Executive Director's Message

Toronto / September 2026

OCASI spent the summer talking with its members and others who work within the immigrant and refugee-serving sector affected by federal government cuts. We wanted to first offer supports where we could, gauge the disruption these cuts were causing to staffing, service levels and morale, and understand how organizations and their leadership were dealing with this newish normal.

Toronto / August 2026

“We are taking back control on immigration”, Prime Minister Carney said to media recently – boasting that numbers of temporary (and permanent) immigrants and asylum claims were significantly reduced since this government came in:

Toronto / July 2026

“The old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born.
Now is the time of Monsters”
(as the Antonio Gramsci saying goes)

(Venceremos- We will overcome/win)

This is a letter of gratitude to my village in all its diversity.

Toronto / June 2026

One of the first messages I read on OCASI work email this morning was sent by a colleague who is part of our PSI - Positive Spaces Initiative Team. The email was addressed to the whole office and said the following:

Toronto / May 2026

Toronto / April 2026

The long- awaited Ontario Budget has been tabled. Our immigrant and refugee serving sector, underfunded for a number of years, will need to wait a couple of more weeks for the expenditure estimates before we know whether the programs that support newcomers’ settlement and integration- language training, employment supports, investing in women’s futures, preventing and addressing gender-based violence and intimate partner violence will be adequately funded.

Toronto / March 2026

I watched the faces of the sector leaders who sit on my Board as they received news of their Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship (IRCC) settlement funding allocation for the coming fiscal year. Although a virtual meeting, I watched the air and energy get sucked out of the space. This immediately following a meeting with IRCC National Headquarters (NHQ) and Ontario Region. The pain has begun for our sector here in Ontario.

Toronto / February 2026

"We who believe in freedom cannot rest
We who believe in freedom cannot rest until it comes
We who believe in freedom cannot rest
We who believe in freedom cannot rest until it comes
Until the killing of Black men, Black mothers’ sons, is as important as the killing of white men, white mothers’ sons
We who believe in freedom cannot rest
We who believe in freedom cannot rest until it comes"

Toronto / January 2026

We are in a season of uncertainty in the world. For those of us steeped in migration policies - from refugee and asylum policies, to the treatment of migrant workers, to settlement and ‘integration’ supports for immigrants - there is an emerging tension between the conflicting feelings of inertia and a sense of urgency.

Toronto / December

The December 2025 blog post by OCASI Executive Director Debbie Douglas features recent expert presentations examining Canada's immigration system.

OCASI Board Chair Alfred Lam served as a witness before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration (CIMM). He was invited to speak on Tuesday, December 2, 2025, as part of the Committee’s study on Canada’s immigration system.