Canadian immigration department to cut 3,300 jobs, raising worries over backlogs and processing times
The federal immigration department will reduce its workforce by more than 20 per cent, sparking concerns over further backlogs and longer processing times for applications.
On Monday, immigration staff were told that 3,300 jobs are going to be eliminated and details would follow in mid-February, according to the Canada Employment and Immigration Union, which represents 35,000 employees at Immigration, Service Canada, Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) and the refugee board.
“Immigration processing wait times continued to reach record-breaking backlog levels, and these cuts will only worsen an already dire situation,” Rubina Boucher, the union’s national president, said in a statement.
“Families longing to reunite, businesses grappling with critical labour shortages and a health-care system desperate for skilled workers will all suffer the consequences of this reckless decision.”
The news of the layoffs followed the Liberal government’s plan to reduce the number of new permanent and temporary residents admitted to Canada in the coming three years in its attempt to slow down the country’s population growth amid the affordability crisis.
It also came in the wake of the department’s recent decisions to significantly cut funding to organizations that assist newcomers with settlement and integration through employment-related services, language training and community support.
Between 2020 and 2023, the Immigration Department’s workforce grew from 9,207 to 13,685 — about 30 per cent of whom were contract, “casual” and students — to beef up its operational capacity to deal with backlogs created during the pandemic and meet the federal government’s then targets to raise immigration levels.
As of late November, the department had 2,267,700 permanent and temporary immigration applications in the system; more than one million of them had exceeded its own targeted processing times. Overall, 38 per cent of permanent residence applications and 54 per cent of temporary residence applications in the queue were considered backlogged.
While it’s too early to know if this would simply mean a diversion of staff to other areas of government operations such as the asylum system, Toronto immigration lawyer Rick Lamanna of the Fragomen law firm said immigration applicants to Canada should expect some processing delays moving forward.
“You can turn off the tap of who you process … but you can’t turn off the tap of people applying,” said Lamanna, a board member of the Canadian Immigration Lawyers Association.
“People need to at least prepare for the potential that things may take longer. This way people’s expectations are managed.”
Vancouver immigration lawyer Kamaljit Lehal said the job losses could cause a ripple effect at the Federal Court, who has seen many more people complaining about immigration processing times and seeking orders to compel officials to render decisions.
“Unfortunately, it seems to be a lot of knee-jerk policies and announcements being made,” said the chair of the Canadian Bar Association’s immigration section.
In an email, the Immigration Department said the staffing cuts will affect every sector and branch across the organization, both domestically and internationally, in Ottawa and in the regions, and at all levels, including executives.
About 80 per cent of the reductions will be achieved “by reducing staffing commitments and our temporary workforce” while the rest will be accomplished through the “workforce adjustment process.”
Officials said the cuts are to align with the reduced immigration levels and return spending to the pre-pandemic levels.
“IRCC expanded rapidly to address global crises like the pandemic, modernize systems and support record immigration levels that boosted economic recovery and addressed labour shortages,” the department said. “This growth relied on temporary funding, which was never meant to be permanent.”
This article was first reported by The Star
