Fact-based journalism that sparks the Canadian conversation

Articles Business Environment Health Politics Arts & Culture Society

Special Series Hope You’re Well For the Love of the Game Living Rooms In Other Worlds: A Space Exploration Terra Cognita More special series >

For the Love of the Game

In Other Worlds: A Space Exploration

More special series >

Events The Walrus Talks The Walrus Video Room The Walrus Leadership Roundtables The Walrus Leadership Forums Article Club

The Walrus Video Room

The Walrus Leadership Roundtables

The Walrus Leadership Forums

Subscribe Renew your subscription Change your address Magazine Issues Newsletters Podcasts

Renew your subscription

The Walrus Lab Hire The Walrus Lab Amazon First Novel Award

Amazon First Novel Award

Canada’s Immigration Policy Is Hypocritical and Damaging, Says Gabor Maté

“There’s so much anti-immigrant propaganda coming from the US, it’s going to have an effect”

Canada is moving toward stricter immigration and asylum rules. Bill C-12, passed in March, limits refugee claims, speeds up removals and case closures, and gives the government broader authority to pause or alter visa, study permit, and work permit processing. It builds on earlier measures, including the 2002 Safe Third Country Agreement with the United States—which was expanded in 2023 and requires asylum seekers to seek protection in the first safe country they reach, barring those who arrive from the US at official land crossings from claiming refugee status in Canada.

In other related developments, immigration minister Lena Metlege Diab recently came under criticism over “piecemeal” communication about a planned pathway to permanent residency for 33,000 skilled workers, with critics saying it fuelled confusion and misinformation among migrants before full program details were released and that it created opportunities for unauthorized immigration consultants to exploit temporary residents at risk of losing status.

Moreover, immigration discourse in Canada continues to be influenced by US policy narratives and media framing, with anti-immigrant sentiment and polarizing rhetoric shaping how migration is understood on both sides of the border. Data reveals that Canadians’ support for immigration levels decreased substantially in 2023 and 2024 to a thirty-year low, despite historically stable attitudes, just as annual permanent resident intake rose between 2001 and 2023 from about 250,000 to over 470,000, and that 56 percent of Canadians in 2025 believed the country was accepting too many immigrants.

Against this backdrop, concerns about the mental health of immigrants and refugees, the trauma they live with, and their long-term integration have become more pressing. Newcomers arriving from conflict-affected regions often face not only the psychological impact of displacement but also the pressures of adapting to shifting immigration systems and public attitudes in host countries.

To explore these issues, I spoke by Zoom with Gabor Maté—physician and author whose work focuses on trauma, addiction, and the social roots of mental illness. As someone who himself came to Canada as an immigrant and has spent........

© The Walrus