Ottawa immigration is turning a ‘black eye,’ B.C.’s lawyer warns

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The federal government’s promise last week to reduce immigration numbers was “politically motivated” and will harm local businesses, international students and families trying to bring loved ones to Canada, a local immigration lawyer warns.

“Businesses will suffer. The people on the ground – the workers here, the people with temporary status – are suffering. The students are completely devastated,” said Victoria immigration lawyer David Aujla. “We had a really pro-refugee, pro-humanitarian vision and accepted people who were in crises. I think that’s going to take a big hit. I think Canada has a black eye now.”

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By 2025, the number of newcomers receiving permanent residence permits will be reduced by 20 percent. This move was taken in part to address the country’s lack of affordable housing by limiting the number of people vying for rental and lower-market housing.

However, Aujla argues that Ottawa is unfairly passing on decades of government inaction on affordable housing to newcomers. He accused Ottawa of “immigrant bashing”, echoing US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, who has promised mass deportations of undocumented immigrants.

The new changes will be very difficult for some newcomers waiting to bring family members to Canada, said Jonathan Oldman, CEO of the Immigrant Services Association of BC.

The reductions, however, will make the new level of permanent residents comparable to what happened before COVID-19, said Oldman, whose agency helps settle more than 25,000 people who come to B.C. for humanitarian, economic or family reunification reasons each year.

And, he added, immigrants will still play an important role in fulfilling many of the refugee flows one million vacancies predicted for BC in the next decade.

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“We will continue to receive significant numbers of immigrants… and it will be critical to the future of British Columbia,” he said. “This (reduction) should be understood as a change, but not a closure of Canada.”

Oldman added that the apparent increase in anti-immigrant sentiment among the public is concerning, stressing that it is critical for governments and organizations like his to affirm the strengths of immigration.

The federal Liberals, who had increased immigration levels after the pandemic, announced on Thursday they would “pause population growth in the short term” by lowering targets for temporary residents, including for international students, foreign workers and permanent residents.

The number of people receiving permanent residency will fall from 500,000 this year to 395,000 in 2025, 380,000 in 2026 and 365,000 in 2027.

Canada has also capped the number of international students and tightened entry requirements for temporary foreign workers.

Will Tao, an immigration lawyer at Heron law firm in Burnaby, worries these changes are intended to encourage people to leave Canada if they face long wait times to become permanent residents.

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“They are clearly scared and worried,” he said of his clients.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his government didn’t get the “balance quite right” when it raised immigration targets in recent years. But Tao said achieving that balance isn’t as simple as pushing back targets, which impact people from countries ranging from war-torn Ukraine to Afghanistan, where women and girls are at risk.

The impact includes post-secondary schools losing a “cash cow” of funding by losing international students, who pay much higher tuition than Canadian youth.

Tao also said some employers in the past week have withdrawn support for a labor market impact assessment, a document required to hire foreign workers, because they cannot afford the new federally mandated employment requirements. wage increase for temporary foreign workers.

And while fewer immigrants may mean less competition for affordable housing, will Canada also lose the temporary residents who are construction workers building much-needed housing?

“I think we just haven’t thought about all the externalities of what’s going to happen,” Tao said.

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The government changes also include including more than 60 percent of permanent residents by 2027 for economic reasons, partly to support key labor markets such as healthcare and commerce. While the BC Chamber of Commerce welcomed the move, it also warned that reduced immigration numbers could be a real blow to businesses that need more workers.

“Immigration is an engine of economic growth and the main source of population growth in the short term,” House Speaker Fiona Famulak said in a speech. statement last week. “So reducing the workforce will increase (companies’) burdens in the coming years, not improve them.”

High profile Vancouver immigration lawyer Richard Kurland said his email inbox is clogged with messages from clients, attorneys and immigration consultants seeking solutions to this “fiasco” created by the federal government.

Those looking to increase their chances of permanent residency should “consider your options seriously and immediately.”

Newcomers could move to rural communities with skilled labor shortages; could change profession to one on Ottawa’s high-demand list; should avoid unscrupulous agents who claim they can help in return for high fees; and should think twice about marrying a Canadian citizen just to try to stay in the country, Kurland said.

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