Immigration minister extends pause on new private refugee sponsorships to 2027

2025/11/24 Leave a comment

Unfortunate, one of the more successful programs, in terms of both outcomes and support of Canadians:

Immigration Minister Lena Diab has extended the pause on new applications through the Private Sponsorship for Refugees Program for another 12 months as the department works to clear its backlog.

New ministerial instructions were published in the Canada Gazette on Friday, along with a notice on the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada website.

The pause was to be lifted at the end of December but will now be in place for another year, until Dec. 31, 2026.

This pause applies to refugee sponsorships submitted by community organizations or groups of five or more individuals. These sponsors have to support the refugee for one year after they arrive or until they can support themselves, whichever comes first.

Applications that were submitted before the pause took effect on Nov. 29, 2024 will still be processed, according to the notice.

Gauri Sreenivasan, Canadian Council for Refugees co-executive director, called the extension a “cruel blow for refugees” in a phone interview with The Canadian Press.

“This decision basically denies Canadians the ability to exercise our own generosity. And in that way, it’s really tone deaf to who we actually are as a country,” she said.

“I mean, government’s really losing touch with who we are.”

Sreenivasan said refugee sponsors were preparing to submit new applications in 2026, when the pause was originally scheduled to end….

Source: Immigration minister extends pause on new private refugee sponsorships to 2027

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Conservatives plan to try and amend asylum system rules in border security bill

2025/11/21 Leave a comment

Will be interesting to what role the Bloc plays in committee. May well end up with the committee making amendments and the government and NDP rejecting all as was the case with C-3:

Conservative immigration critic Michelle Rempel Garner said Thursday she plans to try and “amend the heck” out of the government’s border security bill, Bill C-12, with a host of measures targeting the asylum system. 

Her proposed changes include disallowing asylum claims from people who transited through Europe or another G7 country on their way to Canada and denying access to social benefits, except emergency medical treatment, for those with a failed asylum claim.

“I think Canadians want some change in this regard. Canada’s system for allowing and accepting asylum claims is pretty generous,” Rempel Garner said at a press conference on Parliament Hill.

“So somebody who’s failed a review, I think it’s fair that the only federal benefits that they receive is emergency health care and I think a lot of Canadians would agree.”

Rempel Garner said she also plans to propose changes to speed up the deportation of non-citizens if they are convicted of a crime or if their pre-removal risk assessment isn’t successful.

This includes clarifying the definition of “serious criminality” in the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act to be a conviction of an indictable offence, or a hybrid offence where the Crown proceeded with an indictable charge. 

Rempel Garner also said she will propose a ban on repeat pre-removal risk assessments if the initial one fails unless new evidence of changed circumstances is presented. 

She said increased rates of permanent and temporary immigration, in addition to increased asylum claims, have “broken” Canada’s system and contributed to declining support for immigration.

“I think everybody in Canada, (of) every political stripe, should be deeply concerned with public polling data that shows that Canadians are losing faith in the immigration system,” Rempel Garner said. …

Source: Conservatives plan to try and amend asylum system rules in border security bill

Some initial reactions:

…Fen Hampson, president of the World Refugee & Migration Council, said “there are arguments to be made for tightening up the system to prevent abuses but by the same token you don’t want to swing wildly in the opposite direction.”

He said banning people from claiming asylum who had passed through an EU or G7 country would bar Canada from accepting people fleeing war-torn states who, for practical reasons, have to pass through Europe to get to Canada. 

“You are likely going to have to stop somewhere on your way to Canada and it may be a few days or it may be more than that,” he said. “Few asylum seekers can book a ticket to fly directly to Canada.”

The border and immigration bill – known as Bill C-12 – will be considered clause by clause next week by MPs on the public safety committee. 

Ms. Rempel Garner told a press conference on Thursday that her party will table their amendments then. One would end federal benefits for failed claimants of asylum, beyond emergency health care…

Source: Conservative amendments to borders bill would make sweeping changes to asylum system, I’m going to amend the heck out of C-12 to fix Canada’s broken immigration system. (Rempel Garner’s substack post)

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Canadians distrust refugees more than other new arrivals, poll shows

2025/11/20 Leave a comment

Not unexpected. Assumption that immigrants already here are more sympathetic on any number of immigration and refugee issues is largely false, as in many cases immigrant opinions are similar to Canadian-born and in some cases, more negative given perception that some refugees are “queue jumpers:”

…Perhaps counterintuitively, trust in refugees was lower among respondents who identified themselves as immigrants (28 per cent) than non-immigrants (38 per cent). Trust for refugees was also lower among non-white respondents (26 per cent) than whites (39 per cent).

Immigrant respondents had only slightly more trust in other immigrants (47 per cent) than non-immigrants did (45 per cent).

On the survey question about trusting refugees: More men than women said they distrust refugees (49 per cent versus 36 per cent, with a higher percentage of women declining to answer). The youngest (ages 18 to 24) and the oldest (age 65 and over) tended to trust refugees the most, but, overall, age divisions didn’t show wide variation.

On the question about trusting immigrants, demographic patterns of respondents were similar: More men than women said they distrust immigrants (41 per cent versus 34 per cent, and, again, a higher percentage of women declined to answer). The youngest and oldest showed the highest levels of trust in immigrants.

Geographically, trust in refugees was lowest in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, which are pooled together by the pollsters, at 31 per cent, and Ontario at 33 per cent; trust in refugees was highest in Quebec and Alberta, both at 42 per cent.

Trust in immigrants was lowest in Manitoba and Saskatchewan (37 per cent) and in Quebec (41 per cent), and highest in Atlantic Canada (53 per cent) and Alberta (50 per cent)….

Source: Canadians distrust refugees more than other new arrivals, poll shows

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Illegal migration tearing UK apart, Mahmood says

2025/11/18 Leave a comment

Will see what today’s announcement and details reveals:

Illegal migration is “tearing the country apart”, the home secretary has said, as she prepares to unveil major plans to overhaul asylum policy.

New measures set to be announced by Shabana Mahmood on Monday will include people granted asylum needing to wait 20 years before they can apply to settle permanently.

The plans will also see those granted asylum have their refugee status regularly reviewed and those whose home countries are then deemed safe told to return.

Mahmood told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme she saw tackling illegal migration as a “moral mission”.

Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said the Conservatives would deport illegal migrants “within a week”, while Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey called for asylum seekers to have the right to work.

The changes are aimed at making the UK a less attractive destination for illegal migrants, leading to reduced small boat crossings and asylum claims.

Mahmood is also to announce the UK will stop granting visas to people from Angola, Namibia and the Democratic Republic of Congo if their governments do not rapidly improve co-operation on removals.

A Home Office source said the countries were being targeted “for their unacceptably low co-operation and obstructive returns processes”.

As first reported in the Times the threat of the visa ban for certain countries comes after thousands of illegal migrants and criminals from the three nations were said to be in the UK.

Many specific details and practicalities of the sweeping changes to asylum policy are yet to be made clear, and will be set out by Mahmood on Monday…..

Source: Illegal migration tearing UK apart, Mahmood says

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Canada should pull out of refugee pact with U.S. over Trump policies, says former Liberal foreign minister [Axworthy]

2025/11/14 Leave a comment

Not surprising that Axworthy would make that call. Substantively correct, of course, on his assessment of USA Trump administration policies. But impact would be huge and already dwarf the immigration and asylum systems, already subject to backlogs and considerable strain:

Former Liberal foreign minister Lloyd Axworthy says Canada should pull out of a long-standing refugee pact with the United States that leads to most asylum seekers arriving at the Canadian border being turned back. 

Mr. Axworthy, who is standing down as chair of the World Refugee & Migration Council on Thursday, said in an interview that President Donald Trump’s erosion of the rights of migrants in the U.S. means the country should no longer be considered a safe country for Canada to return asylum seekers to.

The Safe Third Country Agreement with the U.S. took effect in 2004 and was later expanded to include not just official ports of entry but the entire land border. Under its terms, asylum seekers must claim refugee protection in the first of the two countries they arrive in. 

Most asylum seekers will be sent back if they arrive at the Canadian border after having first gone to the U.S., although there are exceptions, including forpeople facing the death penalty. 

Mr. Axworthy said Canada no longer has shared values with the U.S. under Mr.Trump. He said that “evidence is produced daily on every American newscast” that it is no longer a safe country for asylum seekers to return to.

“I mean, massive deportations without any due process. Clearly, major restrictions on who can come, a system in which there is virtually no appeal. The whole process of law has been shelved, if not totally put in the dumpster,” he said. …

Source: Canada should pull out of refugee pact with U.S. over Trump policies, says former Liberal foreign minister

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Former immigration minister [Miller] rejected officials’ advice to shelve Sudan humanitarian program

2025/11/04 Leave a comment

Of note, classic case of balancing general objectives with the specific:

Immigration officials advised shelving a special humanitarian program, designed to help Sudanese Canadians bring family members here to escape civil war in the African country, over concerns that plans to reduce immigration could be undermined, sources say.

The officials argued that bringing in Sudanese could affect the government’s immigration levels plan: annual targets that the government sets for the number of permanent and temporary residents it plans to admit.

But former immigration minister Marc Miller, two sources say, last year rejected that argument as he thought Canada should help family members of Canadians caught up in what has been described as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. He pressed ahead with establishing a pathway to permanent residence for those with direct family ties to Sudanese Canadians, although processing delays have left thousands who applied stranded. Mr. Miller declined to comment. …

Source: Former immigration minister rejected officials’ advice to shelve Sudan humanitarian program

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The Trump administration is turning back the clock on refugee protections 

2025/11/01 Leave a comment

Stating the obvious:

…In the decades since, both Canada and the United States have emerged as leaders in refugee protection, most significantly through resettlement programs with global reach. Canada’s refugee determination system is often hailed as the “gold standard.” Yet we are in a time of lessening access to claims protection, reductions in Canada’s private refugee-sponsorship program, and a hardening of the border as a barrier via the expansion of the Canada-U.S. Safe Third Country Agreement. These moves, alongside the swift changes in the United States, will have widespread and devastating impacts on people who desperately need protection.

The Trump administration’s suggestions for a privileged form of asylum for white and politically aligned refugees is not new – it is a throwback, and one that undermines decades of progress. Governments need to call the Trump administration to task for the gross politicization and racialization of international refugee protection. And they need to do so by addressing their own hypocrisy as well. 

Laura Madokoro is an associate professor of history at Carleton University. Shauna Labman is the executive director of the Global College at the University of Winnipeg.

Source: The Trump administration is turning back the clock on refugee protections

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Trump caps refugee admissions at record low – with most to be white South Africans

2025/10/31 Leave a comment

Sick:

The Trump administration will limit the number of refugees admitted to the US to 7,500 over the next year, and give priority to white South Africans.

The move, announced in a notice published on Thursday, marks a dramatic cut from the previous limit of 125,000 set by former President Joe Biden and will bring the cap to a record low.

No reason was given for the cut, but the notice said it was “justified by humanitarian concerns or is otherwise in the national interest”.

In January, Trump signed an executive order suspending the US Refugee Admissions Programme, or USRAP, which he said would allow US authorities to prioritise national security and public safety.

The previous lowest refugee admissions cap was set by the first Trump administration in 2020, when it allocated 15,000 spots for fiscal year 2021.

The notice posted to the website of the Federal Register said the 7,500 admissions would “primarily” be allocated to Afrikaner South Africans and “other victims of illegal or unjust discrimination in their respective homelands”.

In February, the US president announced the suspension of critical aid to South Africa and offered to allow members of the Afrikaner community – who are mostly white descendants of early Dutch and French settlers – to settle in the US as refugees….

Source: Trump caps refugee admissions at record low – with most to be white South Africans

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ICYMI – Globe editorial: Ottawa narrows the private path for settling refugees

2025/10/15 Leave a comment

One of the more successful programs:

…However, the sidelining of this remarkable program is unfortunate, as privately sponsored refugees have better outcomes than those assisted by the government. Not only is it initially cheaper for the government, but a study tracking the outcomes of Syrian refugees showed that privately sponsored ones were more likely to be employed and less likely to be on government assistance. Privately sponsored refugees also have higher incomes. A 2024 Senate report recommended boosting the program. 

Yes, Canada needs to get better control of its immigration system, but let’s not lose track of our rich tradition of helping refugees. Their entry doesn’t always need to be directly managed by government – grassroots groups can help, and their strong interest shows these refugees have support to integrate here. 

While it’s true that Canada can’t help all people in need during this time of increased global displacement, surely we can maintain our commitments to help refugees. The privately sponsored program remains one of the best ways to do it. 

Source: Ottawa narrows the private path for settling refugees

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Sharp rise in Americans applying for refugee status in Canada, data shows

2025/08/25 Leave a comment

Header misleading. An increase yes of about 20 percent but still small numbers, only about .05 percent:

More Americans applied for refugee status in Canada in the first half of 2025 than in all of 2024, and more than in any full year since 2019, according to data published on Thursday by Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Board.

Their share of total refugee claims – 245 of about 55,000 – is small and Canada’s acceptance of U.S. refugee claims has historically been low. Asylum-seekers from other countries crossing the land border from the U.S. are sent back under a bilateral agreement with the reasoning that they should apply for asylum in the first “safe” country they arrived in.

Last year 204 people filed refugee claims in Canada with the United States as their country of alleged persecution. Claims from the U.S. also rose during the first Trump administration.
The data does not say why the claims were made. Eight lawyers told Reuters they are hearing from more trans Americans wanting to leave. Reuters spoke with a trans woman from Arizona who came to Canada in April to file a claim, and to a woman who came to file a claim on behalf of her young trans daughter…

Source: Sharp rise in Americans applying for refugee status in Canada, data shows

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