Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Immigration Minister Marc Miller are set to make an announcement Thursday regarding changes to Canada’s immigration system.
Three sources have told Global News those changes will be major, with one saying there will be a reduction in the number of permanent residents admitted to Canada on an annual basis in future years and changes to temporary immigration streams.
Speaking in the House of Commons on Wednesday, Trudeau hinted at Canada changing its approach to immigration.
“We continue to be a country that understands that immigration is a source of opportunity and growth and richness for this country. One of the other great advantages we have is we have an immigration system that is able to adjust to different realities,” Trudeau had said.
Trudeau said Canada saw immigration rise after the pandemic but the situation has changed.
“In the years after the pandemic, there was a need for more temporary workers, there was a desire for more international students, and we let more in — working with the provinces and businesses across the country. As we see the situation shift, as the labour market shifts, we’re making changes to the immigration system,” he said.
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Canada has planned to admit 500,000 permanent residents in 2025 and had planned to maintain this target in 2026. The number of permanent residents admitted on an annual basis has increased by 59 per cent since the Liberals first came to power.
Canada will now seek to gradually reduce the number of admissions per year to 365,000 by 2027, down from 485,000 in 2024, a government source told Reuters.
The number of temporary residents, meanwhile, will decrease by about 30,000 to around 300,000 in 2025, the source said to Reuters.
This comes as the latest in a series of rollbacks of immigration levels. In March, the federal government set targets for temporary residents for the first time.
This is being done, Miller had said, to ensure “sustainable” growth in the number of temporary residents coming into Canada.
Miller said as of 2023, Canada was home to 2.5 million temporary residents, who make up 6.2 per cent of Canada’s entire population. Over the next three years, the government plans to bring that down to five per cent.
Migrant rights groups have warned that cutting back on permanent resident levels will leave the most vulnerable migrant workers with fewer pathways to residency.
“We are witnessing one of the most egregious rollbacks of migrant rights in Canadian history,” said Syed Hussan, spokesperson for the Migrant Rights Network.
“Cutting permanent resident numbers is a direct assault on migrants who will be forced to remain temporary or become undocumented, pushed further into exploitative jobs.”
— with files from Reuters
© 2024 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
