Borderlines

Canada is increasingly turning to immigration to address a growing healthcare shortage, but is the system actually built to absorb more doctors? Steven Meurrens and Deanna Okun-Nachoff are joined by Dr. Brian Day (orthopedic surgeon and past president of the Canadian Medical Association) to unpack how policy decisions created today’s physician and nursing shortages, why hospitals ration care under...

The first Borderlines episode of 2026 is our annual recap + predictions roundtable with Ottawa immigration lawyer Tamara Mosher-Kuczer. We look back at what actually happened in 2025, what surprised us most, and what 2026 might bring. Timestamps / Chapters 0:52 Looking back: how many predictions were right last year? 14:40 2026 predictions 39:46 Listener question: What will happen with caregivers?...

Amandeep Hayer and Lisa Middlemiss, co-authors of the book Canadian Citizenship: What Practitioners Need to Know, discuss citizenship by descent now that Bill C-3 is in force. Topics discussed include what changed under Bill C-3, citizienship by descent, how far citizenship can be traced back, proving citizenship without provincial birth certificates, interim measures vs. proof of citizenship appl...

We return to Afghanistan, and to the unfinished work Canada left behind. Following our recent conversation with retired Canadian Forces member Cory Moore, we are joined by three guests from Aman Lara, a Canadian registered charity working on refugee extraction, resettlement and protection. Jon Feltham, Executive Director of Aman Lara and retired Canadian Armed Forces member Julia Aitken, Program &...

Steven and Deanna break down the rapidly shifting landscape of Canadian study permits amid IRCC’s newly released 2026 international student caps. With approval rates falling sharply in 2024–2025 and IRCC committing to fixed national intake numbers, study permits are now effectively being graded on a curve, making strong applications more critical than ever. We discuss the most common refusal groun...

Civil litigator Eoin Logan joins to break down three cases involving lawsuits both by and against immigration representatives. The cases are Sibbal v Nathyal , 2025 ABCJ 198, Roshy Skincare Clinic Inc. v Vrossis Investment Group Inc. , 2025 BCSC 1769 and ICGC Immigration Consultants Group Canada Inc. v. Metro Painting Ltd ., 2025 BCCRT 1466. Topics discussed include entering into immigration fraud...

Steven and Deanna dive deep into the most common reasons IRCC refuses Express Entry applications, with a focus on what visa officers determine to be insufficient reference letters. 1:00 – Correction from last episode: OINP Skilled Trades “draw” was actually a mass cancellation. Thoughts on this and Bill C-12. 10:00 – Express Entry refusals. NOC lead statements + main duties, employers not listing...

Canada’s new 2026–2028 Immigration Levels Plan is here, and it’s a lot more confusing than media headlines suggest. This episode unpacks how the Carney government has quietly layered “one-time initiatives” on top of the official levels plan, including a massive cohort of protected persons and in-Canada temporary residents transitioning to permanent residence, and why the oft-repeated topline of 38...

Phil Gurski is the President and CEO of Borealis Threat and Risk Consulting Ltd. He previous worked as a senior strategic analyst at the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. We discuss CSIS's role in Canadian immigration screening, the increase in comprehensive background checks, how CSIS and CBSA divide up security work, the Bishnoi gang, Bill C-12, delays in applications from China, mandamus...

Deanna, Sadaf Kashfi and Caroline Senini discuss your rights and obligations at the border, the intersection of immigration and criminal law, unreasonable search and seizure, mandatory minimum sentences and the Supreme Court of Canada decision in Quebec (Attorney General) v. Senneville , and more. Sadaf Kashfi is the founder of DMF Law, a Vancouver immigration & criminal-defence litigation bou...

Greg Chubak retired from IRCC in 2022. He was posted to South Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore and the program manager in Hungary, Malaysia, Seattle, Sri Lanka and Austria. We discuss what programs have worked and haven't over the years, applications for authorization to return to Canada, rehabilitation applications, difficult cases, what concerns Greg about the direction of immigration law.  H...

Lorne Waldman, one of Canada’s most recognized immigration litigators, joins to discuss some of his most landmark cases, today’s processing and refugee backlogs, mandamus and where economic immigration policy is headed. Co-hosts Steven Meurrens and Deanna Okun-Nachoff also field listener questions on enhanced security screening, immigration consequences of sentencing, Express Entry trends, and pra...

Christian Lane is a retired Canada Border Services Agency officer whose career included serving as a Border Services Officer, Inland Enforcement Officer, Manager of Immigration Detention Operations and Chief of Enforcement & Intelligence Operations. Topics discussed include Christian's various roles, the moral stress of immigration enforcement, whether individual officers and the agency want d...

Cory Moore is a retired Canadian Forces military lawyer who served in Afghanistan. There, he helped develop the training of female Afghan lawyers who would go on to prosecute members of the Taliban. These brave women assisted in building the country’s justice system and enforcing the rule of law, often at great personal risk. After the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban in 2021, Cory has continuou...

We speak with Daniel Bernhard of the Institute for Canadian Citizenship about understanding immigrant retention in Canada. The Paper comes at a time when immigration to Canada is declining, outflows are increasing and the aging of Canada's population accelerates. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Steven and Deanna analyze the IRCC Minister’s Transition Binder (May 2025) and its implications for processing times, including extraordinary ranges for several programs. The discussion addresses potential use of Bill C-2 authorities to suspend or terminate processing, operational realities in caregiver and Start-Up Visa files, and current dynamics in Francophone pathways. A concluding Q&A cov...

Steven and Deanna break down the collapse in internaitonal student arrivals in 2025 and plumetting approval rates across nearly all programs. . 2:14 2025 stats: what the data says 4:01 Cap vs. collapse in student entries 7:12 Worker levels and category context 21:37 Approval-rate declines and rule-of-law concerns 33:47 Category approval snapshots (CEC/FSW/Francophone/H&C) 38:45 Live Q&A Ho...

Steve and Deanna break down the latest political heat on the Temporary Foreign Worker Program. What is the TFWP? Will Direct Apply meaningfully fix it? Timestamps 1:40 Today’s focus: abolish/reform the TFWP? 7:42 TFWP vs IMP—what’s where 10:26 LMIA fundamentals: wage, recruitment, Job Bank 18:02 Direct Apply: what changes 34:32 Q&A starts Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more informa...

On this episode of the Borderlines podcast, Deanna Okun-Nachoff and guest co-host Zeynab Ziaie Moayyed speak with constitutional law guru Sujit Choudhry. We discuss Choudhry's work on the landmark Bjorkquist case, in which the Ontario Superior Court held that the Canadian Citizenship Act's "second-generation cut-off rule" was unconstitutional. Choudhry also describes his involvement in subsequent...

A discussion about Mac’s Convenience Stores Inc. v. Basyal, 2025 BCCA 284. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Steven and Deanna dig into two new Government of Canada consultations on immigration policy. The first is on immigration levels planning for 2027 and beyond. The second is on new Express Entry categories . Topics include the survey questions, the results of last year’s consultations, caps on workers, and the proposed new categories of senior managers, scientists & researchers and allied soldie...

We cover recent developments at the intersection of criminal and immigration law. We review significant Supreme Court of Canada decisions, highlight problematic CBSA investigations, discuss judicial errors during sentencing, and explore current trends in immigration policy and processing. We also answer live audience questions about express entry scores, humanitarian and compassionate applications...

We conduct a comprehensive analysis of the immigration implications of Bill C-2, an omnibus bill tabled by the federal government that significantly expands government authority and introduces sweeping changes across multiple areas of Canadian law. Bill C-2's immigration provisions would: Grant the federal government broad powers to suspend, cancel, or vary immigration documents, including permane...

The complexities of Canadian citizenship by descent with immigration lawyers Amandeep Hayer and Lisa Middlemiss. [1:35] What citizenship by descent means. [3:17] Historical and current limitations, including the first-generation rule and exceptions. [5:55] The 2023 Bjorkquist decision. [9:49] Bill C-3. [13:57] Interim measures. [20:26] Debates over residency rules and comparisons to U.S. laws. [31...

This episode is a repost of our interview with John McCallum, Canada's Minister of Citizenship and Immigration from November 2015 to January 2017. He passed away on June 15, 2025. A Member of Parliament from 2000 - 2017, he also served as Defence Minister under Jean Chrétien, and Veterans Affairs Minister, National Revenue Minister, Natural Resources Minister and as Chair of the Expenditure Review...