April 16, 2026 – Canada’s immigration system delivered stronger labour market outcomes for new permanent residents after 2015 despite unprecedented intake levels, but recent trends among temporary residents risk undermining those gains, according to a new report from the C.D. Howe Institute. In “Selection Matters: Lessons from Two Decades of Immigrant Earnings,” Mikal Skuterud and […]
by Mikal Skuterud and Ruiwen Zhang This Commentary examines relative employment rates and hourly earnings of Canadian immigrants and non-permanent residents (NPRs) from 2005 to 2024, with particular attention to changes following the introduction of Express Entry in 2015 and the subsequent unprecedented rise in immigration levels. Despite significantly higher intake levels after 2015, the labour […]
16 avril 2026 – Le système d’immigration du Canada a permis d’améliorer les résultats sur le marché du travail des nouveaux résidents permanents après 2015, et cela malgré des niveaux d’admission sans pareil. Toutefois, les tendances récentes chez les résidents temporaires risquent de compromettre ces progrès, selon un nouveau rapport de l’Institut C.D. Howe. Dans […]
From: Christopher Worswick To: Concerned Canadians Date: March 18, 2026 Re: CANZUK-plus Labour Mobility Deals Would be Win-Win In 1957, my parents left the north of England to come to Canada. They did not expect this country to be their long-term home, but they had great careers and close to 70 happy years together in Canada. When I first looked for an […]
From: James YousifTo: Immigration ObserversDate: March 3, 2026Re: Fixing Canada’s Asylum Policy For an organization with a budget of nearly $350 million and 2,500 employees, the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada is something of a mystery. Structurally, it is an outlier, at “arm’s length” from government. Most organizations of that size and scope do […]
Published in The Globe and Mail. For an organization with a budget of nearly $350-million and 2,500 employees, the IRB is something of a mystery. Structurally, it is an outlier, at “arm’s length” from government. Most organizations of that size and scope do not have the authority to develop public policy without the involvement of […]
January 29, 2026 – Since 2019, the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB) has accepted tens of thousands of asylum claims without holding an oral hearing through a paper-based process known as “File Review.” A new report from the C.D. Howe Institute argues that this policy raises serious legal, security, and governance concerns, may […]
By James Yousif Since 2019, the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB) has accepted tens of thousands of asylum claims without an oral hearing through its “File Review” policy, using a paper-based process that may exempt entire categories of claims, defined by nationality and claim type, from the default requirement of in-person adjudication. The […]
From: Parisa MahboubiTo: Immigration observersDate: December 23, 2025Re: More Work Needed on Immigration Reform After years of high permanent immigration and runaway growth in non-permanent newcomers – a surge that strained housing, healthcare and confidence in the immigration system – the federal government is trimming its target for permanent admission to 380,000 arrivals annually, increasing […]
From: David Green, Philip Oreopoulos, Craig Riddell, Mikal Skuterud, and Christopher WorswickTo: Honourable Lena Metlege Diab, Minister of Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship CanadaDate: December 9, 2025Re: How We Subverted our Skills Based Immigration System In 2023, with little fanfare and no political opposition, the federal government gave itself the power to subvert Canada’s world-renowned skilled […]
Published in Financial Post. After years of high permanent immigration and runaway growth in non-permanent newcomers — a surge that strained housing, health care and confidence in the immigration system — the federal government is trimming its target for permanent admission to 380,000 annually, increasing the share that are economic migrants and sharply reducing temporary […]
From: Henry LotinTo: Immigration ObserversDate: October 10, 2025Re: The Underappreciated Immigration Success Story Canada’s renewed immigration debate is ignoring a remarkable success story: The rapid improvement in the economic performance of new permanent residents, especially those with both pre-landing Canadian education and work experience. To ensure these gains continue, Canada must sustain its focus on […]
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by Mikal Skuterud and Ruiwen Zhang This Commentary examines relative employment rates and hourly earnings of Canadian immigrants and non-permanent residents (NPRs) from 2005 to 2024, with particular attention to changes following the introduction of Express Entry in 2015 and the subsequent unprecedented rise in immigration levels. Despite significantly higher intake levels after 2015, the labour […] 
From: Christopher Worswick To: Concerned Canadians Date: March 18, 2026 Re: CANZUK-plus Labour Mobility Deals Would be Win-Win In 1957, my parents left the north of England to come to Canada. They did not expect this country to be their long-term home, but they had great careers and close to 70 happy years together in Canada. When I first looked for an […] 
From: James YousifTo: Immigration ObserversDate: March 3, 2026Re: Fixing Canada’s Asylum Policy For an organization with a budget of nearly $350 million and 2,500 employees, the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada is something of a mystery. Structurally, it is an outlier, at “arm’s length” from government. Most organizations of that size and scope do […] 
Published in The Globe and Mail. For an organization with a budget of nearly $350-million and 2,500 employees, the IRB is something of a mystery. Structurally, it is an outlier, at “arm’s length” from government. Most organizations of that size and scope do not have the authority to develop public policy without the involvement of […] 
January 29, 2026 – Since 2019, the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB) has accepted tens of thousands of asylum claims without holding an oral hearing through a paper-based process known as “File Review.” A new report from the C.D. Howe Institute argues that this policy raises serious legal, security, and governance concerns, may […] 
From: David Green, Philip Oreopoulos, Craig Riddell, Mikal Skuterud, and Christopher WorswickTo: Honourable Lena Metlege Diab, Minister of Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship CanadaDate: December 9, 2025Re: How We Subverted our Skills Based Immigration System In 2023, with little fanfare and no political opposition, the federal government gave itself the power to subvert Canada’s world-renowned skilled […] 
From: Henry LotinTo: Immigration ObserversDate: October 10, 2025Re: The Underappreciated Immigration Success Story Canada’s renewed immigration debate is ignoring a remarkable success story: The rapid improvement in the economic performance of new permanent residents, especially those with both pre-landing Canadian education and work experience. To ensure these gains continue, Canada must sustain its focus on […]