Canada’s changing attitudes towards immigrants and Justin Trudeau’s policy

Canada, once known to value newcomers, recently announced a sharp cut in the number of immigrants it allows into the country in an effort to "pause population growth". This marked a notable shift in policy for the Justin Trudeau government. In one of the "most stringent immigration cutbacks yet", Trudeau and Immigration Minister Marc Miller announced last year a 21% reduction of permanent residents accepted into the country in 2025.

For decades, Canada's immigration policies were tailored to boost its population, fill labour gaps and settle refugees fleeing conflict from around the world, BBC reported. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whose government relied heavily on ambitious immigration targets to drive economic growth, admitted earlier this year that the approach had been a “mistake”.

In a video posted on Trudeau’s YouTube channel in November 2024, Trudeau admitted that his government made "mistakes" in its immigration policy, which led to "bad actors" like "fake colleges" and big corporations exploiting the system for their vested interests.

"In the last two years, our population has grown really fast, like a baby boom...Increasingly bad actors like fake colleges and big chain corporations have been exploiting our immigration system for their own interests," Trudeau had said.

To combat this, "we are reducing the number of immigrants who are coming to Canada for the next three years," he said. "We made some mistakes and that's why we are taking this big turn," he said, justifying his government's action.

Trudeau said the cut in the cap on immigrants coming to Canada was necessary to address its housing crisis and cost-of-living issues.

The new policy

A month before Trudeau's comments, Immigration Minister Marc Miller had said that Canada would admit approximately 3,95,000 permanent residents in 2025, marking a drop of nearly 20 per cent from the 4,85,000 expected this year, news agency PTI reported.

The plan also targets temporary immigrants, including international students and foreign workers. Their numbers are expected to drop to about 4,46,000 in 2025 and 2026, down from roughly 8,00,000 this year. By 2027, Canada will accept just 17,400 new non-permanent residents, the new policy suggested.

Canada's new immigration plan is "straightforward – lower the number of immigrants – both permanent and temporary," Trudeau said, adding that the government is prioritising permanent residents with the skills it needs like healthcare and construction workers.

Canada also ended the popular fast track study visa programme, SDS, a major policy decision that was expected to impact scores of international students, including from India. According to the Indian High Commission, India is the largest source country of foreign students with an estimated 4,27,000 Indian students studying in Canada.

Canada's ‘positive view of immigration'

Canada has been largely welcoming to immigrants. Data cited by BBC showed it as a global leader in refugee resettlement. The country also built a reputation in the last 50 years as one that values newcomers.

Meanwhile, in 2019, a Pew Research report indicated that of 10 top migrant destination countries, Canada had the most positive view of immigration.

“Since the late 1990s or so, Canadian attitudes have been broadly pro-immigration,” Michael Donnelly, a professor of political science at the University of Toronto, told the BBC. Donnelly also said that immigrants make up a large part of Canada’s electorate, which deters major political parties from adopting an anti-immigration stance.

Eventually, this led to unprecedented spike in temporary residents coming to Canada. Professor Donnelly said "positive sentiments" about Canada's immigration stance changed due to growing sense that Canada’s immigration system has lost its integrity, “partly due to miscalculations by the Canadian government.”

Asylum claims spiked after Canada removed visa requirements for tourists from Mexico in 2016, forcing Canada to reimpose visa restrictions earlier this year. Canadian media had also reported that some international students were using their temporary visa to claim permanent asylum in the country.

Professor Donnelly said these incidents and others “have made people think that the government has lost control of the flow of immigration”.

Trudeau had said that for years, Canada's immigration system only focused on Permanent Immigration, where people come with family to settle in Canada, and the government decides the number of permanent residents that it wants to admit each year.

However, in doing so, it missed "the other pathway – the temporary immigration", which involves international students, temporary workers and so on.

"After the (coronavirus) pandemic, our economy came roaring back quickly. We wanted more workers fast. We were in the midst of a huge labour shortage. Temporary foreign workers became such a significant part of our workforce...So, we brought in more workers," Trudeau was quoted as saying.

"And it was the right choice and it worked," Trudeau emphasised. "Our economy grew. Restaurants and stores reopened, businesses kept running, but most importantly, in spite of lots of economists’ predictions, we avoided

Canadian journalist Daniel Bordman told news agency ANI in an interview that after Trudeau resigned as the PM, Canada will be like how it used to be 10 years back in policies related to immigration.