Toronto / May 2026
The media stories keep coming. Changes to immigration selection priorities and processes. Misinformation, fuelled by a less than communicative immigration department that is causing great stress to thousands of people on temporary permits. And then great disappointment when clarification is forced by public criticism from various civil society actors, that the TR to PR (temporary to permanent status) pathway promised in the Fall 2026 federal budget isn’t what we all thought it was after all. There are not thirty-three thousand new opportunities for those with temporary status- students, workers, asylum seekers/refugee claimants.
Instead, what the federal government is doing, is expediting thirty-three thousand applications already in the system. But it’s even narrower than that. These applications are within particular sectors like agri-food and caregiving (programs with intake of new applications frozen for at least two years now) from applicants living in small and rural communities for at least two years. Additional criteria include applicants coming through a provincial nominee program, the Atlantic Immigration program or the Northern and Rural immigration program like we have here in Ontario and elsewhere. Almost six months of confusion before this announcement was clarified.
This is only one example of the turmoil the broad immigration sector is experiencing.
Recently, an old colleague and friend who I haven’t seen in quite a while asked how I was doing. Instead of the breezy and polite ‘fine’ or ‘good’ that I usually give in response, assuming the question is nothing more than polite chatter, I paused and took stock of myself. I knew she was asking because of all the news about changes in immigration, cuts to the immigrant and refugee services and the ongoing anti-immigrant and anti-immigration rhetoric that is present in our public commons. The only response that came to me after a minute or so, was ‘unsettled’.
I have been reflecting on this exchange over the last week or so. I am unsettled, still.
Unsettled because I can’t seem to think of a path that will bring relief to the people and their organizations doing work in the Care industry – from health to education to community services. All levels of government seem hell-bent on advancing austerity agendas, prioritizing pet projects that do not serve the good of the majority of residents.
For example, here in Ontario the provincial government has chosen not to invest in post-secondary education and to make it harder for students from low-income, working, and middle-class families to access college and universities. The rebalancing of loans vs grants in the OSAP system will result in many graduating high school students opting out of a post secondary education. This in a time of runaway youth unemployment numbers. At the same time this same government is wreaking havoc within our school boards, having placed several under direct provincial supervision while working to dismantle the democratic practice of elected school trustees. Where this will end is anyone’s guess, but I know that it will not improve our public (or Catholic) education system nor address the real issues caused by years of underfunding.
The provincial budget allocated something like a half-a billion dollars for community services. Immigrant and refugee services are somewhere in there, but we have no sense of how much the sector will receive. At a time of significant cuts by the federal government to immigrant and refugee services, Ontario region will lose over one hundred and forty-five million dollars by 2028-2029 fiscal year if IRCC cuts are implemented as planned. One would hope that our province would advocate to stop the cuts and put some funding in place to alleviate the pain the sector is undergoing. But it has been crickets. Our colleagues in the bureaucracy are very much aware of the increased pressures on provincial programs due to these cuts, but we have seen no evidence that their political bosses are listening.
There are organizations that are losing significant numbers of employees. The vast number of these employees are women. Many are of immigrant background and many are racialized. I write this as fact. I know that these demographic identifiers do not sway policy decision-makers as they did in the past. The ongoing reality of racial and gender discriminatory practices in employment and other spheres is now met with a shoulder shrug. The trickle-down impact of increased unemployment in various communities where these workers live and shop does not seem to cause political decision-makers to pause and attempt to mitigate.
I am feeling unsettled. Pointing out that the comprehensive expenditure review (CER) is having a disproportionate impact on the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship department (IRCC) has been met with silence. The CER directs federal departments to cut spending by 15% over three years. However, due to IRCC’s Settlement Allocation Model funding formula, the cuts to IRCC have actually exceeded that 15%—a result of reductions in immigrant arrival levels.
Unsettled, because I’m realizing that the relationship the sector has built with governments as partners over decades are quickly eroding and there’s little time to think about how to halt the erosion and establish new ways of engagement.
But we must act. We cannot sit back as witnesses and actors in civil society and watch the dissolution of our social safety nets without protest. I know it seems overwhelming: From cuts to refugee health access (the introduction of co-payment for all extended health services will have significant costs to individuals as well as to our various health systems downstream); decreasing access to post-secondary education and the undermining of the social sciences and humanities programs in our post-secondary institutions; cuts to community services including newcomer services; and flatlining of income support programs including for people living with disabilities – all demand a loud collective response from civil society and individuals.
We have been here before. I remember the mid to late nineteen nineties when we fought the cuts to Ontario’s social services and income support programs. We are still seeing and feeling the impact of those cuts from more than two decades ago. I remember the more recent pushback to federal government cuts to the IFH, to immigrant and refugee (re)settlement programs that resulted in many ethno-specific agencies being completely defunded, negatively impacting the settlement and integration journey of those who accessed those services within a culturally informed and first language context, leading to better settlement outcomes. We fought back and for the latter example, the Ontario government was right there, acting as a support through funding and intergovernmental advocacy.
We must rebuild these coalitions- where organized labour, medical, legal and post-secondary professionals and students joined with community workers and activists and advocates to raise the issues, put forward solutions and undertook various forms of protest to speak out against the attacks on civil society and its systems of care.
The time is now. Maybe we all need to feel unsettled if it leads to action and change – for the better. I’m ready to go. Are you?
In Solidarity
dd