Migrant advocates slammed the change. “We’re witnessing probably the most egregious rollbacks of migrant rights in Canadian historical past,” Syed Hussan, spokesperson for the Migrant Rights Community Secretariat, stated in an announcement.
“Slicing everlasting resident numbers is a direct assault on migrants who might be pressured to stay short-term or turn out to be undocumented, pushed additional into exploitative jobs.”
The workplace of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was not instantly accessible to remark.
The brand new immigration targets additionally mark a shift from the pandemic period when the federal government loosened guidelines on short-term residents to assist fill labour shortages.
Final 12 months, Canada had deliberate to usher in 500,000 new everlasting residents in 2025 and the identical quantity in 2026. As of the second quarter of 2024, there have been 2.8 million short-term residents, together with employees and college students, in Canada, based on Statistics Canada.
In an August interview, Immigration Minister Marc Miller instructed Reuters “Canadians need a(n immigration) system that’s not uncontrolled.”
Canada’s Liberal authorities, trailing within the polls as some legislators search to oust their chief, has been attempting to manage immigration.
Beneath Trudeau, Canadian immigration officers have accredited fewer visas this 12 months and border officers turned rising numbers of visa-holders away, information obtained by Reuters confirmed.
The federal government guarantees to cut back short-term residents’ share of the inhabitants to five per cent over three years; it was 6.8 per cent in April.
It additionally capped the variety of worldwide college students Canada will herald and tightened the principles on short-term international employees below a program that brings non-Canadians to the nation to work on a brief foundation. This system has come below fireplace for suppressing wages and leaving employees susceptible to abuse.
