Carney government replacing Islamophobia and antisemitism envoys with advisory council

2026/02/05 2 Comments

Can’t claim credit but it has been something I have been advocating for some time, as separate envoys tend to accentuate differences:

Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government said Wednesday that it is eliminating Canada’s special envoy positions on fighting Islamophobia and antisemitism.The positions, which Carney had pledged to keep when he ran for Liberal leadership, will be replaced by a new advisory council on “Rights, Equality and Inclusion,” Culture and Identity Minister Marc Miller said in a news release.

“The Advisory Council will be comprised of prominent Canadians from academia, experts and community leaders with a mission to foster social cohesion, rally Canadians around shared identity, combat racism and hate in all their forms, and help guide the efforts of the Government of Canada,” Miller said, without immediately announcing its membership.

First reported by the Star, the move comes as the Liberal government had been looking to fill the special envoy position on combating antisemitism and Holocaust remembrance after former representative Deborah Lyons retired in July, several months before her term was set to end.

Speaking to reporters following a Liberal caucus meeting, Miller said the new council will address rising polarization and division coming in part due to the war in Gaza, but will still recognize the “specificities” of Islamophobia and antisemitism.

“I think we have to give the opportunity to people to be upset,” Miller said. “I think the focus here, though, is to make sure that we are focusing on the unity of the country, on the division that we know is there that’s been fuelled by a lot of things, and making sure that we have a group of experts that will focus precisely on trying to bring people together.” …

Source: Carney government replacing Islamophobia and antisemitism envoys with advisory council

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“Légiférer sur la laïcité met à risque les guignolées, craignent les évêques du Québec”

2026/02/05 Leave a comment

Reminder of the risks of overly broad approaches:

“Les activités caritatives, comme les guignolées ou les comptoirs alimentaires, pourraient-elles devenir des victimes collatérales du projet de loi du gouvernement Legault « sur le renforcement de la laïcité » ? C’est du moins ce que craignent les évêques catholiques québécois.

Dans un mémoire qui sera présenté mercredi en commission parlementaire, l’Assemblée des évêques catholiques du Québec (AECQ) lève un drapeau rouge : « la définition des “pratiques religieuses” qui est utilisée dans le projet de loi est trop large et doit être précisée, car elle risque de limiter l’action charitable de plusieurs organismes de bienfaisance ».

Déposé en novembre, le projet de loi 9 « sur le renforcement de la laïcité au Québec » prévoit l’interdiction, dans une panoplie d’édifices publics, de toute « pratique religieuse ». L’usage de la voie publique ou d’un parc à des fins de « pratique religieuse collective » est également proscrit, à moins d’obtenir une autorisation exceptionnelle de la municipalité.

“Quand je me réfère à notre expérience ici, à Saint-Jérôme, au centre-ville, la cathédrale a donné plus de 20 000 $ pour des paniers de Noël. Elle a réalisé ça, entre autres, avec une guignolée au coin des rues par les Chevaliers de Colomb », a observé l’évêque de Saint-Jérôme-Mont-Laurier, Raymond Poisson, en entrevue avec Le Devoir en prévision du passage en commission de l’AECQ. « S’il fallait qu’on arrête de faire ça… »

Devant le ministre responsable de la Laïcité, Jean-François Roberge, mercredi, l’AECQ défendra l’idée que, plutôt que la « pratique religieuse », ce soit « l’enseignement religieux et le culte de toute profession religieuse » qui soient interdits dans les édifices publics et dans les rues. Sans quoi, estime Mgr Poisson, cela pourrait sonner la fin des activités caritatives pour plusieurs regroupements.

« Il y a des organismes qui nous offrent des subventions pour nos comptoirs alimentaires et vestimentaires. On en a dans beaucoup, beaucoup de nos églises », a-t-il ajouté. « Pendant la pandémie, ici, on a continué à livrer 200 boîtes de nourriture aux familles et ce sont les employés municipaux qui les livraient. On ne voudrait pas perdre ça. »

“Dans les neuf recommandations contenues dans leur mémoire, les 23 évêques membres de l’AECQ demandent le maintien des locaux de prières dans les universités et cégeps. Ils souhaitent aussi le retrait d’une disposition du projet de loi 9 prévoyant rendre conditionnel le financement public d’écoles religieuses.

« On a une liberté d’expression et c’est reconnu par des chartes. Je pense que l’État, peut-être, déborde de sa juridiction, ou a un peu trop d’ambition », a affirmé Mgr Poisson au téléphone cette semaine.”

Source: “Légiférer sur la laïcité met à risque les guignolées, craignent les évêques du Québec”

“Could charitable activities, such as puppets or food counters, become collateral victims of the Legault government’s bill “on strengthening secularism”? At least that is what Quebec Catholic bishops fear.

In a report that will be presented on Wednesday in the parliamentary committee, the Assembly of Catholic Bishops of Quebec (AECQ) raises a red flag: “the definition of “religious practices” that is used in the bill is too broad and must be clarified, because it risks limiting the charitable action of several charities”.

Tabled in November, Bill 9 “on the strengthening of secularism in Quebec” provides for the prohibition, in a range of public buildings, of any “religious practice”. The use of the public road or a park for the purpose of “collective religious practice” is also prohibited, unless exceptional authorization is obtained from the municipality.

“When I refer to our experience here in Saint-Jérôme, downtown, the cathedral gave more than $20,000 for Christmas baskets. She achieved this, among other things, with a puppet around the corner of the streets by the Knights of Columbus, “observed the bishop of Saint-Jérôme-Mont-Laurier, Raymond Poisson, in an interview with Le Devoir in anticipation of the passage through the AECQ commission. “If we had to stop doing this…”

Before the Minister responsible for Secularism, Jean-François Roberge, on Wednesday, the AECQ will defend the idea that, rather than “religious practice”, it is “religious education and the worship of any religious profession” that are prohibited in public buildings and on the streets. Otherwise, according to Bishop Poisson, this could ring the end of charitable activities for several groups.

“There are organizations that offer us subsidies for our food and clothing counters. We have them in many, many of our churches, “he added. “During the pandemic, here, we continued to deliver 200 boxes of food to families and it was municipal employees who delivered them. We wouldn’t want to lose that. ”

“In the nine recommendations contained in their report, the 23 bishops members of the AECQ ask for the maintenance of prayer rooms in universities and CEGEPs. They also want the withdrawal of a provision of Bill 9 to make the public funding of religious schools conditional.

“We have freedom of expression and it is recognized by charters. I think the State, perhaps, overflows its jurisdiction, or has a little too much ambition, “said Bishop Poisson on the phone this week.”

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Renforcement de la laïcité: Les villes dénoncent des obligations « coûteuses et déconnectées »

2026/02/05 Leave a comment

Of note, when ideology meets reality:

Ces critiques virulentes proviennent de l’Union des municipalités du Québec (UMQ), qui représente des villes totalisant plus de 85 % de la population québécoise. Ses représentants ont témoigné mardi en commission parlementaire, dans le contexte où le projet de loi 9 est l’une des nombreuses pièces législatives que la Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ) souhaite adopter d’ici au déclenchement des élections.

« En politisant des enjeux ponctuels et en détournant des ressources essentielles, il compromet la capacité des gouvernements de proximité à répondre aux priorités concrètes de la population », déplorent les villes. De plus, « les situations impliquant des enjeux de laïcité sont décrites comme rares, ponctuelles et généralement réglées à l’aide des pouvoirs et outils déjà disponibles en vertu du droit municipal existant », ajoutent-elles.

L’adoption de nouvelles obligations législatives apparaît non seulement injustifiée, mais profondément déconnectée des réalités administratives et opérationnelles municipales. Le projet de loi 9 semble ainsi répondre à des préoccupations marginales, plutôt qu’à des situations concrètes nécessitant une intervention législative additionnelle.

 L’Union des municipalités du Québec

Le projet de loi 9 prévoit aussi que les municipalités devront permettre les prières de rue ou dans les parcs pour les groupes qui en font la demande « de façon exceptionnelle », par résolution du conseil municipal, si la pratique religieuse en question « ne compromet pas la sécurité des personnes, est de courte durée, est accessible à tous et n’entrave pas indûment l’accès à toute personne au domaine public ». Les prières individuelles ne sont pas visées.

« Cette orientation est inadaptée à la réalité municipale : les villes disposent déjà des pouvoirs nécessaires pour gérer ces usages de manière efficace, proportionnée et neutre, sans qu’un resserrement législatif uniforme ne soit requis », affirment les municipalités représentées par l’UMQ.

Source: Renforcement de la laïcité: Les villes dénoncent des obligations « coûteuses et déconnectées »

These virulent criticisms come from the Union des municipalités du Québec (UMQ), which represents cities totaling more than 85% of the Quebec population. Its representatives testified on Tuesday in the parliamentary committee, in the context that Bill 9 is one of the many pieces of legislation that the Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ) wishes to adopt between now and the elections are launched.

“It undermines the ability of local governments to respond to the population’s concrete priorities,” the cities lament. In addition, “situations involving secularism issues are described as rare, punctual and generally resolved using the powers and tools already available under existing municipal law,” they add.

The adoption of new legislative obligations appears not only unjustified, but deeply disconnected from municipal administrative and operational realities. Bill 9 thus appears to respond to marginal concerns, rather than concrete situations requiring additional legislative intervention.

The Union of Municipalities of Quebec

Bill 9 also provides that municipalities will have to allow prayers on the street or in parks for groups that request it “exceptionally”, by resolution of the municipal council, if the religious practice in question “does not compromise the safety of people, is short-lived, is accessible to all and does not unduly hinder access to the public domain for anyone”. Individual prayers are not targeted.

“This orientation is inappropriate for municipal reality: cities already have the necessary powers to manage these uses in an effective, proportionate and neutral manner, without uniform legislative tightening being required,” say the municipalities represented by the UMQ.

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Order of Canada Appointments: 2025 and historical

2026/02/04 Leave a comment

The deck below highlights 2025 appointments and compares them with previous years since 2013.

Over this period, women’s representation has increased slightly, with ups and downs; visible minority representation has more than doubled, with Indigenous representation remaining overall stable but with considerable ups and downs. Indigenous are overrepresented at the companion and officer levels.

Women and visible minorities are underrepresented in relation to their share of the population. Sector representation has considerable year-to-year variation. Ontario has the highest degree of overrepresentation, with Atlantic Canada and the North being slightly overrepresented.

Order of Canada 2013-25 Diversity – Key slidesDownload

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How is Carney’s government filling high-level jobs?

2026/02/03 Leave a comment

Interesting change. The test will come when we see the annual reports on GiC and judicial appointments that have included diversity data under the Trudeau government. While presented as “transparent and merit-based,” considerable latitude for the government to develop and encourage nominations and thus influence results:

…Since March 2025, only one position — parliamentary budget officer — has been advertised on the government’s appointments website or in the Canada Gazette. For months, the website said it was not accepting applications for any positions. Currently, it says “appointment opportunities will be posted in due course.”

At the same time, the Carney government has made 122 governor-in-council appointments. Some of the openings filled were last advertised years ago. Government insiders say previous postings resulted in pools of qualified applicants that can still be tapped for positions.

Some openings, like chief public health officer and official languages commissioner, were publicly advertised before Trudeau left power. The government has still not named a permanent successor to former public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam, who retired in June. Officials won’t say if Canada’s new official languages commissioner Kelly Burke, who was named last week, was selected through the 2024 open application process.

On March 19, 2025, the governor-in-council (GIC) appointment website advertised 23 job opportunities — some to fill multiple positions.

Ten months later, many are still vacant.

Last week, cabinet approved nine appointments to the new Employment Insurance Board of Appeals. While openings were advertised, they were posted on the board’s own website — not the government’s GIC appointments page.

While the number can fluctuate from day to day as appointments are made and mandates expire, currently, there are around 251 vacant GIC positions.

In the Senate, seven of 105 seats are vacant and eight more senators are scheduled to retire over the course of 2026. However, the website set up under the Trudeau government to open up Senate appointments and allow Canadians to apply to be a senator has said for months that “new applications, nominations or the creation of new profiles for Senate appointments are not being accepted at this time.”

By Tuesday, 24 of the 29 seats on the board Trudeau set up to advise the prime minister on potential senator appointments will be vacant. Only three federal representatives and the two representatives for Nova Scotia will remain.

‘Transparent and merit-based’ process

Carney’s office says that the government is using a “transparent and merit-based selection process” to make appointments….

Source: How is Carney’s government filling high-level jobs?

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Douglas Todd: While migration battles flare in the U.S. and Europe, Canada reduces its numbers in an understated way

2026/02/03 Leave a comment

Of note:

“U.S. politics is growing ever more fiery after the shooting deaths of two U.S. citizens by federal agents during protests against ICE’s mass arrests of migrants in Minneapolis.

In Europe, many countries are using large-scale detention to deter asylum seekers.

In Canada, Prime Minister Mark Carney is adopting methodical, understated ways to reduce migration.

Bill C12, the Strengthening Canada’s Immigration System and Borders Act, passed the House of Commons last month. It’s the latest effort by the federal Liberals to slowly cut back on former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s campaign to bring in record numbers of permanent and temporary residents.

Most impacted by Ottawa’s stricter rules and lowered targets are international students, asylum seekers and the parents and grandparents of immigrant families.

After opinion polls showing Canadians are increasingly skeptical of elevated migration levels, federal websites now highlight the need to tighten borders and deal with how the immigration system “has been strained.”

Under Trudeau, the social-media feeds of Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada were filled with many ways the country was welcoming newcomers. But this week, the department was following its new, stricter, rapid-decision approach. It was providing data snapshots on how the volume of new”…

Source: Douglas Todd: While migration battles flare in the U.S. and Europe, Canada reduces its numbers in an understated way

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Urback: It is the right time – socially and economically – to scale back extended health benefits for refugees

2026/02/03 Leave a comment

Not seeing much pushback:

…The problem plaguing the IFHP both in 2012 and in 2026 is the perception of unfairness: Canada’s public health care system does not include coverage for extended services and prescriptions for Canadian citizens and permanent residents, but it does for those eligible for the IFHP. 

There are various arguments that justify that discrepancy, including the fact that refugees often arrive with complex medical needs after years of neglect, and it may be cheaper in the long run to treat them up front. There are various provincial programs that do cover the cost of prescriptions and extended services for low-income Canadians, but asylum-seekers will have more trouble navigating the complex bureaucracy, especially if there is a language barrier. IFHP keeps it simple. 

These arguments were more persuasive in 2012, when the program was a fraction of its current size, and there wasn’t the widespread perception that Canada’s refugee system was being abused. In 2012, roughly 128,000 people were covered by the IFHP. In 2024-2025, that number exploded to 623,365, with expenses totalling nearly $900-million. …

There’s also a social imperative for bringing refugee benefits closer in line with those afforded to Canadian citizens. That’s because, bluntly, the Trudeau government destroyed the immigration consensus in Canada; it brought in so many newcomers, so quickly, that integration was impossible and resentment inevitable. The Carney government is now tightening the rules for student visas, work permits, and asylum claimants, but it will take a lot more than a change in numbers for Canadians to again believe that immigration is a good thing, and to trust that our processes are rigorous and fair. 

Asking refugee-claimants to budget for prescriptions and extended coverage, as many other Canadians do, helps to ameliorate that wounded perception of fairness. Arguably the changes to the IFHP needs to go further, but this is a necessary first step. 

Source: It is the right time – socially and economically – to scale back extended health benefits for refugees

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“Le chef du PQ se dit prêt à offrir une clause «grand-père» à certains immigrants”

2026/02/03 Leave a comment

A noter “l’ambiguïté:”:

“Paul St-Pierre Plamondon se dit ouvert à appliquer une clause de droits acquis à une partie des immigrants laissés en plan par l’abandon du Programme de l’expérience québécoise (PEQ), mais il ne précise pas en quoi sa proposition se distingue de celle du gouvernement Legault.

« On est très ouverts à octroyer des clauses “grand-père” », a laissé tomber le chef du Parti québécois (PQ) au premier jour de sa réunion de caucus de la rentrée, à Saint-Georges, en Beauce. La veille, il avait tenu une poignée de rencontres avec des acteurs du milieu économique beauceron, abordant en priorité le sujet de l’abolition du PEQ.

En novembre dernier, le gouvernement de François Legault a mis fin à ce programme qui offrait depuis plusieurs années une voie rapide vers la résidence permanente aux travailleurs temporaires et aux étudiants étrangers du Québec. Il leur demande désormais de postuler au Programme de sélection des travailleurs qualifiés (PSTQ) — et donc de répondre à certains critères — s’ils désirent s’installer de manière permanente en territoire québécois.

“Depuis, nombre d’organismes des milieux économique, de l’immigration et du travail ont émis le souhait que le gouvernement accorde une clause de droits acquis aux personnes déjà établies au Québec. Lundi, le conseil municipal de Montréal a lui aussi fait cette demande, comme plusieurs villes et municipalités.”…

Source: “Le chef du PQ se dit prêt à offrir une clause «grand-père» à certains immigrants”

“Paul St-Pierre Plamondon says he is open to applying a clause of acquired rights to some of the immigrants left in the way by the abandonment of the Quebec Experience Program (PEQ), but he does not specify how his proposal differs from that of the Legault government.

“We are very open to granting “grandfather” clauses,” said the leader of the Parti Québécois (PQ) on the first day of his back-to-school caucus meeting in Saint-Georges, Beauce. The day before, he had held a handful of meetings with actors from the Beauceron economic community, primarily addressing the subject of the abolition of the PEQ.

Last November, the government of François Legault ended this program, which for several years had offered a fast path to permanent residence for temporary workers and international students in Quebec. It now asks them to apply for the Skilled Worker Selection Program (PSTQ) — and therefore to meet certain criteria — if they wish to settle permanently in Quebec territory.

“Since then, many economic, immigration and labor organizations have expressed the wish that the government grant a clause of acquired rights to people already established in Quebec. On Monday, the Montreal City Council also made this request, as did several cities and municipalities.”…

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Globe editorial: Canada has gutted its economic migration program

2026/02/02 Leave a comment

More legitimate criticism:

…Francophones are an important part of Canada’s culture and heritage – both inside and outside of Quebec. However, the idea of freezing their demographic weight based on an arbitrary date in the past is misguided. The Liberals may believe that boosting French will get votes, but the measures are unlikely to do much to increase the vitality of historic francophone communities in northern Ontario or New Brunswick. Permanent residents can choose where they live, and francophones may move to Toronto or Vancouver, where they won’t necessarily use French in daily life, or to Montreal, for increased job opportunities. 

The immigration system needs to be reset back to where it was in 2019, before the Liberal government started moving away from selecting economic immigrants through general rounds.

The Liberal government has taken some big steps to reverse poor decisions it made on immigration. It should scrap category draws for specific groups, and return to a system that selects people based on skills and the ability to succeed. Our economic future depends on it.

Source: Canada has gutted its economic migration program

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Canada’s immigration backlogs and processing times grow a year after job cuts. Now, 300 more positions face the axe

2026/02/02 Leave a comment

Not encouraging….:

…A year after the start of the job cuts, the department has seen the number of permanent and temporary immigration applications in the queue rise by 2.6 per cent, to 2,130,700 from 2,076,600. The number of backlogged applications that exceeded its own service standards soared by 12.7 per cent, to 1,005,800 from 892,100. Processing times for some programs have surged.

The latest figures show that 23 per cent of citizenship applications are backlogged, up from 17 per cent last January. The number of refugee claims in the queue pending a decision also rose to 300,163 from 278,240 in one year.

And King worries things will get worse as the 3,300 job cuts are not complete.

In December, staff received a memo from management that 300 more positions will be eliminated over three years as part of federal budget cuts involving reduction of the number of public servants. This will be on top of a roughly 10 per cent to 15 per cent reduction of executive positions at the department.

This appeared to be contrary to Immigration Minister Lena Metlege Diab’s recent statements in a media interview that the department funding is based on the annual immigration levels and the processing officers “will still be there” and won’t be affected. In 2025, Ottawa significantly reduced its permanent and temporary resident intakes in response to public outcry over the pace of Canada’s population growth. …

Source: Canada’s immigration backlogs and processing times grow a year after job cuts. Now, 300 more positions face the axe, Government Stats: Understanding IRCC’s application inventories




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