La chute du nombre d’étudiants internationaux se poursuit dans les universités québécoises

2026/09/11 Leave a comment

As designed and expected:

Le nombre d’étudiants internationaux continue de chuter dans plusieurs universités québécoises, montrent des données compilées par Le Devoir. Une situation qui compromet sérieusement les finances de certains établissements, dans les grands centres urbains comme en région, en plus de miner la recherche universitaire et l’avenir de certains programmes.

Sur la dizaine d’universités contactées, sept ont fourni au Devoir des données préliminaires qui confirment une baisse marquée du nombre d’étudiants internationaux entre leurs murs cet automne, par rapport à la même période l’an dernier. Celle-ci atteint notamment 12 % d’une année à l’autre à l’Université du Québec à Montréal, 25 % à l’Université de Sherbrooke et plus de 30 % à l’Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières (UQTR). Une situation qui préoccupe le recteur de cette dernière, Christian Blanchette.

« C’est majeur », indique M. Blanchette, qui rappelle que cette baisse des inscriptions s’ajoute à celle, déjà marquée, notée l’an dernier. En somme, « la tendance se maintient », et « elle n’est pas bonne », poursuit celui qui est également président du conseil d’administration du Bureau de coopération interuniversitaire, qui regroupe les 18 universités québécoises.

Cette situation survient dans un contexte où les décisions politiques prises par Québec pour limiter l’accès à la résidence permanente aux étudiants internationaux ont fait chuter les demandes de permis d’études dans la province en deçà des plafonds établis par Québec et Ottawa….

Source: La chute du nombre d’étudiants internationaux se poursuit dans les universités québécoises

The number of international students continues to fall in several Quebec universities, according to data compiled by Le Devoir. A situation that seriously compromises the finances of certain institutions, in large urban centers as well as in the region, in addition to undermining university research and the future of certain programs.

Of the ten universities contacted, seven provided Le Devoir with preliminary data that confirm a sharp decline in the number of international students within their walls this fall, compared to the same period last year. This notably reaches 12% from one year to the next at the Université du Québec à Montréal, 25% at the Université de Sherbrooke and more than 30% at the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières (UQTR). A situation that worries the rector of the latter, Christian Blanchette.

“It’s major,” says Mr. Blanchette, who recalls that this decrease in registrations is in addition to the one, already marked, noted last year. In short, “the trend continues,” and “it is not good,” continues the one who is also chairman of the board of directors of the Interuniversity Cooperation Office, which brings together the 18 Quebec universities.

This situation comes in a context where the political decisions taken by Quebec City to limit access to permanent residence to international students have caused applications for study permits in the province to fall below the ceilings established by Quebec City and Ottawa….

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Connelly – Qualified but overlooked: How bias keeps Indigenous job seekers from getting hired

2026/09/11 Leave a comment

Comparable to studies regarding visible minorities:

…The patterns varied significantly by region. In Ontario, callback rates for Indigenous and non-Indigenous applicants were nearly identical. In Saskatchewan, however, the gap was much larger: non-Indigenous applicants received callbacks 13.2 per cent of the time, compared with 8.1 per cent for Indigenous applicants.

To better understand these differences, we conducted interviews with hiring managers and workers in both provinces. These interviews suggested that hiring decisions involved more than formal qualifications and experience.

Instead, it was governed by an unwritten standard of “fit” — one shaped by racialized and gendered expectations about who represents an ideal hospitality worker.

Our quantitative findings showed that Indigenous women received more callbacks than Indigenous men (11.6 per cent compared with 8.3 per cent), reflecting broader patterns in hospitality hiring in which women are perceived as being especially suited to customer-facing roles….

Source: Qualified but overlooked: How bias keeps Indigenous job seekers from getting hired

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Olivia Chow opts out of antisemitism debate

2026/09/08 Leave a comment

Pattern:

…Moderator has criticized Chow

Tuesday’s debate was to be moderated by Jesse Brown, editor and founder of the Canadaland media outlet, who has publicly accused Chow of endangering the Jewish community. In a post to X in July, he wrote that she had “allowed this city to become a global capital of antisemitism,” and described her statements about not tolerating hate as “dangerous gaslighting that keeps Jews unsafe.” 

In a post after his role as moderator was announced, Brown said Chow would “be treated fairly” if she decided to take part.

Rezvany did not respond to a question about whether Brown’s participation was a factor in Chow’s decision, and the lawyers association declined to comment.

In an email, Brown told the Star that Chow’s team hadn’t asked for a different moderator, and if they had, he would step aside. “If she chooses not to attend, that’s between her and the Jewish community as a whole and it’s not something I’m willing to be scapegoated for,” he said.

“I just don’t think it’s acceptable to sit this one out,” he added.

Not unusual for candidates to skip debates

Unlike at the provincial and federal levels, there is no centralized group responsible for organizing municipal leadership debates in Toronto. Instead, individual organizations stage their own, often leading to a high number of debates each election season. It’s not unusual for candidates to turn down invitations. Chow has confirmed she will attend a Sept. 14 debate hosted by the Daily Bread Food Bank, which is also expected to include Bradford and Alexander and which the organization is billing as the first debate of the 2026 campaign.

However, Tuesday’s debate has political significance for Chow, who since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel has faced criticism from some for how she has handled local fallout from the conflict….

Source: Olivia Chow opts out of antisemitism debate

Filed under Antisemitism, Multiculturalism Tagged with ,

StatsCan – Economic well-being among immigrant and Canadian-born families: The joint distribution of income and wealth

2026/09/08 2 Comments

Encouraging that established immigrant families matched or exceeded the wealth of Canadian-born families, although it would be useful if this data was disaggregated by ethnic group or visible minority:

This study examines disparities in economic well-being among recent immigrant, established immigrant and Canadian-born families. Using pooled data from the Survey of Financial Security (2016, 2019 and 2023), families are classified across income and wealth quartiles to assess economic well-being. Across all income quartiles, recent immigrant families possessed less wealth than Canadian‑born families, with the wealth gap widening toward the top of the income distribution. While socioeconomic factors such as homeownership, having a private pension plan, inheritance and life-cycle stage explained wealth differences among families at the bottom of the income distribution, substantial gaps persisted at higher levels of income even after accounting for these factors. By contrast, established immigrant families matched or exceeded the wealth of Canadian‑born families across the income distribution, underscoring the importance of time in Canada and life‑cycle processes in wealth accumulation….

Source: Economic well-being among immigrant and Canadian-born families: The joint distribution of income and wealth

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Court orders Ottawa to release details about resettlement of Nazi war criminals in Canada

2026/09/08 Leave a comment

Long overdue:

The Federal Court has ordered the government to publish redacted portions of a report about the resettlement of Nazi war criminals in Canada through a secret CIA program after the Second World War.

The court ruling is the result of legal action by B’nai Brith. The Jewish organization had challenged Ottawa’s decision to keep secret some details of American efforts to help Nazi collaborators enter Canada, contained in a report written 40 years ago.

The cover of Alti Rodal’s report, Nazi War Criminals in Canada: The Historical and Policy Setting from the 1940s to the Present.SUPPLIED

Unless successfully appealed by the federal government, the ruling will lead to the removal of almost all the redactions in a report written by historian Alti Rodal for the 1985-86 Commission of Inquiry on War Criminals in Canada, headed by former Quebec judge Jules Deschênes. The commission investigated allegations that Canada had become a safe haven for Nazi war criminals.

Most of Ms. Rodal’s report had already been made public, with further declassified details released in 2024. The Federal Court judgment, issued Tuesday, relates to a section dealing with “irregularities in resettlement of defectors and former agents.” That portion has never been fully disclosed “despite its age and historical importance,” the ruling said.

Judge Simon Fothergill wrote that his considerations had included “the importance of the historical record” and ”the passage of time” in making his decision. …

Source: Court orders Ottawa to release details about resettlement of Nazi war criminals in Canada

For a detailed overview of the history and issues, see Nazi War Criminals in Canada: The known knowns and the known unknowns in Wesley Wark’s substack.

Filed under Antisemitism, Holocaust, Multiculturalism Tagged with , , , ,

Nicolas | L’absurde mathématique des générations

2026/09/08 Leave a comment

Would have thought she would understand the practical reality of generation data in terms of understanding economic and social outcomes and how well different groups and generations are doing. Of course, in her case, as in others, it is not simple given mixed ancestries which of course, become more mixed over generations:

Il faut avouer que, quand le terme « immigrant de deuxième génération » a fait irruption dans la campagne électorale cette semaine, ça fut pour moi, et pour un grand nombre d’entre nous, une étrange expérience. Par « nous », je veux dire celles et ceux que les mots concernent au premier chef.

D’abord, il était fascinant de constater que le terme même — « immigrant de deuxième génération » — ne frappe pas le gros bon sens de tous comme un oxymore. Si je suis née à l’hôpital de Hull, comment puis-je être une immigrante ?

Ensuite, j’ai compris qu’un glissement de sens et de vocabulaire s’opère sans même que la plupart ne le remarquent. La nation serait-elle en train de faire évoluer ses mathématiques ? Parce que moi, qui suis née ici, j’ai pensé toute ma vie qu’une personne qui venait vivre ici était un immigrant qui devenait Québécois. Et, donc, un Québécois de première génération. Et que les enfants de cette première génération de Québécois étaient des Québécois de deuxième génération. Tout comme on peut être Québécois depuis cinq, sept ou douze générations.

Parler d’« immigrant de deuxième génération » (ou, pire, d’« immigré »), c’est un vocabulaire beaucoup plus répandu en France. À droite, voire à l’extrême droite, on nous parle d’« immigrés de troisième génération » pour éviter de nommer comme Français des gens dont la famille est venue en France, pour la plupart, plusieurs générations après que la France elle-même les eut envahis chez eux.

Vous savez, la France n’est pas forcément extraordinaire en tout. Nous sommes tout à fait libres de choisir judicieusement ce qui nous inspire dans ce pays. Tout comme on laisse les Français s’imaginer que le deuxième étage d’un immeuble est en fait le premier, je crois qu’on peut tout à fait les laisser compter à leur manière et garder la nôtre sur un ensemble d’aspects de la vie sans que ça pose problème.
”

Source: Nicolas | L’absurde mathématique des générations

It must be admitted that when the term “second-generation immigrant” broke into the election campaign this week, it was a strange experience for me, and for many of us. By “we”, I mean those whose words concern in the first place.

First, it was fascinating to see that the very term – “second-generation immigrant” – does not strike everyone’s common sense like an oxymoron. If I was born at Hull Hospital, how can I be an immigrant?

Then, I understood that a shift in meaning and vocabulary takes place without even most noticing it. Is the nation changing its mathematics? Because I, who was born here, thought all my life that a person who came to live here was an immigrant who was becoming Quebecer. And, therefore, a first-generation Quebecer. And that the children of this first generation of Quebecers were second-generation Quebecers. Just as you can be Quebecers for five, seven or twelve generations.

Talking about “second generation immigrant” (or, worse, “immigrant”) is a much more widespread vocabulary in France. On the right, or even on the extreme right, we are called “third-generation immigrants” to avoid naming as French people whose family came to France, for the most part, several generations after France itself had invaded them at home.

You know, France is not necessarily extraordinary in everything. We are completely free to choose wisely what inspires us in this country. Just as we let the French imagine that the second floor of a building is actually the first, I believe that we can completely let them count in their own way and keep ours on a set of aspects of life without it being a problem.

Filed under Immigration, Multiculturalism Tagged with ,

Saunders: Canada wants to be ambitious. That means getting immigration going again

2026/09/08 Leave a comment

Interesting emerging consensus and differences between Saunders, RBC and C.D. Howe Institute regarding permanent and temporary residents: with Saunders admitting to the excesses of past years but not going as far as aiming for about a one percent growth rate of permanent residents but implying a shift in balance to permanent residents compared to temporary and implicitly more TR2PR pathways. Would be helpful if his arguments were more specific with respect to numbers and it was the overall increase in numbers, particularly temporary, and their impact on housing, healthcare and infrastructure that undermined support for immigration:

…That can be achieved with a few small changes. As experts have recommended, the Express Entry system needs a category for people in secondary-school-only skilled trades, to account for 10 to 20 per cent of permanent immigrants. The points system needs to weigh more heavily toward foreign trade experience and non-degree credentials. Provinces should have authority over these less-skilled PR categories, to meet their specific economic needs. And permanent residence should be granted soon after arrival, not after years of ambiguous residence.

Removing the incentive to rely on temporary immigrants means raising the processing speed to a few months at most. This isn’t helped by the current reduction of 1,440 jobs in Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. Shifting the temporary-permanent balance will require more staff, although AI and other technologies can help.

It was long-term temporary status, not immigration itself, that put the system in crisis – a majority of our newcomers for two decades weren’t becoming Canadians. To avoid a repeat, we must adjust the system to make permanent family immigration the norm.

Source: Saunders: Canada wants to be ambitious. That means getting immigration going again

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He passed three extensive security checks in Canada. Now, a fourth has stalled his citizenship for 18 months

2026/09/04 Leave a comment

…Immigration security screening has garnered growing public attention in the last few years as the number of immigration applications skyrocketed after the pandemic, leading to an explosion of files flagged for inadmissibility and security concerns.

While critics question whether the process is rigorous enough, advocates complain that it takes too long and is holding back the lives of migrants, whether they are here for asylum, to study or work, or in the process of becoming permanent residents or citizens….

According to CSIS, the number of immigration security screening requests it receives increased from 356,200 in 2019 to a peak of 538,100 in 2024, before it dropped to 438,600 last year after Ottawa reduced immigration intakes. The border agency said its current caseload includes 69,800 applications for temporary residence, 31,300 for permanent residence and 73,400 for refugee claims.

The Immigration Department estimated that it would take 64.8 months to complete all security screenings for permanent residence and 30.3 months for temporary residence, based on output and the number of cases in the system as of the end of November.

Toronto immigration lawyer Max Berger said the stakes are high in citizenship applications because once a person becomes a citizen, it’s difficult to strip it. However, he said the screening process has been plagued by a lack of resources and transparency, causing extensive delays and leaving people in uncertainty.

He said multiple security screenings are not necessary unless new information emerges that suggests a person was involved in nefarious activities in their home country that officials weren’t aware of before….

Source: He passed three extensive security checks in Canada. Now, a fourth has stalled his citizenship for 18 months

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Key government jobs, such as safety inspectors and intelligence analysts, being prioritized by race

2026/09/04 Leave a comment

Aristotle Foundation continues its critique of Canadian DEI practices without acknowledging the need for government to be more broadly representative of the population it serves. Most recent data highlights increases of visible minorities in particular, reflecting both the EE Act reporting requirements as well as these preferences.

No solid evidence regarding whether quality has suffered or not:

Applicants to some of the most critical jobs in the Canadian federal government, including safety inspectors and intelligence agents, are now being explicitly told that they might be rejected if they don’t fit within an “equity-deserving” identity category.

And in some key federal government departments, 100 per cent of new hires are being screened based on race and identity.

This is all according to a new report by the Aristotle Foundation for Public Policy.

Report authors analyzed 301 government job openings advertised between February and July, 2026. Of those, 42 per cent were subject to “explicit or potential prioritization based on group identity.”

“These postings go beyond signalling an inclusive workplace culture or encouraging applications from particular communities,” it read. “They explicitly disclose that certain groups may or will receive priority consideration in the selection process.” …

According to the Aristotle report, “the expansion of identity-based selection practices risks undermining both the integrity and perceived legitimacy of the federal staffing system.”

The new report is very similar to a 2025 analysis by the Aristotle Foundation that examined hiring practices at Canadian universities.

In that instance, report authors examined 489 university job postings, and found only 12 that didn’t make explicit mention of how identity would be a factor in candidate selection.

“In other words, 98 per cent of academic postings … directly or indirectly discriminated against non-minorities,” it concluded.

While the Government of Canada has tried to encourage the recruitment of women and minority candidates since at least the 1980s, it’s only been within the past 10 years that this has taken the form of mandatory hiring quotas based on race, gender and other “identity” characteristics….

Source: Key government jobs, such as safety inspectors and intelligence analysts, being prioritized by race

Filed under DEI, Multiculturalism Tagged with ,

Trump shares Christian group’s proposal allowing Canadian Jews facing antisemitism to flee to the U.S.

2026/09/04 1 Comment

Much as he prioritized white South African “refugees” compared to other groups:

As he finds new ways to poke Canada amid an ugly trade war, U.S. President Donald Trump has amplified a Christian group’s proposal to create a legal pathway into the United States for Canadian Jews facing antisemitism.

He shared on social media a news report about a letter written by the National Association of Christian Lawmakers (NACL), which urges Trump to establish an expedited method of entry into the U.S. for Jewish Canadians “who are experiencing persecution or who credibly fear for their safety because they are Jewish.”

It points to “an alarming climate of harassment, intimidation, vandalism, threats, and violence” that Jewish Canadian families have faced since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks, adding that “advocates working directly with these families report that more than 2,000 Jewish Canadians have expressed interest in relocating because of growing concerns for their safety.”

The letter continues: “Accordingly, we respectfully ask that you direct the Department of State and the Department of Homeland Security to identify and implement lawful, secure, and appropriately expedited pathways for eligible Jewish Canadian nationals and their immediate family members who face persecution.”

“NACL founder and president Jason Rapert signed the letter, alongside state representatives and religious leaders, and it was sent to the U.S. president, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and several U.S. senators and representatives on Thursday.

Trump shared a link to the report on Truth Social on Sunday evening, but did not comment on the contents.”

Source: Trump shares Christian group’s proposal allowing Canadian Jews facing antisemitism to flee to the U.S.

Filed under Antisemitism, Trump administration Tagged with ,

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