Borderlines

Daniel Hiebert is an Emeritus Professor of Geography at the University of British Columbia. We discuss his recent paper for the CD Howe Institute titled "Balancing Canada’s Population Growth and Ageing Through Immigration Policy." Those who support high immigration levels often say that Canada's ageing demographics makes immigration a necessity. This conversation is a deep dive into this issue. One thing is apparent. There are no easy solutions. It is going to take massive increases and changes to immigration levels and policy that likely are not sustainable or politically feasible. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mark Holthe is an immigration lawyer in Lethbridge and the President of the Canadian Immigration Institute. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Benjamin Meadow is a lawyer in Vancouver, British Columbia. We discuss whether landlords can charge temporary residents more for rent or security deposits, when a foreign worker's lease is tied to their employment, landlords discovering illegal subletting, and more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We breakdown the immigration promises of the 2025 Canadian federal election. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Connie Campbell is an immigration lawyer in Vancouver. We discuss the Federal Court decision in Talukder v. Canada (Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness), 2024 FC 1489. Is inadmissibility for membership in a terrorist organization too broad? Is the Bangladesh Nationalist Party a terrorist organization? What about Samidoun? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Randall Cohn, an immigration lawyer in Vancouver, joins to discuss his reasons for leaving the Canadian immigration law practice area. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"Incompetence of counsel" in the Canadian immigration law context refers to situations where an applicant seeks to set aside a decision (e.g., refusal, removal order, etc.) on the grounds that their legal or immigration representative provided ineffective or negligent assistance, which prejudiced their case.Arsheep Kahlon joins to discuss the key elements of how this argument works. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Martin Basiri is a Co-Founder and the former Chief Executive Oofficer of ApplyBoard, a Start-Up Visa Program company that in 2021 reached a valuation of $3.2-billion. He is currently the Founder of and CEO of Passage, which enables immigrants and international students by providing financial access. Martin is part of Build Canada, an organization that helps Canadian entrepreneurs share their ideas for a bolder, richer, freer country.We discuss Martin's proposal Great People, Greater Canada: A Talent First Immigration Strategy for Canada, which contains specific proposals to reposition Canadian immigration law, and particuarly its economic class, as one focused on bringing the best talent to Canada, rather than other political considerations that currently seem to be prioritized.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On March 14, 2025, the Supreme Court of Canada released its decision in John Howard Society of Saskatchewan v. Saskatchewan (Attorney General), 2025 SCC 6. Prior to the case, in Saskatchewan’s provincial correctional institutions, inmates charged with disciplinary offences had to appear before a disciplinary panel, where the standard of proof was a balance of probabilities, even for major offences that may result in up to 10 days of disciplinary segregation or the loss of up to 15 days of earned remission. The Supreme Court found that this violated sections 7 and 11(d) of the Charter, and held that to the extent that the law permitted the imposition of disciplinary segregation and loss of earned remission for an inmate disciplinary offence on a lower standard of proof, it is inconsistent with the Constitution and must therefore be declared to be of no force or effect. As noted by the dissent, the case could have implications for Canadian immigration law. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more informa

Deanna discusses the new Ministerial Instructions rolling out the long awaited caregiver pilots on 31 March 2025. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Over 300,000 Canadians have signed a petition calling on the government to revoke Elon Musk's citizenship. Is this possible, and should it be? We also discuss the ongoing saga about changes to the law and policy regarding citizenship by descent. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Chantal Desloges is an immigration lawyer in Toronto. We discuss what the various Liberal leadership candidates have pledged regarding Canadian immigration policy, with a focus on Mark Carney and a speech that he gave to the Century Initiative. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Kubeir Kamal is a regulated immigration consultant in Toronto. In October, 2024, Quebec announced that it was limiting the number of foreign nationals invited from any one country in its Regular Skilled Worker Program to 25%. In February, 2025, Marc Miller said that Canadian post-secondary institutions need to be more diverse in their recruitment, noting that there would always be applicants from India. India is by far the number one source country of immigrants to Canada. How likely is it that Canada will cap applications from India? Should they? @3:00    Marc Miller recently commented that “there will always be applicants from India.” Is this true? @7:00    The data on top source countries for new immigrants to Canada and why India does so well.  @11:00 Why are so many people seeking to leave Canada? Has Canada lived up to their expectations? Is there a difference in the likelihood of success of immigrating to Canada vs. the United States?  @20:00&

In this episode, we break down IRCC's practice of rejecting applications for incompleteness, often for minor technical issues. Effectively a form of stats manipulation, this practice creates a misleading picture of departmental efficiency while leaving applicants stranded, often forcing them to restart the process for trivial errors. Cases discussed include Gennai v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2017 FCA 29 and Goel v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2025 FC 275. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Misty Ty is a documentary film maker. Her father, Robert Ty, was the owner of a shipping company whose cargo ship, The Tung An, encountered a fishing vessel with over 200 people. Misty Ty was one of the children on that boat.The Vietnamese Boat People were refugees who fled Vietnam by sea after the fall of Saigon in 1975, escaping communist rule and persecution. Over one million people would flee. Several hundred thousand would perish due to storms, starvation, pirate attacks, and overcrowded boats. In response to the humanitarian crisis, Canada would introduce its private refugee sponsorship program, and resettle tens of thousands of Indochinese.Misty's website for the project is thetungan.com. She would love to hear from anyone who was on, or whose relatives were on, the Tung An. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Martin Levine was a Visa Officer and Analyst at Citizenship and Immigration Canada from 1978 – 2009. He then worked as a contract employee as an ATIP Analyst for numerous federal departments. He previously appeared on Episodes #108 and #110.Towards the end of episode #110 Martin commented that he thought the immigration consultant profession shouldn't exist. Steven said that this was a huge topic and probably deserved its own episode. In this episode Martin explains why he believes that Canada should abolish the immigration consultant profession. Steven and Deanna disagree. Numerous arguments and counter arguments are discussed. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Erin Brandt is a co-founder of PortaLaw, a Vancouver law firm which specializes in employment law. Audience submitted questions that we discuss include: Is it illegal for employers to not provide reference letters necessary for immigration purposes or to charge their employees for them?Is it illegal for employers with foreign worker employees to not apply for LMIAs to try to extend their employees' employment? Can employers distinguish between Canadian citizens, permanent residents and foreign workers when hiring? Can an employer not hire a foreign national or asylum claimant if they are likely to be deported? Is it ok for an employer to ask if someone is an asylum claimant? If an employer learns that an employee is without status - and the employee lied to them - can they legitimately refuse to pay the employee out for work completed during this time? If in order to meet prevailing wage an employer increases the wages of all of their LMIA-based TFWs, is it discrimination to not also incre

This episode answers a listener topic request about an increase in IRCC refusals of provincial nominees. As well, Steven offers his unimpressed thoughts on Marc Miller's recent statement in response to complaints about huge decreases in provincial nominee quotas that “Provinces and Territories that are willing to work in a responsible manner with Canada, including playing a role in taking on asylum seekers, will have an opportunity to regain coveted Provincial Nominee spots.” Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On January 21, 2025, IRCC restricted the availability of open spousal work permits to principal applicants working in certain "skilled" professions. Family open work permits are now limited to spouses of foreign workers who are employed in TEER 0 or 1 occupations, or select TEER 2 or 3 occupations in sectors with labour shortages or linked to government priorities such as natural and applied sciences, construction, health care, natural resources, education, sports and military sectors. The move more than reversed a December 2, 2022, announcement that IRCC would be allowing most spouses of workers in Canada to obtain open work permits because, according to the government, it would "improve the emotional well-being, physical health and financial stability of workers by keeping families together" and that the "worker will better integrate into their overall work environment and community." Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Christopher Worswick is a Professor of Economics at Carleton University. We discuss the economics of Canada's plan to reduce its population, and specifically that 1,000,000 - 2,000,000 foreign students and workers will leave Canada from 2025-2027. Topics include impacts on GDP per capita, unemployment, housing and more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.