Recent polling shows that more than half of Canadians now believe immigration levels are too high — double the number from just three years ago. One-third think immigration increases crime, and six in 10 say too many newcomers fail to adopt Canadian values. These are not the views of a suddenly intolerant country. They reflect a public losing confidence in a system that no longer seems to protect their safety or the integrity of Canadian citizenship.
Canada’s immigration system is no longer just strained; it is compromised. Bureaucratic neglect, damaging court rulings, and political timidity have combined to produce a system that admits people faster than it can vet, monitor, or remove them. Nearly half a million temporary residents have overstayed their visas with no record of departure. Tens of thousands of international students have simply vanished. A reduced sentence was sought for a convicted child abductor to keep his conviction below the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act’s threshold for deportation, thereby sparing him “disproportionate hardship.”
Opinion: Canada has lost control of its immigration system — and Canadians know it https://t.co/JtJQSTzDtu pic.twitter.com/1BbWhPbBwC
— National Post (@nationalpost) November 21, 2025
