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 & Communications Director at Aman Lara

Denis Thompson, Major-General (Ret’d), former commander of NATO Task Force Kandahar

We examine Canada’s response to Afghans who worked alongside Canadian and NATO forces, through the lens of recent Federal Court decisions that highlight how many individuals were left behind after the fall of Kabul in 2021.

We discuss:

The reality faced by Afghan interpreters, contractors, and families still in hiding

How Canada’s approach relied on “process without a plan”

The bureaucratic gaps between DND, Global Affairs, and IRCC

How veterans became de facto evacuation coordinators during the 2021 crisis

How Ukraine’s uncapped emergency program contrasted so sharply with Afghanistan

What Aman Lara has accomplished (over 7,000 evacuations and 5,800 resettlements) and why the work is far from over

🔗 Aman Lara is a registered Canadian charity.

If you’re looking for a meaningful way to support refugee protection and resettlement efforts, we’ve included a donation link here - https://www.canadahelps.org/en/dn/130744

🎧 Subscribe for in-depth conversations on Canadian immigration law, policy, and the human consequences behind the headlines.

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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 grounds they see in practice, including:

▸ Weak or incoherent study plans

Why study plans are now a top refusal ground, what officers look for, how jurisprudence has evolved, and what applicants must show to demonstrate a logical academic and career trajectory—even for minors.

▸ Dual intent, PGWP confusion, and long-term plans

How to candidly discuss the possibility of a PGWP without triggering a refusal, and how applicants can articulate return-home benefits while acknowledging genuine motivations.

▸ Financial sufficiency and unexplained deposits

Why bank statements are scrutinized more heavily than ever, how to document source-of-funds properly, and why even technical checklist omissions can sink an otherwise strong application.

▸ Family ties and home-country incentives

How IRCC evaluates “significant family ties” in and outside Canada, and why applicants should proactively explain their home-country obligations to address concerns about leaving Canada at the end of their stay.

▸ Underdocumented travel history and other overlooked factors

Simple omissions that lead to refusals—such as failing to include exit/entry stamps, prior visas, or proof of assets.

Whether you are an international student, an immigration professional, or someone following Canadian immigration reform, this episode offers practical guidance on how to build a more compelling study permit application in a challenging and tightening system.

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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 schemes and suing when it falls apart, contractual illegality, negligent and fraudulent misrepresentation, contractual illegality, punitive damages and the duty of honesty in professional services, what happens when someone can’t enter Canada to attend their own civil trial and whether professional regulation in Canada actually protects immigrants.

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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 job duties, duties don’t match the NOC, blended NOCs.

17:00 – Should employers include percentage breakdown of duties?

26:00 – Why verbs like “assist,” “support,” “help,” or “maintain” are dangerous

27:12 – Procedural fairness: when IRCC must NOT contact you

Live Questions.

31:10 – Will CEC draws exceed 1,000 ITAs in 2025?

32:49 – Will Bill C-12 cancel Start-Up Visa and non-priority org files?

36:50 – Is IRCC looking for any reason to refuse?

37:45 – Will I get refused if my reference letter only lists 40 hours per week?

38:34 – Could Bill C-12 cancel existing PRs?

39:26 – Could TR-PR cover SUV applicants in 2026–27?

40:05 – Why are immigrants treated like clients of a company?

41:00 – Is foreign experience locked at ITA or EAPR?

42:10 – My CRS is 449 with French. Will I get an ITA in 2025?

42:56 – What if my employer refuses to list job duties?

43:15 – Will there be more education category draws?

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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 380,000 PRs is misleading once you add those extra streams.

Topics discussed also include shrinking the temporary resident share of the population, the quiet rollback of francophone immigration targets, cuts to IRCC’s budget, and the rule-of-law issues when the same legal criteria suddenly produce totally different outcomes and higher refusal rates.

We also answer live listener questions on CEC, work experience across multiple NOCs, why there aren't many ITAs, the H-1B pathway, and more.

5:05 – The “math’s not mathing”: topline 380,000 vs extra 140,000 PRs

19:00 – Temporary resident caps, extensions, and the missing data

27:26 – Francophone targets quietly reduced & what that signals

33:06 – Massive rebound of the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) in 2026

36:06 – H&C: 1,100 admissions and a 50-year backlog

37:35 – Budget cuts, IRCC HR reductions & shift to automation

43:04 – Potential new categories: researchers, senior managers, allied military

44:49 – Listener Q&A: is there hope for CEC? TR→PR vs CEC draws

48:02 – Are CEC ITAs being stalled to protect processing time stats?

49:16 – CEC work experience across multiple NOCs & “primary NOC” confusion

51:00 – Can wrong NOC coding sink an otherwise solid CEC application?

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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 and whether Canada lacks a national security culture.

05:26 – How CSIS does immigration security screening and the dramatic increase in comprehensive background checks

10:08 – Why every citizenship application goes to CSIS for security screening

15:03 – Canada’s choices: lax screening, less immigration, more surveillance… or something else?

21:16 – Delays, disenfranchisement & back-end vs front-end screening

31:26 – CSIS vs CBSA vs IRCC: who does what in screening?

37:00 – Security vs human rights

42:01 – International students, volume and how the system can be exploited

49:04 – Timelines, CSIS capacity, and mandamus in Federal Court

Audience Questions

54:40 – Do friends and family with extreme beliefs trigger concern?

56:47 – How common is espionage in Canada?

1:02:59 – What can be done to improve transparency?

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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 boutique. Caroline Senini is a Partner at Peck and Company, where she practices in constitutional and regulatory matters, at both trial and appeal.

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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. 

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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 practical career advice for junior counsel.

Timestamps

3:12 – Maher Arar inquiry

5:41 – Niqab/citizenship-oath litigation

6:46 – Backlog cancellation class action

8:33 – Security certificates

12:13 – Pushpanathan

15:32 – Refugee health care

17:46 – The Bill of Rights and citizenship revocation

20:57 – Public opinion shift on immigration

26:49 – RPD/Federal Court backlogs and triage failures

37:07 – Federal Court inefficiencies

40:12 – Q&A: Security screening delays

49:51 – Bill C-220: should judges consider immigration consequences at sentencing?

1:00:04 – Express Entry

1:05:57 – Career advice for junior immigration lawyers

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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 discretion when it comes to removals, immigration background checks and security screening, the role of CSIS vs. CBSA, and why public-safety agencies struggle to advocate for themselves.

👉 Listen/Follow. Team 10-8 Podcast, Christian's amazing podcast featuring interviews with various first responders, politicians and law enforcement officials. teamteneight.com

04:19 Christian’s CBSA start as a Border Services Officer

10:12 Jump to inland enforcement, the moral compexity of removals and the mental-health toll on officers

16:45 The role of discretion in a “no-surprises” risk adverse organizational culture

31:00 CBSA Enforcement & Intelligence Operations

36:10 Comprehensive background checks—who does what

46:00 Security screening trade-offs

53:15 Transparency & public advocacy by agencies; morale and leadership

58:00 Recommended Team 10-8 episodes

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