#225 - How "sustainable" is IRCC's lauded "return to sustainable immigration levels"?

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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