Martin Basiri is a Co-Founder and the former Chief Executive Oofficer of ApplyBoard, a Start-Up Visa Program company that in 2021 reached a valuation of $3.2-billion. He is currently the Founder of and CEO of Passage, which enables immigrants and international students by providing financial access.

Martin is part of Build Canada, an organization that helps Canadian entrepreneurs share their ideas for a bolder, richer, freer country.

We discuss Martin's proposal Great People, Greater Canada: A Talent First Immigration Strategy for Canada, which contains specific proposals to reposition Canadian immigration law, and particuarly its economic class, as one focused on bringing the best talent to Canada, rather than other political considerations that currently seem to be prioritized. 

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On March 14, 2025, the Supreme Court of Canada released its decision in John Howard Society of Saskatchewan v. Saskatchewan (Attorney General), 2025 SCC 6.

Prior to the case, in Saskatchewan’s provincial correctional institutions, inmates charged with disciplinary offences had to appear before a disciplinary panel, where the standard of proof was a balance of probabilities, even for major offences that may result in up to 10 days of disciplinary segregation or the loss of up to 15 days of earned remission.

The Supreme Court found that this violated sections 7 and 11(d) of the Charter, and held that to the extent that the law permitted the imposition of disciplinary segregation and loss of earned remission for an inmate disciplinary offence on a lower standard of proof, it is inconsistent with the Constitution and must therefore be declared to be of no force or effect.

As noted by the dissent, the case could have implications for Canadian immigration law.

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Over 300,000 Canadians have signed a petition calling on the government to revoke Elon Musk's citizenship. Is this possible, and should it be?

We also discuss the ongoing saga about changes to the law and policy regarding citizenship by descent.

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Chantal Desloges is an immigration lawyer in Toronto.

We discuss what the various Liberal leadership candidates have pledged regarding Canadian immigration policy, with a focus on Mark Carney and a speech that he gave to the Century Initiative.

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Kubeir Kamal is a regulated immigration consultant in Toronto.

In October, 2024, Quebec announced that it was limiting the number of foreign nationals invited from any one country in its Regular Skilled Worker Program to 25%.

In February, 2025, Marc Miller said that Canadian post-secondary institutions need to be more diverse in their recruitment, noting that there would always be applicants from India.

India is by far the number one source country of immigrants to Canada.

How likely is it that Canada will cap applications from India? Should they?

@3:00    Marc Miller recently commented that “there will always be applicants from India.” Is this true?

@7:00    The data on top source countries for new immigrants to Canada and why India does so well.

@11:00 Why are so many people seeking to leave Canada? Has Canada lived up to their expectations? Is there a difference in the likelihood of success of immigrating to Canada vs. the United States?

@20:00 Thoughts on restricting and capping immigration based on country of citizenship.  

@32:00  Audience comments on capping immigration. 

I note that in the episode both Steven and Kubeir refer to the removal of STEM and Tech occupations as priority occupations in Express Entry. Not all STEM and Tech occupations were removed, however, major ones like Software Developers, Web Designers and Software Engineers were.

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In this episode, we break down IRCC's practice of rejecting applications for incompleteness, often for minor technical issues. Effectively a form of stats manipulation, this practice creates a misleading picture of departmental efficiency while leaving applicants stranded, often forcing them to restart the process for trivial errors.

Cases discussed include Gennai v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2017 FCA 29 and Goel v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2025 FC 275.

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Misty Ty is a documentary film maker. Her father, Robert Ty, was the owner of a shipping company whose cargo ship, The Tung An, encountered a fishing vessel with over 200 people. Misty Ty was one of the children on that boat.

The Vietnamese Boat People were refugees who fled Vietnam by sea after the fall of Saigon in 1975, escaping communist rule and persecution. Over one million people would flee. Several hundred thousand would perish due to storms, starvation, pirate attacks, and overcrowded boats. In response to the humanitarian crisis, Canada would introduce its private refugee sponsorship program, and resettle tens of thousands of Indochinese.

Misty's website for the project is thetungan.com. She would love to hear from anyone who was on, or whose relatives were on, the Tung An.

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Martin Levine was a Visa Officer and Analyst at Citizenship and Immigration Canada from 1978 – 2009. He then worked as a contract employee as an ATIP Analyst for numerous federal departments. He previously appeared on Episodes #108 and #110.

Towards the end of episode #110 Martin commented that he thought the immigration consultant profession shouldn't exist. Steven said that this was a huge topic and probably deserved its own episode.

In this episode Martin explains why he believes that Canada should abolish the immigration consultant profession. Steven and Deanna disagree. Numerous arguments and counter arguments are discussed.

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Erin Brandt is a co-founder of PortaLaw, a Vancouver law firm which specializes in employment law.

Audience submitted questions that we discuss include:

1. Is it illegal for employers to not provide reference letters necessary for immigration purposes or to charge their employees for them?
2. Is it illegal for employers with foreign worker employees to not apply for LMIAs to try to extend their employees' employment?
3. Can employers distinguish between Canadian citizens, permanent residents and foreign workers when hiring? 
4. Can an employer not hire a foreign national or asylum claimant if they are likely to be deported? 
5. Is it ok for an employer to ask if someone is an asylum claimant? 
6. If an employer learns that an employee is without status - and the employee lied to them - can they legitimately refuse to pay the employee out for work completed during this time? 
7. If in order to meet prevailing wage an employer increases the wages of all of their LMIA-based TFWs, is it discrimination to not also increase it for their permanent resident or Canadian employees? 

We also discuss the Ontario Court of Appeal decision in Imperial Oil Limited v. Haseeb, 2023 ONCA 364, upheld a Human Rights Tribunal decision that it was a breach of human rights for an employer to fire an employee because of their temporary resident status.

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