Borderlines

Alberta has voted on a series of controversial referendum questions concerning immigration, healthcare, education, and provincial autonomy. What do the results tell us about public attitudes toward immigration, and what could they mean for the future of Canadian immigration policy? In this episode of Borderlines, immigration lawyers Steven Meurrens and Deanna Okun-Nachoff are joined by Mark Holthe...

Canada has announced major changes to Express Entry, introducing new Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) points for Canadian work experience and job offers in designated high-wage occupations. In 2025, the federal government eliminated CRS points for qualifying job offers. Previously, these points generally required employers to demonstrate that they would pay the prevailing wage and that hiring a...

Canada designated Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization in 2024. But what happens to people who were forced to serve in the IRGC through mandatory military conscription, committed no crimes, and later immigrated to Canada? In this episode of Borderlines, immigration lawyers Steven Meurrens and Deanna Okun-Nachoff are joined by Conservative Member of Parlia...

Canadian immigration may be entering another period of major change. Kubeir Kamal joins Steven Meurrens and Deanna Okun-Nachoff to discuss what could be coming next for Express Entry, whether immigration levels may begin increasing again, the future of French-language draws, changes to provincial nominee programs, and why predicting Canadian immigration policy has become so difficult. We also disc...

How should Canada respond to concerns about Chinese espionage and foreign interference without treating every connection to China as a national security threat? Joanna Chiu, journalist, author of China Unbound: A New World Disorder and founder of Nüora Global Advisors, joins the Borderlines Podcast to discuss how the Chinese Communist Party operates at home and abroad, and what that means for Cana...

What happens when a foreign worker loses their authorization to work in Canada? Can an employer put them on unpaid leave? Lay them off? Terminate them? And what happens to severance when a worker’s immigration status makes it difficult, or impossible, to find another job? Employment lawyer Erin Brandt returns to Borderlines to discuss the increasingly important intersection between Canadian immigr...

What has actually changed at the Canada–U.S. border under the second Trump administration, and what is just noise? U.S. immigration lawyer Andrew Hayes joins to discuss the state of U.S. immigration law and what it means for Canadians travelling, working and doing business in the United States. In brief, while Canadian tourism to the United States is down, an increased number of Canadian citizens...

Canada wants more Francophone immigrants. But what happens when people who have already built their lives in Canada suddenly discover that learning French may be their best, or only, pathway to permanent residence? In this episode of Borderlines, we speak with Maclean’s editorand recent Canadian permanent resident Alyanna Chua about her experience learning French after changes to Canada’s immigrat...

What actually counts as “work” under Canadian immigration law? The answer is much broader than simply receiving a paycheque. We discuss a recent Federal Court decision involving unauthorized work and the line between simply owning a Canadian business and actually working for it. We examine how unpaid activities, volunteering, helping a family business, self-employment and even a single instance of...

Canada’s Express Entry system was designed to rank skilled immigrants predictably and select those most likely to succeed economically. Has it instead become an unpredictable collection of category-based draws, shifting priorities and short-term policy fixes? Steven Paolasini joins us to discuss his recent Macdonald-Laurier Institute paper, co-authored with Nino Melikidze, on how Canada’s skilled...

We discuss three recent developments: IRCC’s abrupt addition and removal of new requirements for C20 reciprocal-employment work permits; CBSA officers checking the immigration status of participants at a Calgary protest, with 12 people identified as potentially inadmissible; and The hundreds of procedural fairness letters being sent to former IRGC conscripts who may now face inadmissibility allega...

Can Parliament prevent courts from reviewing the decisions of administrative tribunals? In this episode, we discuss the Supreme Court of Canada’s landmark decision in Democracy Watch v. Canada (Attorney General), 2026 SCC 28. The case arose after Democracy Watch sought judicial review of the Ethics Commissioner’s finding that former prime minister Justin Trudeau had not violated the Conflict of In...

Canada says it is returning immigration to “sustainable levels.” But what does sustainability actually mean? And sustainable for whom? Deanna Okun-Nachoff is joined by immigration lawyer Will Tao, founder of Heron Law Offices, to discuss how artificial intelligence, automated triage and rapidly changing policies are reshaping Canadian immigration decision-making. They examine: • Whether AI is mere...

What happens when IRCC changes the rules after someone has already made major life decisions? Or even submitted their application? We start with recent Post-Graduation Work Permit refusals involving graduates of non-credit programs. Students enrolled in programs that had previously resulted in PGWPs, only for IRCC’s website to be updated in June 2026 to state that non-credit programs, other than f...

Filmmaker Josh Fox joins Borderlines to discuss his new HBO documentary, The Welcome Table, and the growing displacement of people around the world because of climate change. Josh Fox is an Emmy Award-winning and Academy Award-nominated filmmaker best known for Gasland, which helped bring international attention to fracking. In The Welcome Table, he travels through communities affected by fires, f...

Service Canada has increased the wage thresholds that determine whether an LMIA is classified as high wage or low wage. While the numbers may appear modest, the practical consequences are significant. We explain why many employers in Vancouver and other high-unemployment regions may now be unable to obtain low-wage LMIAs, how the changes affect international graduates on post-graduation work permi...

Recorded June 24, 2026. IRCC has thrown Canadian citizenship by descent into chaos. After thousands of people received Canadian citizenship certificates under Bill C-3, some were suddenly told to surrender them, only for many to receive follow-up letters days later saying their certificates had been "revalidated." Meanwhile, Immigration Minister Lena Diab has confirmed that new Bill C-3 citizenshi...

We break down several IRCC e-mail responses to representatives that answer questions by immigration lawyers and consultants. Questions include: Can foreign remote work performed while living in Canada count toward Express Entry? Does someone who applies for a new work permit before their Post-Graduation Work Permit expires have maintained status? In Start-Up Visa applications, do all essential app...

Canada's immigration system is becoming increasingly difficult to navigate. Refusal rates are rising, processing is slowing, and pathways that seemed viable just a few years ago are disappearing. In this episode, Steven Meurrens and Deanna Okun-Nachoff discuss the realities facing temporary residents who are running out of options. They explore what happens when work permit applications are refuse...

In this episode of Borderlines, Steven Meurrens and Deanna Okun-Nachoff are joined by immigration lawyer, mediator, and former Canadian Bar Association Chair Kamaljit Lehal to discuss the Supreme Court of Canada’s landmark decision recognizing a new tort of intimate partner violence. We discuss how the Court addressed coercive control, financial abuse, isolation, surveillance, intimidation, and ps...

We break down a major new Federal Court of Appeal decision on criminal inadmissibility, duress, and refugee protection in Canadian immigration law. The case is Rodriguez Anzola v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration) . The discussion explores whether individuals convicted abroad can still seek protection in Canada when the underlying criminal conduct occurred under coercion, threats, or fear for t...

Steven Meurrens and Deanna Okun-Nachoff review several responses from IRCC’s Immigration Representatives’ Mailbox, where immigration representatives ask questions about how Canadian immigration law and various immigration programs are interpreted and applied Topics discussed include: (1) whether rental assistance counts as social assistance for sponsorships; (2) study permit requirements for child...

We take a look at the newly released 2025 report from Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), and what it tells us about immigration security screening in Canada. CSIS reports that it received 438,600 immigration security referrals in 2025, a notable drop from prior years. Yet, at the same time, overall inventories remain at historic highs. Topics discussed include the CSIS report, includin...

Steven Meurrens and Deanna Okun-Nachoff break down the explosive findings from the Office of the Auditor General of Canada on Canada’s report on the international student program. Topics discussed include the unexplained drops in study permit approvals, IRCC's lack of funds to address fraud, risk profiling practices, the disconnect between government targets and real-world outcomes, and what stric...

We explore one of the most complex and under-examined areas of Canadian immigration law: immigration detention—and the role that race and systemic bias may play within it. Topics discussed include the legal grounds for immigration detention, why race-based data is largely unavailable in Canada, evidence suggesting disproportionate detention of Black men, the interplay between immigration, policing...