

Third, fixing the credential mismatch. More than 25 per cent of immigrants with foreign degrees end up in jobs that they are overqualified for, with an RBC studysuggesting that credential inefficiencies cost the Canadian economy as high as $50-billion annually. We must do far more to ensure that immigrants find employment that matches their skills and qualifications, including exploration of mutual credential recognition agreements with prominent source countries.

Budget 2024 lays out a vision for Canadian housing, affordability and job creation, with a wide-ranging slate of new programs and investments. If we want them to succeed, they must be coupled with a vision for a skilled, resilient and adaptive work force.

A made-in-Canada pathway to prosperity begins and ends with talent – let’s ignite that talent with the vital boost it needs.

Lisa Lalande is chief executive officer of Century Initiative.

Source: Great budget, Ottawa, but how to execute it when Canada fails to retain talent?

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Keller: Is the Trudeau government overselling how much housing it can build? Yes

2024/04/17 Leave a comment

Indeed, particularly in the next few years if not more. Likely will not help their electoral prospects given time required to build new housing:

…When CIBC economist Benjamin Tal updated the CMHC estimate earlier this year, to account for recent unprecedented population growth because of immigration, he pegged the shortfall at closer to seven million homes.

If that’s true, then getting to housing affordability doesn’t just mean a doubling of the pace of home building. It would take a quadrupling.

The Trudeau government’s sudden burst of furious housing announcements – plus the suggestion that the resistance of some provinces is all that stands between Canada and sweet affordability – may deliver political dividends in the run-up to a 2025 election.

However, the overnight erection of a glittering skyline of new housing policies comes after the government spent years ignoring the growing stresses caused by its immigration choices. That’s partly what got us here.

The Liberals are now saying a lot of the right things on both housing and immigration. It’s a start. But to quote a handwritten note from the PM’s chief of staff, Katie Telford, which was entered into evidence last week at the foreign interference inquiry: “Bragging is not doing.”

Source: Is the Trudeau government overselling how much housing it can build? Yes

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Link to Canada’s security needed to bar suspected spies under immigration law: court

2024/04/17 Leave a comment

Of interest, await some commentary from the security researchers:

People can be barred from Canada under espionage-related provisions of the immigration law only when their activities have a clear link to Canadian security, the Federal Court of Appeal has ruled.

The finding came in a pair of decisions involving men from Ethiopia who were deemed inadmissible to Canada for being members of an organization that had engaged in spying.

The Immigration and Refugee Protection Act bars permanent residents and foreign nationals who engage in espionage that is directed against Canada or contrary to Canada’s interests.

The prohibition also applies to members of organizations involved in these activities.

At issue in the two cases was how to define the phrase “contrary to Canada’s interests.”

Medhanie Aregawi Weldemariam and Abel Nahusenay Yihdego are Ethiopian citizens and former employees of the African country’s Information Network Security Agency, a state security and intelligence organization.

Weldemariam says his work at the agency involved developing air defence simulation software for training military members. He left in mid-2014 to pursue graduate studies in Sweden, returning to Ethiopia two years later.

Weldemariam came to Canada in 2017 and made a refugee claim, alleging he was at risk of persecution by Ethiopian security forces that had targeted him after his return from Sweden.

Yihdego worked at the intelligence agency as a protocol analyst and network engineer. He claims he was pressured to join the agency’s decryption unit, facing threats and harassment when he refused to do so.

Yihdego resigned in 2014, enrolling in graduate studies outside of Ethiopia. He claims that on his return to Ethiopia in 2017, he was detained by security services because of his political activities.

He came to Canada on a temporary resident visa, later seeking refugee protection.

The men’s refugee claims were put on hold while the immigration division of the Immigration and Refugee Board weighed their admissibility to Canada.

The division found the Ethiopian intelligence agency gathered information using offensive cybercapabilities and surveillance malware, targeting journalists and political dissidents.

There was no evidence that either Weldemariam or Yihdego were personally involved in the agency’s espionage activities, only that they were members of the organization.

In each case, the immigration division found that the espionage at issue was “contrary to Canada’s interests,” even though it lacked a nexus to Canada’s national security or security interests.

In 2020, the Federal Court concluded the division’s interpretation of the law was unreasonable on the basis a connection to Canada’s security interests was indeed required.

The court quashed the decisions and sent the cases back to the immigration division for reconsideration.

The federal government appealed the court rulings.

In both cases, the Court of Appeal sided with the men, saying there was no suggestion any of the journalists targeted by the Ethiopian intelligence agency lived in Canada.

The court also found no evidence the agency’s acts were directed at Ottawa or Canadian companies, institutions or individuals, including members of the Ethiopian diaspora.

As a result, the court saw no need to send the cases back to the immigration division for redetermination.

Source: Link to Canada’s security needed to bar suspected spies under immigration law: court

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