Lederman: Trump, the Tates and the sycophants that sustain them

2026/06/15 Leave a comment

Good calling out of those complicit. Just doing their job is the modern equivalent of just following orders…:

…But here’s who does know: The people around them. The suck-ups and sycophants. Around the Tates – their security, business and legal advisers; the woman hired to handle their PR after their arrest in Romania. And in Washington, the President’s people – other elected Republicans who pretend their leader knows what he’s doing, his press secretaries who berate the media at his behest. Outsiders too, like the soccer organization that awarded him a peace prize. They know – and they stick around and cheerlead anyway. They aid and abet. They amplify, normalize. It’s a game for them – or a job, well-paid, while real people suffer. Monsters.

Source: Trump, the Tates and the sycophants that sustain them

Filed under Multiculturalism, Trump administration Tagged with , ,

Critics say Canada’s new immigration and border law puts LGBTQ+ people in danger

2026/06/15 Leave a comment

Of note:

Earlier this week, Prime Minister Mark Carney and MPs from other political parties came together to raise the Pride flag on Parliament Hill.

But an advocacy group that helps LGBTQ refugees come to Canada and the U.S says the federal government’s new border law is putting people at risk of being sent back to countries where they face persecution.

Devon Matthews, Rainbow Railroad’s chief program officer, said her organization is concerned about its working relationship with Ottawa as the federal government reduces the number of refugees it admits and cuts the organization’s funding.

She said it’s also alarmed by a new law requiring that refugee claims be made within a year of the claimant’s first arrival in Canada.

“It has nothing to do with the reasons why someone may have waited or why someone doesn’t meet the one-year bar,” Matthews told The Canadian Press…

Source: Critics say Canada’s new immigration and border law puts LGBTQ+ people in danger

Filed under Immigration, LGBTQ, Refugees Tagged with ,

Communities report high demand for pilot offering permanent residency for rural jobs

2026/06/15 Leave a comment

Of note. Will be interesting to see an eventual IRCC evaluation of the program covering retention issues:

A pilot immigration program to help rural communities find skilled workers for hard-to-fill jobs saw 800 people receive permanent residency in the first two months of this year — and hundreds of applications are streaming in for a limited number of available spaces.

The Rural Community Immigration Pilot, or RCIP, began in 2025. It allows 14 small communities across Canada to recommend people with skills and jobs in selected sectors for permanent residency.

Each community can select up to 25 fields as priority professions for their area — anything from health and manufacturing to skilled trades and transport….

Source: Communities report high demand for pilot offering permanent residency for rural jobs

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FIFA World Cup is drawing thousands of visa applications to Canada. Here are the countries with the highest refusals

2026/06/15 Leave a comment

Of note:

…Ghana, whose national team will play at Toronto Stadium on Wednesday, topped the list of visa applicants, with 1,953 applications submitted between Nov. 14, 2025, when Ottawa first announced its special visa measures, and March 31, the latest data available. Ghana also had the most refusals.

The West African country was closely followed by the 1,793 applications received from Colombia, which is in the tourney but is not scheduled to play in Canada. India (1,393), Nigeria (1,293) and Pakistan (1,085) rounded out the top five source countries; none of these three qualified for the tournament.

Preliminary data from the Immigration Department suggested there were more visas refused than granted among applications with the “FIFA World Cup 26” flag. The countries with the highest refusal cases were: Ghana (1,423), Pakistan (797), India (687), Nigeria (557) and Colombia (461).

Concerns have swirled over travellers being scammed or taking advantage of the event to gain easy entry to Canada for asylum and work opportunities since social media posts emerged late last year, falsely advertising that visitors can work without work permits during the World Cup, and offering help with cover letters and coaching for visa applications to attend games.

Not only did Canadian officials step up their scrutiny, they also campaigned to combat misinformation and disinformation about Canada’s immigration system through public engagement and advisories.

Of the total 4,625 of visas approved, 1,076 were issued to Colombians, topping all countries. China, which did not qualify for the Cup, came a distant second, at 327. It’s followed by Ecuador (257), the U.S. (239) and India (188). (American citizens don’t need visas to come here, but U.S. permanent and temporary residents do.)…

Source: FIFA World Cup is drawing thousands of visa applications to Canada. Here are the countries with the highest refusals

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The world’s wealthy are migrating like never before

2026/06/15 Leave a comment

Good survey from The Economist. No fan of these programs as generally minimal benefit to the host country:

….Yet the wealthy can find that a warm welcome sometimes goes cold. In January 2025 Spain, once a popular destination, cancelled its €500,000 ($577,000) residency programme in an effort to curb property speculation. In April the European Union’s Court of Justice ruled that Malta’s scheme broke eu law because it “commercialised” citizenship (though the island’s “citizenship-by-merit” programme, which admits entrepreneurs, has since gained traction). In April this year Argentina cancelled a tender to set up an investment-migration programme, issued only in December, which had drawn interest from 11 firms. Last month Portugal extended most migrants’ waiting time for passports from five years to ten.

Many governments are facing pressure to increase the diligence of their citizenship and residency programmes, notes Mr Klasko. The big issue is: “Do you as a country know the background of people who you are giving passports to?” In other words, geopolitical uncertainty does not only trouble the rich. But plenty of countries will take them—and plenty of advisers are eager to help them choose. 

Source: The world’s wealthy are migrating like never before

Filed under Citizenship, citizenship-by-investment, Immigration Tagged with ,

Anglin: What’s driving Alberta separatism? Don’t overlook immigration

2026/06/12 Leave a comment

While there is merit to some of his arguments with respect to “generation squeeze,” Anglin neglects to mention provincial complicity, save for Quebec, in supporting high levels of immigration. After all, prior to launching the immigration-related referendums, Alberta supported higher numbers of Provincial Nominee Program and did not oppose higher numbers of international students or temporary workers, reflecting the same pressures by interest groups across the country.

As to his “Canada is broken para,” suspect it is more on the basic economic impacts more than the “wokification” as the polling he cites indicate:

…What is the source of this desperation? The sheer quantity and poor quality of the Liberal migration boom is not the only reason for job scarcity and soaring housing prices, but it’s a big one. Young voters also connect the resulting complexity in Canadian society to the takeover of their schools, government programs, and private HR departments by DEI programs that pigeon-hole them as avatars of their race, and what appears to be an official decision not to enforce the law against jarring cultural practices and open hate in our streets.

When young Albertans look at the national institutions that are meant to bind us together, they see the progressive “wokification” of the Canadian Armed Forces, a politicised, scandal-plagued, and mostly incompetent RCMP, and two-tier justice and immigration-based sentencing from the courts. Add to this a broken public health-care system, a sclerotic national economy sustained by a migration Ponzi scheme, and the denigration of Canadian history, symbols, and traditions…

Source: What’s driving Alberta separatism? Don’t overlook immigration

Filed under Immigration Tagged with , ,

Surprising drop in refugees and forcefully displaced people worldwide, UN reports

2026/06/12 Leave a comment

Of note:

Forced displacement from wars and persecution around the world fell for the first time in a decade, according to the United Nations refugee agency.

The latest data showed the number of people who were forced to leave their homes and remained displaced at the end of 2025 dropped by four per cent to 117.8 million from 123.2 million a year ago, the UNHCR said in a report released Thursday.

The decline reflected a sharp increase in the number of international refugees and internally displaced individuals who returned home last year in some of the countries with the largest displacement such as Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan and Syria.

In 2025, almost 5.4 million people had to flee and seek safety across borders, predominantly in neighbouring countries. The majority came from eight countries: Sudan (952,700), Ukraine (788,100), Venezuela (455,300), South Sudan (232,800), Burkina Faso (221,300), Afghanistan (191,400), Mali (177,200) and Myanmar (165,400).

Meanwhile, returns of both internationally and domestically displaced people rose by 50 per cent, reaching 14.7 million, the second highest level since records began 60 years ago. Returnees to the Democratic Republic of Congo (3.6 million), Sudan (3.6 million), Syria (3.3 million), Afghanistan (two million), Ukraine (718,300) and Myanmar (415,200) accounted for 92 per cent of all returns.

But in many cases, there’s little to celebrate….

Source: Surprising drop in refugees and forcefully displaced people worldwide, UN reports

Filed under Immigration, Refugees Tagged with

Réouverture du PEQ pour deux ans: Québec acceptera les demandes d’admission par phases

2026/06/12 Leave a comment

Needed:

Le ministre de l’Immigration, François Bonnardel, a précisé mercredi les modalités de cette réouverture promise par Christine Fréchette lors de la course à la direction de la CAQ. Une première vague d’admission, « sans plafond », s’adressera aux travailleurs étrangers et aux diplômés qui répondaient déjà aux critères du programme au moment de son abolition, le 19 novembre dernier.

Du 2 juillet au 31 octobre, les personnes ayant obtenu un diplôme québécois ou accumulé une expérience de travail « d’au moins deux ans dans les trois dernières années », en date du 19 novembre 2025, pourront déposer une demande. Le ministère de l’Immigration estime que de 8000 à 12 000 personnes pourraient être admissibles.

D’autres phases seraient ensuite ouvertes pour les immigrants qui ne remplissaient pas toutes les exigences au moment de l’abolition du programme, mais qui étaient en voie de le faire. Les détails de ces prochaines phases seront définis ultérieurement, en fonction du nombre d’immigrants qui postuleront au PEQ au cours de la première phase, a précisé M. Bonnardel.

Des discussions avec Ottawa

Le PEQ permettait d’obtenir rapidement le certificat de sélection du Québec (CSQ), requis pour obtenir la résidence permanente, et s’adressait aux travailleurs et aux étudiants étrangers. Son abolition au profit du Programme de sélection des travailleurs qualifiés (PSTQ) avait été dénoncée par les milieux économiques, municipaux et par de nombreux immigrants temporaires.

Source: Réouverture du PEQ pour deux ans: Québec acceptera les demandes d’admission par phases

The Minister of Immigration, François Bonnardel, clarified on Wednesday the modalities of this reopening promised by Christine Fréchette during the race for the leadership of the CAQ. A first wave of admission, “without ceiling”, will be aimed at foreign workers and graduates who already met the criteria of the program at the time of its abolition on November 19.

From July 2 to October 31, people who have obtained a Quebec diploma or accumulated work experience “of at least two years in the last three years”, as of November 19, 2025, will be able to apply. The Ministry of Immigration estimates that 8,000 to 12,000 people could be eligible.

Other phases would then be opened for immigrants who did not meet all the requirements at the time of the abolition of the program, but who were in the process of doing so. The details of these next phases will be defined later, depending on the number of immigrants who will apply for the PEQ during the first phase, said Mr. Bonardel

Discussions with Ottawa

The PEQ made it possible to quickly obtain the Quebec Selection Certificate (CSQ), required to obtain permanent residence, and was intended for foreign workers and students. Its abolition in favor of the Skilled Worker Selection Program (PSTQ) had been denounced by economic and municipal circles and by many temporary immigrants.

Filed under Immigration Tagged with ,

America is depopulating at record levels. Here’s what the numbers say

2026/06/12 1 Comment

Of note. As is the case for Canada, largely driven by fewer immigrants and temporary residents:

…In 2025, net migration in the U.S. turned negative — with the loss of some 150,000 people by some estimates — a trend not seen since the Great Depression. Further declines are expected in 2026 and 2027, Brookings Institution, a public policy think tank has found.

While the U.S. data does not capture outbound emigration, many of its citizens are reportedly turning up in Europe and bordering countries — for education, housing and even long-term care needs. In 2025, more Americans moved to Germany and Ireland than the other way around, a change attributed to “a life away from the rat race at home” by London’s I Paper. The Czech Republic, Spain and Netherlands have reported similar highs….

The U.S. government is also dealing with a backlog of Americans renouncing their citizenship, with embassies in London, Sydney and most Canadian major cities reporting wait-lists stretching into months, the Guardian reported in April. One in five Americans said in a November Gallup poll that they would like to leave the country, twice as many as 10 years ago.

Between four to nine million Americans live abroad, a figure that is likely an undercount due to people flag-poling with tourist visas, travellers who straddle borders and students with long-term visas being left out of the count, according to the Wall Street Journal. The paper noted that newer emigres are ordinary citizens seeking better housing opportunities, telecommuting or choosing to retire somewhere cheaper….

Source: America is depopulating at record levels. Here’s what the numbers say

Filed under Immigration Tagged with ,

A ‘Birthright Citizenship’ Exception — From Canada: The pregnant Dutch crown princess and a quickie proclamation of ‘extraterritoriality’

2026/06/11 Leave a comment

Interesting:

“As the Supreme Court ponders the legality of restrictions President Trump is attempting to impose on “birthright citizenship” in the United States (expect a decision the day the justices leave town for the summer), one unique royal birth at an Ottawa hospital in the depths of World War II offers an exception to the jus soli laws in our neighbor to the north, which mirror our own. The question is whether it could be replicated in this country should the High Court not rule in the administration’s favor.

…Would It Work Here?

The question is whether a similar scheme could be replicated in this country to limit birthright citizenship to the newborn children of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents by declaring any place children are born of other parents as “extra-territorial”.

Legally, it’s a longshot, but keep in mind that: (1) when King George issued his proclamation, nobody knew where Princess Juliana would give birth, and thus extraterritoriality followed her wherever she went before giving birth; (2) that proclamation was issued and effective under the same common law principles the Court relied on in Wong; and (3) it is a precedent, albeit a unique and foreign one.

As for the first — and key — point, consider the following question from Justice Barrett during the oral argument in Trump v. Barbara, the pending birthright citizenship case, to the attorney opposing the president’s EO on the accepted principle that there’s an exception to U.S. birthright citizenship for the children of diplomats:

[I]f you look at the diplomatic exception almost like diplomats and their children have little bubbles around them, like the embassy is really the territory of that country, and even when they’re traveling around, they’re all not subject to the jurisdiction by virtue of this territorial fiction, are those just applications of the rule?

Princess Juliana wasn’t subject to a diplomatic exception (she was a refugee, not a diplomat), but the king’s proclamation created a “bubble” around the heir-apparent wherever she went up to the time of Princess Margriet’s birth in much the same way as the diplomatic bubble described by Justice Barrett applies.

Here, in part, is how counsel responded to the question: “So the thing that all of the exceptions have in common, again, is this sense that the — the person is — has this fiction of extraterritorial — extraterritoriality around them.

If the accepted exceptions to birthright citizenship (the former one for Indians, and the current ones for children of diplomats, and children born in zones of enemy occupation and on foreign ships) have a “fiction of extraterritoriality around them”, what impact would an actual presidential declaration of “extra-territoriality” have

To ask that question is to answer it, but it begs a second question: Can the president, acting on his own, declare parts of the United States to be “extraterritorial” for the brief moments that children of those who are not citizens or green card holders are born there?

Does a 1942 proclamation by the British monarch, issued to avoid a potential succession crisis in the Dutch royal house, offer a precedent an American president could follow to bar the children of aliens here illegally and/or temporarily from automatically receiving U.S. citizenship? It’s a question the White House may want to ask, assuming the Supreme Court gives him bad news on its way out of town.”

Source: The pregnant Dutch cown princess and a quickie proclamation of ‘extraterritoriality’

Filed under Birthright Citizenship, Citizenship Tagged with , ,

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