Overheated immigration system needed ‘discipline’ infusion: minister

An "overheated" immigration system admits record numbers of newcomers has harmed Canada's decades-old consensus on its benefits, Immigration Minister Marc Miller said.

An “overheated” immigration system that admitted record numbers of newcomers to the country has harmed Canada’s decades-old consensus on the benefits of immigration, Immigration Minister Marc Miller said, as he reflected on the changes in his department in a year-end interview.

The system, he said, needed some discipline to get the country back on track.

Over the course of 2024, Miller moved to cap the number of student visas, reduced the number of permanent residents it plans to admit, made it harder to get a working visa and paused most private refugee sponsorship applications.

All of that came as record immigration levels pushed population growth up over three per cent in 2023, twice what it has averaged over the previous decade.

“There’s no shying away from the fact that there’s some stuff that I think we could have gotten better. I think there’s a lot of good that has happened as well,” Miller said.

This interview took place on Dec. 11, before Chrystia Freeland’s resignation as finance minister and deputy prime minister upended Canadian politics. Miller, who was named immigration minister in July 2023, kept the role in a shuffle Friday.

Miller said the souring of public opinion on immigration is rooted in a number of factors, including high rates of asylum seekers, the high cost of housing and political movements in the western world.

This climate created the challenge for Miller over the last year, to “infuse some discipline” into the immigration system.