Opinion | Canada’s immigration system, once admired for its fairness and balance, has drifted into crisis

Hard hitting critique, not unjustified:

…Worse still, Ottawa’s enforcement mechanisms have faltered. The federal government acknowledged that Canada may now have up to 500,000 undocumented residents. Tens of thousands of people overstay visas each year without consequence. A system that overlooks such lapses is not generous — it is negligent. It jeopardizes the very trust on which public support for immigration depends.

Support for immigration still runs deep in Canada, but it’s not without limits. Canadians value immigration when it’s fair, focused and transparent. But when the system starts to look porous or easily gamed, confidence frays. And everyone pays the price: the immigrant who played by the rules, the patient waiting for a family doctor, the student without housing or work, and the community stretched thin.

Canada needs immigrants. We need health care workers in rural hospitals, care aides in long-term care homes, and early childhood educators across the country. But meeting those needs doesn’t require a floodgate — it needs a funnel. One that matches admissions to housing, health care capacity, and real labour demand.

Prime Minister Carney now holds the mandate — and the moment — to restore credibility to Canada’s immigration system. That means criminal vetting must be immediate and enforceable. Study permits must be tied to accredited programs with proven pathways to employment. Intake levels must be scaled in line with infrastructure and economic absorption capacity. And Ottawa must publish clear, transparent audits showing how homes, hospital beds, and transit systems will match future growth.

Fixing immigration is not a peripheral policy. It is the first test of whether the new government is prepared to govern for results rather than optics. The promise of immigration lies not in how many arrive, but in how many thrive. It lies in our ability to match aspiration with capacity, and compassion with competence.

Because if we can admit 17,000 people with criminal convictions, yet leave skilled, law-abiding applicants in limbo — and push even the most qualified newcomers into survival jobs — then something is deeply broken. And if we don’t fix the system now, we risk losing not just public trust, but the very foundation of a nation built on rules, trust, and earned opportunity.

Dr. Debakanta Jena is a first-generation immigrant, Chief of Orthopedic Surgery at Medicine Hat Regional Hospital and Assistant Professor at the University of Calgary.

Source: Opinion | Canada’s immigration system, once admired for its fairness and balance, has drifted into crisis