The Auditor General of Canada recently flagged gaps in how student visas are being assessed. In a report tabled in Parliament last week, it said countries with a high risk of fraudulent applications generally saw low approval rates — with “one important exception” in India.
The independent tribunal that decides refugee claims has since 2019 ruled on more than 45,000 asylum cases based on paperwork alone without an in-person hearing, raising concerns from the Conservatives and experts that this could dilute scrutiny and compromise national security.
Figures provided to MPs on the Commons immigration committee by the Immigration and Refugee Board show that in that period, Iranian asylum claimants have had the most claims decided without an in-person hearing, with 10,730 claims decided based on paper reviews of their files.
An immediate halt to all refugee clams followed by mass deportation works for me.
A major immigration reform bill is now law in Canada. Some worry it rolls back refugee rights
A major bill reforming immigration powers is now law in Canada, giving Ottawa powers to mass cancel groups of visas and setting time limits on asylum claims in the name of bringing immigration numbers under control.
But the legislation, passed Thursday, has also raised concerns from a coalition of civil society groups, including Amnesty International, immigration lawyers and public sector unions, that says it places too much authority in the government’s hands and is vowing to fight it.
“Bill C-12 attacks the rights of refugees and migrants,” Julia Sande, a lawyer specializing in privacy and migrant rights at Amnesty International Canada, said in an interview with CBC News. “It makes it harder for people to have their claims for refugee protection fairly assessed, so it puts people at risk of being deported to face persecution and torture.”
Just the usual scammers dislike this and frankly it doesn’t go far enough.
‘Canada as a brand has suffered’: Post-secondary schools react to AG report on international students
A little more than an hour outside of Ottawa, the small town of Perth, Ont. is dotted on roadways and in windows with signs that say “Save our College.”
The town is hoping there will be a resolution after Algonquin College announced the closure of its Perth campus last year, among other cuts, citing a multi-million dollar deficit and the federal cap on international students as factors. This month, the school approved cuts to 30 more programs.
“Of course, it’s an economic advantage to the community, because you have students here buying groceries, renting rooms and so on. But it’s that the type of college with the heritage masonry and the heritage carpentry has been here for so long. It’s so well known, it fits in well with the heritage of Perth,” Mayor Judy Brown told CTV News.
How come the grifters who gamed the system are still employed?
A federal briefing memo is contradicting years of government messaging, acknowledging that immigration policies allowing foreign students expanded access to jobs — at the expense of Canadian youth employment.
Blacklock’s Reporter says the internal document from Employment and Social Development Canada cites an 18% unemployment rate among Canadian students and attributes worsening job prospects in part to a surge in non-permanent residents, including international students.
(Incognito)
Tourist towns ‘desperate’ for workers in Alberta
Canada’s tourism industry is struggling to find workers as employers face tighter rules on foreign labour and fewer Canadians stepping into the sector.
In Alberta’s mountain tourism hubs, those challenges are even more complex, with employers and job seekers pointing to a lack of affordable housing as a major barrier.
Just days after arriving in Banff, Gintare Dalmantaite is already looking for work.
If I see foreigners waiting tables and working in the kitchen my appetite is immediately suppressed and the risk makes my wallet snap shut.
Thousands of refugee claimants already in the system awaiting a hearing will have their asylum claims terminated under new eligibility criteria that are applied retroactively in a law that has just taken effect.
Under the Strengthening Canada’s Immigration System and Borders Act, which received royal assent Thursday night, anyone who first arrived in Canada after June 24, 2020, will not be allowed to make a refugee claim after one year, regardless of whether they left the country and returned.
Those who have come to Canada after that date and made their claims since June 3, 2025 — when the proposed eligibility rule was initially announced — will have their claims cancelled.
What "taking back control of immigration" looks like: Under Bill C-3, anyone who can find a Canadian in their family tree is considered Canadian.
Here's an example of a person whose last Canadian ancestor was born in 1835, nearly 200 years ago. Approval took 3 weeks. https://t.co/8SwZ9qFq4u pic.twitter.com/nfwxAF4viG
— Jamie Sarkonak (@sarkonakj) March 27, 2026
This is an admission that there are a whole bunch of asylum seekers/refugees who got into Canada on visitor visas they should have never received. Their status should be revoked. https://t.co/X5674RoZ0w
— Jamie Sarkonak (@sarkonakj) March 27, 2026
Canada does not have a diversity problem. It has a cohesion problem.
For the better part of a decade, the country was governed by an approach to identity that elevated difference, symbolism, and managed inclusion while treating any serious discussion of common culture with suspicion. Under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Canada increasingly spoke of itself less as a nation with a shared inheritance and more as a platform for competing identities, grievances, and moral claims. The effect was not unity but drift. It weakened the language of citizenship and made the idea of a common national story seem faintly improper.
Justice Minister Sean Fraser, who was in charge of immigration during some of the years Auditor General Karen Hogan found instances of fraud in Canada’s international student program, said with hindsight, he would have acted sooner to fundamentally change it.
The Opposition Conservatives have been calling for his resignation, along with that of current Immigration Minister Lena Diab and Fraser’s immediate successor Marc Miller, from Prime Minister Mark Carney’s cabinet.
Canadian immigration policy continues to swing back and forth, with the federal government already moving to ease certain restrictions only months after sharply cutting targets last fall.
In the latest swing, Ottawa announced on March 13 a relaxation of rules for the Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) program in rural Canada. At the request of any premier, it will boost the allowable share of low-wage TFWs in rural workforces from 10 percent to 15 percent.
The move highlights a growing tension at the heart of Canada’s immigration system: Ottawa is trying to reduce overall immigration levels and respond to a more skeptical public, while managing millions of temporary residents already in the country and accommodating employers who complain of labour shortages. The result is a policy that loosens even as it tightens.
OTTAWA — Prime Minister Mark Carney defended his government’s record on immigration on Wednesday, following a report from the auditor general this week that showed the international student program lacked proper controls.
“We’re taking back control on immigration,” said Carney, on his way into a cabinet meeting.
He’s lying. Lying is all he ever does.
Canada’s immigration system is a mess in more ways than one. Over the last decade, the Liberals have taken a system that was admired around the world, supported here at home and they trashed it.
Support for immigration is falling across the country, and other countries now look at us as a cautionary tale rather than an example to follow.
WTF?
For everyone but Canadian students. 😡 https://t.co/PS4Rxi0fzN pic.twitter.com/OJ4xTGzawz
— wastedcanadian (@melissacare01) March 25, 2026
On the same day that Statistics Canada revealed a higher unemployment rate of 6.7% and a youth unemployment rate of 14.1%, the Carney government made it easier for some employers to hire temporary foreign workers. On March 13, the latest Labour Force Survey showed that Canada had lost 108,000 full-time jobs and that over the past year had added more than 30,000 people to the unemployment line.
They found about 150,000 cases of foreign student permit fraud.
The Libs only investigated about 2,000, with few consequences.
Immigration is worse now in Canada than ever before.
And…watch this, the dismissive laugh off from @LenaMetlegeDiab.
Complete dumpster fire. https://t.co/WpuAL7ZaYy pic.twitter.com/gDcX8zzfQv
— Michelle Rempel Garner (@MichelleRempel) March 23, 2026
Canada’s foreign student program lacks integrity controls to verify ongoing visa compliance, and the government does not track whether students leave the country when their permits expire, the auditor general said.
Karen Hogan’s audit of the program released Monday found that the government was successful in reducing the number of study permits it issued each year but fell short on improving the integrity of the system.
Our government is nothing short of criminal.
🌏🛬🇨🇦🏘️ : Despite the record low Canadian birth rate, Ontario is projecting a 30% population increase over the next 25 years.
JHC. 🤨😠@fancypants_s https://t.co/vkfcNfLGwj
— Auntie Polly (@auntie_polly) March 23, 2026
This means a lot more mass immigration is being planned, not less.
Ontario’s infrastructure is failing & there is an emergency level housing shortage.… pic.twitter.com/6xXIXm4EjI
— Bruce McGonigal (@bruce_mcgonigal) March 23, 2026
As tighter immigration policies bring population growth to a halt, more than half of Canadians say the country should allow even fewer new immigrants and temporary residents in 2027 compared to this year.
Some 52% say the country should accept fewer people while 35% believe it should accept the same amount, according to a Nanos Research poll commissioned by Bloomberg News.
Fewer than one in 10 said Canada should accept more immigrants.
We’re honestly to believe that 15 -17 years ago old kids no longer want to pour coffee and we’re forced to bring in foreign adults that can’t speak English?
10 years ago my 15 year old was looking for a job and we were driving around handing out resumes. We went into at least… https://t.co/DkxU0pKNC3
— Michelle Phillips (@Michphil1998) March 21, 2026
