An “overheated” immigration system that admitted document numbers of newcomers to the nation has harmed Canada’s decades-old consensus on the advantages of immigration, Immigration Minister Marc Miller stated, as he mirrored on the adjustments in his division in a year-end interview.
The system, he stated, wanted some self-discipline to get the nation again on monitor.
Over the course of 2024, Miller moved to cap the variety of pupil visas, lowered the variety of everlasting residents it plans to confess, made it more durable to get a working visa and paused most personal refugee sponsorship functions.
All of that got here as document immigration ranges pushed inhabitants development up over three per cent in 2023, twice what it has averaged over the earlier decade.
“There’s no shying away from the fact that there’s some stuff that I think we could have gotten better. I think there’s a lot of good that has happened as well,” Miller stated.
This interview befell on Dec. 11, earlier than Chrystia Freeland’s resignation as finance minister and deputy prime minister upended Canadian politics. Miller, who was named immigration minister in July 2023, saved the position in a shuffle Friday.
Miller stated the souring of public opinion on immigration is rooted in plenty of components, together with excessive charges of asylum seekers, the excessive value of housing and political actions within the western world.
This local weather created the problem for Miller during the last yr, to “infuse some discipline” into the immigration system.
With an ageing inhabitants and birthrates beneath substitute ranges, Miller stated that immigration is important to make sure a powerful labour drive to assist pay for key packages like well being care.
“We still need immigration, but we do have to be able to say to Canadians that we’ve been listening to them and react accordingly when we see that things get overheated,” Miller stated.
Within the minister’s eyes, this contains bringing in additional financial immigrants to carry down the typical working age of Canada’s inhabitants.
The rise within the variety of momentary employees is among the many largest points which have emerged for the reason that pandemic. Initially, the purpose was to make use of this system to fill holes within the labour market however this system grew so rapidly it opened the door to fraud and exploitation of employees.
The federal government not too long ago moved to make it more durable for an employer to have a allow accredited, and low-wage functions might be refused in geographic areas the place unemployment is above six per cent.
Labour market affect assessments, mandatory paperwork to assist usher in a employee from abroad, are also value a priceless 50 to 200 factors in Canada’s factors based mostly specific entry system for everlasting residents. CBC not too long ago revealed an investigation that uncovered these assessments being bought, generally for tens of hundreds of {dollars}.
“It’s being gamed and I think recognizing that there’s fraud that comes under different forms. I have a particular role in making sure that people aren’t leveraging that to get, for example, permanent residency,” Miller stated.
On Dec. 19, Miller introduced these factors might be faraway from labour market affect assessments as a part of a set of measures tied to rising border management in response to president-elect Donald Trump’s tariff menace on Canadian merchandise.
That change contains having momentary residents completely apply on-line to increase their keep, in an effort to finish a apply often known as “flag-poling.” That is when somebody crosses the U.S. border from Canada, solely to show round and return to the border for faster processing of the applying at a port of entry.
The federal government can even introduce legislative amendments to permit them to droop or cancel immigration paperwork, together with visas, when deemed to be within the public curiosity. Miller used mass fraud for instance.
Trump is threatening each Canada and Mexico with 25 per cent tariffs on all American imports from these two international locations, except they improve border safety to stem unlawful crossings and drug trafficking.
“I find it, the rhetoric that we’ve heard in the U.S. to be unfortunate. It’s not one that I will ever espouse, but also, we need an immigration system that doesn’t look like it’s being abused by folks trying to game the system,” Miller stated.
“And I think that is something that we are seeing increasingly with false asylum claims sometimes from certain countries.”
There are roughly 250,000 asylum claims ready for processing by the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada. The very best variety of claims in 2024 got here from India, adopted by Mexico.
Miller stated he’s introducing additional asylum reforms within the subsequent month to “streamline” the system and deal extra rapidly with illegitimate claims.
However bringing in additional reforms on a delicate space amid a heated dialogue on border politics could also be simpler stated than performed. For Miller, it is about attempting to strike a practical steadiness to commitments below humanitarian legal guidelines and what Canada can deal with.
“What we can’t do is fall victim to our base instincts. We need to rise above and look at this in a way that is rational, that looks at these people as human beings, without being naive about the ability of the Canadian government the ability of Canada to absorb the numbers of folks that come in here,” Miller stated.
This report by The Canadian Press was first revealed Dec. 21, 2024.
