Mainly due to an immigration surge, Canada has become one of the fastest-growing countries, according to data published September 27. They show that between July 2022 and July 2023, the population rose 2.9% to 40.1 million and Statistics Canada said 98% of the growth was from net international migration. [node:read-more:link]
There’s a growing consensus that a nationwide housing crisis is exacerbated by federal immigration targets as well as growing number of foreign students and temporary workers, but the government is holding to its target of 500,000 immigrants annually by 2025. We can’t afford currently to reduce those numbers,” says Immigration, Refugees & Citizenship Minister Marc Miller, because as the population continues to age and the tax base shrinks, financing of public programs would be at risk. [node:read-more:link]
Simranjit (Shally) Singh, 41, an Indian national from Brampton arrested in 2022, has pleaded guilty in U.S. federal court in Albany, New York, to human smuggling as part of a network which enabled Indian migrants to cross the border. Sentencing is scheduled for December. [node:read-more:link]
A perceived shortage of U.S. agents along the border with Canada is alarming some members of Congress. The issue is temporary reassignment to the border wth Mexico. [node:read-more:link]
As Canada and dozens of other countries wrestle with repatriation of Islamic State fighters, family members and refugees from camps and prisons in Syria, there are concerns that the slow progress increases the risk of an IS resurgence. The head of U.S Central Command, General Michael Kurilla, has called one camp housing more than 50,000, mainly women and children, a “flashpoint of human suffering” that could foster a resurgence. [node:read-more:link]
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and U.S. President Joe Biden used a day of talks in Ottawa March 24 to tackle a range of shared issues, including defence and security, third-country refugees, Haiti, clean energy and trade in what Trudeau said was a demonstration of how their countries’ interests are “interwoven.” Biden, on his first visit to Canada as President, agreed, saying, “I can't think of a challenge we haven’t met together.” [node:read-more:link]
NORAD, Russia, bilateral trade, industrial supply chains, climate change, clean energy and cross-border travel concerns are expected to feature prominently in U.S. President Joe Biden’s March 23-24 visit to Ottawa. Confirmed today, it will be Biden’s first visit as president since he assumed office in January 2021. [node:read-more:link]
Fact-checking shows that Donald Trump’s speech to the annual U.S. Conservative Political Action Conference pushed the boundaries of creduility even for him. His lengthy March 4 address to the right-wing gathering in Maryland was packed with inaccurate claims about not only domestic politics but also, among other things, NATO, China, Russia, Ukraine and terrorism. [node:read-more:link]
Canada’s border with the U.S. has largely avoided partisan politics in Washington but that may be changing. Twenty-eight members of Congress have formed a “northern border security caucus” focused on immigration, crime and national security. [node:read-more:link]
Quebec Premier François Legault is calling on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to make the flow of migrants across an irregular border crossing in southern Quebec a priority during an upcoming with U.S. President Joe Biden. In a February 20 letter, he said Canada urgently needs to renegotiate an agreement which enables asylum seekers to enter at an “irregular” border crossing and overload his province’s social support resources. [node:read-more:link]
New York City is paying for bus tickets to the Canadian border for migrants who want to flee the Big Apple. The New York Post not only reported on the issue Sunday night, but they also confirmed it with top government officials. [node:read-more:link]
