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 immigration system put her future in the country in doubt.

Alana came to Canada from the Philippines in 2019 to attend the University of Toronto, believing that studying and working in Canada would provide a relatively straightforward pathway to permanent residence. Years later, as immigration targets were reduced and Express Entry became increasingly competitive, she found herself facing an unexpected reality: if she wanted to stay in Canada, she needed to learn French.

What followed was an intense year of studying—early mornings, evenings, weekends, tutors, language tests and significant financial and emotional stress. Alyanna describes putting much of her life on hold, failing one component of her first French test, and watching friends and other temporary residents confront the same dilemma.

We discuss:

• Why French has become so important in Express Entry

• What it is like to learn a language when your immigration status depends on it

• Why doctors, researchers and other highly skilled workers are being told to learn French to remain competitive for permanent residence

• Whether language ability is becoming a proxy for persistence, privilege and access to time and money

• The resentment and competition that immigration selection can create between newcomers

• What people struggling to learn French should consider as their work permits approach expiry

• Whether Canada’s Francophone immigration policy is accomplishing what it is supposed to accomplish

We also discuss live viewer comments and questions, including the experiences of people who have learned French specifically for immigration, the difficulty older applicants face under Express Entry, and whether Canada is losing people it otherwise says it wants to attract.

Aylanna ultimately succeeded. She learned French, passed the required language test and became a Canadian permanent resident. But she describes the experience as “80% bitter and 20% sweet,” with lingering feelings of resentment, raising a larger question about what Canada’s rapidly changing immigration system is asking of the people who have already built their lives here.

Borderlines is a podcast about Canadian immigration law, policy and politics

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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 work can potentially lead to immigration consequences.

We then turn to Canada's free trade agreements and an often-overlooked source of LMIA-exempt work permits. The discussion covers CUSMA, CETA, the CPTPP and Canada's other trade agreements, including the different options available to professionals, intra-company transferees, investors and business visitors.

Finally, we look at Canada's expanding trade agenda, including negotiations with India and ASEAN and the Canada–Indonesia agreement, and discuss how new trade agreements could create significant new work-permit pathways.

Topics include: unauthorized work; working without a work permit; owning vs. operating a Canadian business; unpaid and volunteer work; enforcement and removal orders; CUSMA/NAFTA; CETA; CPTPP; LMIA-exempt work permits; and Canada's emerging free trade agreements.

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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 immigration system went off the rails—and how it could be rebuilt.

We discuss the transformation of Express Entry after the pandemic, historically high CRS cutoffs, the growing emphasis on French-language selection, and why highly educated and well-paid workers already established in Canada are increasingly unable to qualify. We also debate whether immigration selection should prioritize Canadian experience, earnings, education, language ability, occupational demand or broader social objectives.

In the live listener questions, we address whether criticism of French-language draws unfairly characterizes Francophone immigrants, whether applicants already working and building lives in Canada should receive priority over candidates abroad, and what should happen to cooks, fast-food workers, construction labourers and other lower-wage workers who do not fit a narrowly defined high-skills model.

Read Steven Paolasini and Nino Melikidze’s paper, “How Canada’s skilled immigration system went off the rails—and how to fix it”:

https://macdonaldlaurier.ca/how-canadas-skilled-immigration-system-went-off-the-rails-and-how-to-fix-it-nino-melikidze-and-steven-paolasini/

01:15 – How Canada’s skilled immigration system went off the rails

04:00 – What Express Entry was originally designed to do

08:08 – CRS scores before and after the pandemic

10:06 – The extraordinary 2021 CEC draw

12:32 – The rise of category-based selection

13:06 – French-language draws and lower cutoffs

17:25 – The skilled workers whom the system leaves behind

20:04 – Scientists and graduates struggling to qualify

27:03 – How Steven would redesign Express Entry

27:28 – Longer-lasting profiles and refundable deposits

29:22 – Why Canadian earnings should receive more weight

30:30 – Should all educational credentials be treated equally?

32:21 – Why predictability matters

LIVE LISTENER QUESTIONS

39:37 – Is criticism of French-language draws anti-Francophone?

42:42 – Should workers already in Canada receive priority?

44:36 – Should cooks and lower-wage workers qualify through Express Entry?

48:43 – Who should design pathways for essential workers?

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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 allegations based on compulsory military service.

We examine whether applicants and their lawyers can realistically keep pace with constantly shifting policies, what authority CBSA has to demand proof of status at a protest, whether people awaiting restoration can be removed, and why Parliament—not individual officers, applicants or courts—may need to resolve the consequences of mandatory IRGC service.

The episode concludes with audience questions about lengthy security screening, mandamus applications and whether Canada’s immigration-security measures reflect a coherent national security strategy.

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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 Interest Act in relation to the WE Charity controversy. The Court unanimously ruled that Parliament cannot prevent courts from reviewing whether administrative decision-makers have acted lawfully.

We examine what the decision says about the constitutional foundations of administrative law. We also discuss what the ruling could mean for privative clauses, reasonableness review, and future challenges to federal administrative decisions in the immigration context.

Live audience questions answered include what the case could mean for mandamus applications involving delays caused by Ministerial Instructions, and concerns about the apparent growing lack of public confidence in the courts.

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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 merely assisting immigration officers or substantively influencing decisions

• The loss of transparency and accountability in automated processing

• The Supreme Court of Canada’s Democracy Watch decision and the continuing role of judicial review

• Whether civil-society organizations could bring broader challenges to immigration policies and automated systems

• The expansion of national-security screening and its disproportionate impact on Chinese, Iranian, Russian and other applicants

• How allegations of espionage can reinforce racial profiling and harmful public narratives

• Why immigration lawyers, decision-makers and applicants are increasingly overwhelmed by an unpredictable system

The episode concludes with an audience question: Will the allegation that a Canadian Armed Forces member spied for a foreign entity at NATO lead to even stricter security screening for applicants from China? Deanna and Will discuss the danger of drawing sweeping conclusions from an individual allegation, the importance of due process, and the need to distinguish legitimate security concerns from racial stereotyping.

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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 flight-school programs, are not eligible. We discuss whether such a change can fairly be applied to people who completed their studies and applied before the website changed, and the broader legal principle against retrospective decision-making.

We then look at a similarly confusing issue involving the temporary public policy for Iranian nationals in Canada. IRCC added guidance requiring certain applicants to have continuously remained in Canada, later relaxed that position to permit short absences, yet applicants caught under the earlier interpretation continue to face refusals.

The discussion turns to a broader question: where does immigration law actually reside when ministerial public policies, program-delivery instructions, internal guidance and applicant-facing webpages do not necessarily say the same thing? We discuss “soft law,” the rule of law, the legal effect of IRCC guidelines, and the problems created when government webpages can change without a clear record of what they previously said.

We also answer viewer questions about:

• Whether the Super Visa program could be cancelled

• The pause in the Parents and Grandparents Program

• Why classmates can receive different PGWP decisions despite apparently identical circumstances

• Comprehensive security screening delays

• Recent Federal Court decisions on mandamus and security screening

• Why internationally trained doctors struggle to become licensed in Canada

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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, floods, drought and other climate disasters to explore what happens when people can no longer safely remain in their homes.

The conversation examines the relationship between climate change and migration, the treatment of refugees at borders, and the ways colonialism, economic inequality and the fossil-fuel industry have contributed to the present crisis. Josh also discusses the disproportionate effects of climate displacement on Indigenous peoples, poorer communities and LGBTQ people.

The episode considers whether existing refugee and human-rights frameworks are equipped for large-scale climate migration, and what an alternative to walls, detention and exclusion might look like. Josh argues that safety in an increasingly unstable world will depend not only on geography, but on strong communities, democracy, mutual aid and a willingness to welcome others.

The Welcome Table is available on HBO Max.

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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 permits, and why these policies are making the path to permanent residence increasingly difficult.

We also discuss the new provincial LMIA wage thresholds, how unemployment rates are reshaping Canada's immigration programs, employer inspections, why the LMIA process has become so complex and common mistakes that can derail an LMIA application.

We also answer live audience questions about IRCC processing delays, citizenship by descent (Bill C-3) certificate backlogs, officer mistakes in PGWP applications, caregiver processing delays and dual intent in the context of Canadian citizenship who may need a study permit due to processing delays.

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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 citizenship applications are not being finalized while IRCC reviews what went wrong.

In this episode of Borderlines, we are joined by Amandeep Hayer and Lisa Middlemiss to unpack what happened, what Minister Diab's comments actually mean, and what this uncertainty means for Canadians by descent.

We discuss:

What prompted IRCC to issue citizenship certificate surrender letters.

Why many certificates were later "unsurrendered."

Whether affected individuals are still Canadian citizens.

The difference between citizenship grants and proof of citizenship.

Whether passports, SINs, work authorization, school enrollment, and sponsorships could be affected.

Why IRCC's handling of the situation raises serious procedural fairness concerns.

Whether these decisions are likely to face judicial review.

What applicants should do if they are preparing to submit a Bill C-3 citizenship application.

Theories about what may have caused IRCC's sudden reversal.

How lawyers are advising clients while applications remain paused.

We also answer dozens of live audience questions about urgent processing, historical records, documentary evidence, passports, study permits, pending applications, and what the future may hold for Canada's expanded citizenship by descent regime.

If you have been affected by Bill C-3 or are considering applying for proof of Canadian citizenship by descent, this episode provides an in-depth look at one of the most significant developments in Canadian citizenship law this year.

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