An “overheated” immigration system that has allowed record numbers of arrivals has damaged Canada's decades-long consensus on immigration benefits, Immigration Minister Marc Miller said, as he pondered changes to his department in a year-end debate.
He said that this program needs good behavior so that the country can return to normal.
By 2024, Miller moved to cap the number of student visas, reduce the number of permanent residents he plans to accept, make it harder to get work visas and suspend applications for independent refugee grants.
All that came as immigration rates boosted population growth to more than 3 percent by 2023, double what it had been a decade earlier.
“There is no escaping the fact that I think we could have been better. I think a lot of good things have happened,” said Miller.
The interview took place on December 11, before Chrystia Freeland's resignation as finance minister and deputy prime minister rocked Canadian politics. Miller, who was appointed immigration minister in July 2023, retained the role on Friday.
Miller said the deterioration in public opinion about immigration is based on many factors, including high numbers of people seeking asylum, high housing costs and political movements in the West.
This climate created a challenge for Miller last year, to “instill discipline” in the immigration system.
With an aging population and birth rates below replacement levels, Miller said immigration is important to ensure a strong workforce to help pay for important programs like health care.
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“We still need immigrants, but we have to be able to tell Canadians that we've been listening to them and react appropriately if we see things getting too tense,” said Miller.
In the minister's eyes, this includes bringing in more immigrants economically to lower the average working age of Canadians.
The rise in the number of part-time workers is among the biggest problems that have emerged since the pandemic. Initially, the intention was to use the program to fill gaps in the labor market but the program quickly expanded and opened the door to fraud and labor exploitation.
The government recently moved to make it harder for employers to get a permit, and minimum wage claims will be rejected in areas where unemployment is above six percent.
A labor market impact assessment, the paperwork required to help bring in a worker from overseas, is also worth 50 to 200 points in Canada's smooth entry program for permanent residents. The CBC recently published an investigation that revealed that such tests are being sold, sometimes for tens of thousands of dollars.
“It is played and I think that by seeing that there is fraud that is done in different ways. “I have some role in making sure that people don't use that to get, for example, permanent residency,” Miller said.
On December 19, Miller announced that those points would be removed from labor market impact assessments as part of measures tied to expanding border controls in response to president-elect Donald Trump's threat of tariffs on Canadian products.
That change includes requiring temporary residents to apply online exclusively to extend their stay, in an effort to end a practice known as “cooling flags.” This is when someone crosses the US border from Canada, only to be turned around and back at the border for expedited processing of the application at the port of entry.
The government will also introduce legislative amendments to allow them to suspend or cancel immigration documents, including visas, when deemed to be in the public interest. Miller used massive fraud as an example.
Trump is threatening Canada and Mexico with 25 percent tariffs on all U.S. imports from those two countries, unless they increase border security to stop illegal crossings and drug smuggling.
“I find it unfortunate, the statements we heard in the US. It's not something I'll ever like, but again, we need an immigration system that doesn't look like it's being abused by people trying to play the game,” Miller said.
“And I think that's something we're seeing more and more with false asylum claims sometimes from certain countries.”
There are approximately 250,000 asylum applications pending processing by the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada. The highest number of claims in 2024 came from India, followed by Mexico.
Miller said he is looking to introduce other asylum reforms next month to “streamline” the system and deal more quickly with illegal claims.
But bringing some changes to the sensitive area amid a heated debate over border politics may be easier said than done. For Miller, it's about trying to find a realistic balance between obligations under humanitarian law and what Canada can handle.
“What we cannot do is to be victims of our nature. We need to step up and look at this in a reasonable way, that looks at these people as people, without being unreasonable about the ability of the Canadian government and the ability of Canada to get the numbers of people coming in here,” said Miller.
© 2024 The Canadian Press
