Canada needs an immediate reset on immigration
Lawyer Sergio R. Karas writes, "Effective vetting is the foundation of a credible immigration system."
By: Sergio R. Karas
Sergio R. Karas, principal of Karas Immigration Law Professional Corporation, is a certified specialist in Canadian Citizenship and Immigration Law by the Law Society of Ontario, Division Chair of the ABA International Law Section, past chair of the Ontario Bar Association Citizenship and Immigration Section, past chair of the International Bar Association Immigration and Nationality Committee, and a fellow of the American Bar Foundation.
Canada has long taken pride in being an open and welcoming country. Immigration has strengthened our economy, enriched our culture, and helped offset demographic decline. But openness without rigor is not a virtue. It is increasingly clear that Canada’s immigration system—particularly its vetting mechanisms for immigrants, refugees, and foreign students—has failed to keep pace with the scale and complexity of today’s global migration flows. That failure now threatens public confidence in the system itself.
Immigration levels have risen sharply in recent years, driven by ambitious federal targets and an expanding array of visa streams. Yet vetting capacity, enforcement, and inter-agency coordination have not grown at the same pace. The result is a system under strain—one that too often prioritizes speed and volume over scrutiny and accountability.
This is not an argument against immigration. It is an argument for competence.
Effective vetting is the foundation of a credible immigration system. Canadians rightly expect that those granted visas have been thoroughly screened for security risks, criminal histories, fraud, and misrepresentation. They also expect that temporary immigration programs—particularly international student visas—are not exploited as backdoor immigration channels by bad actors, fraudulent institutions, or organized networks.
Recent reports of visa fraud, unregulated private colleges, overstayed permits, and inadequate follow-up have eroded trust. So have cases in which individuals with questionable backgrounds have slipped through due to limited background checks, incomplete information from foreign jurisdictions, or overreliance on self-reported documentation. When problems arise, enforcement is often slow or nonexistent, reinforcing the perception that once someone enters Canada, oversight largely ends.
Refugee policy presents a similar challenge. Canada has legal obligations to protect those fleeing genuine persecution. But compassion does not require abandoning due diligence. Refugee determination processes must be both humane and rigorous, ensuring that claims are verified to the fullest extent possible and that the system is not overwhelmed by unfounded applications that delay protection for those truly in need. Recent reports about “paper screening” of tens of thousands of refugee claims by the Immigration and Refugee Board involving individuals form countries that raise security concerns, undermine the public trust in the system and may pose a public safety threat.
Foreign student programs, meanwhile, have drifted far from their original purpose. What was once an academic exchange has, in some cases, become a loosely regulated labour and immigration pipeline. Many students arrive at institutions with minimal academic standards, inadequate financial resources, or little intention of studying an pursuing a career. This is unfair—to Canadian students, to reputable universities, and to legitimate international students who follow the rules.
The federal government must therefore recalibrate all immigration programs. That means stronger pre-arrival screening, improving intelligence-sharing with allies, conducting in-person interviews where warranted, and ensuring that background checks are proportionate to risk. It means holding educational institutions accountable for the students they admit. And it means enforcing existing laws when visas expire or conditions are violated.
Above all, it means acknowledging that public support for immigration depends on confidence in the system’s integrity. When Canadians believe the rules are applied inconsistently—or not at all—support inevitably weakens. A sustainable immigration program requires both generosity and discipline.
Canada can remain open without being careless. It can welcome newcomers while insisting on higher standards, better vetting, and meaningful enforcement. Failing to do so does not serve immigrants, refugees, or Canadians alike. It simply invites cynicism—and risks undermining one of the country’s most important national projects.
The Lieberals have no intention of shutting down their globalist “century initiative” to have 100 million people in Canada. It is a number to them, falsely raising the GDP, not a calibre of character. They say they have scaled down but it’s only to placate the sheep that never go beyond the headline and 85% of immigrants are coming from India alone! When you go against your citizens demands for severe cuts to immigration and refugee streams and to stop funding it all with OUR taxes you are an authoritarian, not incompetent, government. When you use DEI and government subsidies to hire and supplement THEM, you are stealing from, and discriminating against, Canadians. You won’t control it and you continue to leave your own citizens in poverty and peril. The businesses and affluent people are leaving, as will the arrogant globalist, corrupt, corporate raider of our country who has seized an illegitimate, unelected majority, once he has sold off our country in the guise of “trade deals and MOUs” using his position as PM and our tax dollars which have run out so he just prints more and continues to run up our debt and inflation and to denigrate Mr. Poilievre especially, and the Conservatives generally, as being ignorant and uneducated and lower on the social ladder, incapable of understanding how to manage a budget or government. Therefore can you imagine what he thinks of us? That’s why they are “replacing” us with people they can control. Western civilization countries are all being “managed” into socialism, poverty and decline by governments with the globalist agenda of mass immigration funded by our own taxes. Elites get rich and we get poorer. You might not like President Trump but he has rejected all this globalist, green energy, open border, post national agenda to focus on a sovereign, resource driven, capitalist economy where citizens can thrive once more.