Elements of immigration system 'out of control,' says federal minister as pressure to make changes increases

This is Part 5 of Unsettling, a series on immigration by CBC Calgary.

About 150 people braved the cold to attend a CBC Calgary live town hall Thursdaynight to talk about international immigration to Calgary and if our city is ready for what's to come.

When it comes to immigration, the numbers are powerful.

Consider this:estimates indicate that by 2040, 40 per cent of our workforce will be immigrants.

WATCH | CBC Calgary town hall explores promise of immigration:

Is immigration to Canada living up to expectations?

8 months ago

Duration 9:14

CBC Calgary hosted a town hall at the Calgary Public Library titled, 'Unsettling: Are we fulfilling the promise of immigration?'

There is growing acknowledgment that the country doesn't have the capacity to integrate the increasing number of immigrants.

Federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller has said that the number of temporary workers and international students has grown too quickly in Canada.

"It's something we are going to look at in the first quarter, first half of this year," Miller said in an interview on CTV's Question Period earlier this week.

"That volume is really disconcerting. It's really a system that has gotten out of control."

International students werea focus of Thursdaynight's conversation.

Immigration lawyer Raj Sharma was one of the panellists invited to speak.

"International students went from heroes to zeros," said Sharma, pointing out that in 2022, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada introduced a pilot allowing international students to work more than the usual 20-hour-per-week limit.

"All of a sudden the international students are responsible for some sort of housing affordability and access."

Immigration Minister Marc Miller has also tried to turn the turn spotlight away from Ottawa and shine the light on the role he says the provinces need to play.

• This week Cross Country Checkup wants to know:Has the housing shortage changed your view on Canada's immigration strategy? Is Canada still a good place to immigrate to?Fill out the details onthis formand send us your stories.

"It's a conversation we need to have with the provinces so that provinces not doing their jobs reign in those numbers on a pure volume basis."

The pressure to make changes is coming from all sides.

At an Economic Club of Canada discussion earlier in January, Beata Caranci, chief economist at TD Bank, offered a blunt assessment.

"Frankly, I'm surprised we have screwed it up because we are so privileged in Canada. We don't have two million people crashing our borders like they do in the United States, we don't have to fight that battle," she said.

"We're not dealing with this migrant flow across the border we design our own policy, we put it in place, we implement it, and we still screwed it up."

And Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has been on the attack for months.

"Canada'simmigration system is broken," he hassaid.

Poilievre has promised that, if elected, he would link the number of immigrants to the number of houses built, though he's not said if he would roll back Canada's permanent resident targets or reduce the number of non-permanent residents.

Change is coming

With all this pressure, change was bound to come and the first hints of it arrived earlier this week.

A senior government source has told Radio-Canada that Ottawa is planning to limit the number of international students in some provinces.

Ontario, British Columbia and Nova Scotia have all been raised as possibilities.

In an email to CBC, Alberta Advanced Education Minister Rajan Sawhney said Alberta is not one of the provinces being considered for the cap.

"The federal government has not discussed the concept of a hard cap on the number of international students with the province," she wrote.

As far as international students are concerned, other changes have been made.

For instance, prospective international students now needto show proof of access to $20,635 in funds, up from $10,000, in addition to paying for travel, accommodation, and tuition.

It is a one-time requirement when applying for a student visa in Canada and it's meant to ensure students can afford the higher cost of living.

LISTEN | Arecap oflast night's public forum and a glimpse into what's about to come:

Calgary Eyeopener8:16Unsettling - Part 5

We wrap up our series on immigration with a look back at last night's public forum, and a look ahead to incoming changes.

International students are also being given the opportunity to make more money during the academic year to live on.

The previous cap of 20 hours per week was lifted during the pandemic and that policy has been extended until April this year.

Talks are on to reassess the policy and increase the limit to30 hoursper week in the future.

Caught in the crosshairs

International student and University of Calgary student union vice-president Mateusz Salmassi says students like him feel caught in the middle, an experience that he calls "jarring."

"Any time immigrants are caught in the middle of a debate around whether there are enough resources in a country, it tends to spell not so good news for the immigrants."

Salmassi says what's been forgotten is that international students don't just pay higher tuition and help keep schools afloat, they contribute to the broader economy.

"We contribute $3.7 billion in tax revenue alone and we work in key industries that Canada really needs if we're going to get out of some of the affordability crisis that we're facing," he said.

According to Salmassi, implementing a cap on numbers is not the solution. Investing in on-campus housing is.

"We've been calling on the federal government [to] invest $3.25 billion into building 75,000 new on-campus residence beds that would give students the safety and the affordable housing that they need and that would be the actual solution to some of the pressures that we're seeing," Salmassi said.

For University of Alberta political scientist Reza Hasmath, it's hard to watch the issue of immigration being used as political fodder.

"If you look at other jurisdictions, this happens all the time," he said.

"It's always easier to point to the immigrants: 'They're the reasons we're not having affordability.' Especially during political election season. It's an easy group to target."

Hasmath says the federal Liberals have not dealt with the structural ideas around housing supply for a decade.

"I think that's a strategic mistake they made."

Hasmath says this oversight will continue to haunt the government.

"They didn't realize just how intricately linked housing and immigration is this is a political issue they're going to have to deal with and they're going to do a terrible job because they don't have the time to deal with it in an effective way."