Canada’s Immigration Reckoning: When Refugees Come First and Citizens Come Last

Canada has long prided itself on being a haven for those fleeing war, persecution, and hardship. Our humanitarian tradition is woven into our national fabric. But today, compassion without limits is testing the very foundations of our social systems—and the public is beginning to push back.

A 2024 Environics Institute survey revealed that 58 percent of Canadians now believe the country is accepting too many immigrants, up 14 points from just two years prior. Even among Liberal (45 percent) and NDP (36 percent) voters, discontent is rising. These aren’t the voices of xenophobia—they’re the voices of fairness, realism, and concern for a fraying social contract.

A System Once Admired, Now Under Strain

Canada’s immigration system was once globally admired for its points-based model, emphasizing skills, education, and economic contribution. Over the past decade, that focus has eroded under the Trudeau government’s obsession with volume-driven immigration. Between 2015 and 2024, Canada admitted over four million permanent residents, including 1.2 million in 2023 alone—60 percent of whom were temporary residents.

That influx has not occurred in a vacuum. Housing is in crisis, with immigration accounting for 11 percent of price and rent increases between 2006 and 2021. Healthcare is overwhelmed, with Ontario ER wait times now stretching up to 22 hours. Social services are stretched thin. Immigration is not the sole cause—but the scale and timing of arrivals are amplifying already critical challenges.

The Unequal Math of Generosity

In August 2024, a leaked COSTI Immigrant Services document detailed what a single refugee family receives under the federally funded Resettlement Assistance Program (RAP):

• Monthly core allowance: $1,899.41
• Employment incentives: $949.70
• Child Tax Benefits: $1,800
• Housing top-up: $500
• One-time start-up allowance: $8,326.14

That brings total monthly support to $5,149.11, and over $70,000 in the first year alone.

Compare that to what many Canadian seniors, who have worked, paid taxes, and contributed to the system for decades, receive:

• Old Age Security (OAS): max of $734.95/month (ages 65–74), or $808.45 (75+)
• Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS): up to $1,097.75/month
• Combined average: roughly $1,800/month

Victims’ rights advocate Pamela Cross calls for a “citizen equity clause”—ensuring no Canadian receives less than a newcomer in comparable circumstances. Former Alberta Crown prosecutor Scott Newark agrees: “RAP should be brought in line with provincial social assistance rates. There has to be parity.” For its part,  Immigration Canada says they are focused on ensuring  Canada can continue to attract and retain the people we want and need, while ensuring communities can absorb and support them. “It means aligning our programs with labour market needs, and taking a whole-of-government, whole-of-society approach to immigration”.

These are not calls to end support for refugees—but to ensure fairness for those who built the very system that newcomers now rely on.

Temporary Foreign Workers, Permanent Problems

Equally troubling is the explosion of low-skilled temporary foreign workers (TFWs)—a direct result of federal policies designed to meet labour demand at the lowest cost.

Between 2019 and 2023, employer approvals under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program for fast food and retail positions rose by 4,800 percent. Tim Hortons alone hired 714 TFWs in 2023, up from just 58 four years earlier. McDonald’s, A&W, and Walmart followed suit. By 2021, 140,000 TFWs were working in accommodation and food services—17 percent of all TFWs in Canada.

The Workforce Solutions Road Map allowed:

• The cap on low-wage foreign workers to rise from 10 percent to 30 percent
• Work permits extended from 180 to 270 days
• Employers in high-unemployment regions to hire foreign workers anyway

Youth unemployment now sits at 14.2 percent, as young Canadians are locked out of the very entry-level jobs that once launched careers.

Administering the TFWP costs taxpayers dearly. With 162,000 permits issued in 2024 alone—each costing $1,200 to $1,500 to process—the annual administrative burden is $195–243 million, not including emergency healthcare, housing pressures, or provincial service usage.

The program, originally a short-term labour solution, has become a taxpayer-subsidized staffing model—one that displaces Canadians and undermines wage growth.

Dependency, Not Integration

Despite frequent political assurances, many newcomers—particularly government-assisted refugees—struggle to become self-sufficient.

According to Statistics Canada’s Longitudinal Immigration Database:

• 4 percent of Syrian refugees admitted in 2015 were still on social assistance five years later
• 5 percent of the 2016 cohort remained dependent four years after arrival

These numbers challenge earlier government claims of successful integration. While economic immigrants typically fare well, refugees and family-class immigrants often face persistent challenges—raising serious concerns about the sustainability of current models.

As Michael Spratt notes, “We’re not helping anyone by creating dependency. The system should incentivize work and contribution.”

Parents and Grandparents: Compassion With a Cost

In March 2025, the Carney government opened over 10,000 spots in the Parents and Grandparents Program (PGP). While reuniting families is a compassionate goal, the fiscal impact is significant.

The Canadian Institute for Health Information reports that the average annual healthcare cost per senior is $7,500. If even half of the 10,000 new entrants are seniors, that’s $37.5 million/year in healthcare alone.

Though they’re not immediately eligible for federal benefits like OAS and GIS, many qualify over time:

• OAS: $7,000–$8,000/year
• GIS: $5,000–$6,000/year
• Together: $12,000–$14,000/year per person

That’s another $120–140 million/year in the long run.

Add administrative processing costs of $1,200–$1,500 per application, and the short-term bill rises to $80–100 million annually—climbing to $150–200 million once benefits kick in.

Justice advocate Marie Henein has a simple counterpoint: “If newcomers are receiving these benefits, we must expand OAS and GIS for all citizens to reflect real-world costs.”

And as Howard Anglin, former advisor to the Prime Minister’s Office, bluntly puts it: “Immigration judges must be accountable—not just to peers, but to the citizens who live with the consequences of their decisions.”

Europe’s Hard Lessons: Earned Generosity

Across Europe, countries with strong social safety nets have begun to rethink their approach—not out of hostility, but necessity.

Denmark houses asylum seekers in detention-style facilities, provides only food-level support, and withholds benefits until employment is secured. Family reunification and permanent residency rules have been tightened, and asylum processing has been outsourced to third countries.

Sweden, once the poster child for open-door immigration, has changed course—tightening the reins after years of liberal policies that contributed to serious challenges in integration, public safety, and fiscal sustainability. To combat this Sweden has:

• Abolished the “track change” loophole
• Enforced five-year re-entry bans for failed asylum seekers
• Raised salary thresholds for work permits
• Tightened residency criteria for permanent status

The message: generosity must be earned through economic participation—not assumed upon arrival.

Time for Canada’s Immigration Reset

Canada’s immigration system is no longer aligned with its social capacity or public expectations. Reform is not optional—it’s overdue.

We need to:

• Reinstate a true points-based system that prioritizes skilled, work-ready applicants
• Reform the TFWP to protect youth employment and wage growth
• Tie benefits to contribution, including time limits and clawbacks for prolonged dependency
• Require work history and residency for access to new programs like universal dental care
• Audit refugee outcomes, especially among cohorts with high long-term welfare usage
• Review the PGP to ensure that those who’ve never paid into the system don’t become permanent burdens
• Conduct a full parliamentary audit, as Keith Neuman of Environics suggests, to rebuild trust in immigration policy

Canada’s generosity is admirable—but when newcomers receive more than seniors, veterans, and working families, we are no longer being fair. We’re being unjust. If compassion is a cornerstone of Canadian identity, then it must apply to everyone—not just those arriving at the border, but also those who already call this country home.

It’s time to realign our immigration system with our values, our economy, and our future.

Photo: iStock