News
STATEMENT FROM MP JENNY KWAN ON BUDGET 2026 IMMIGRATION LEVELS PLAN
The Carney government's immigration levels plan in Budget 2026 is a failure of ambition and compassion. The claims that their new plan is a return to sustainability but the government’s own 2026 immigration report shows that permanent resident admissions through economic programs fell by nearly 20% in 2025, while temporary resident arrivals were already substantially below targets. The reductions in international students have also caused financial challenges at post-secondary institutions across the country. By refusing to properly bring the immigration levels back up to 1% of overall population, the Carney government is continuing to scapegoat new comers for government's failed policies. This is not only wrong and it is a dangerous message, one that is propagated by Donald Trump from day one of his presidency and pedalled by Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre.
The one time only allocation of providing up to 200,000 permanent residents to address the existing backlog outside of the regular levels plan should be made permanent. This includes 100,000 spaces for people already in Canada through Express Entry and the Provincial Nominee program, and another 100,000 through special humanitarian pathways and family reunification for applicants from Hong Kong, Ukraine and others.
The NDP welcomes the news that Ukraine and Hong Kong Pathway applicants who have faced severe processing delays, with many backlogs estimated to stretch up to a decade will be granted permanent resident status by 2027. It took sustained pressure from the NDP, civil society organizations and thousands of Canadians to get the government to act. Through Parliamentary Petition e-7636, which received more than 20,600 validated signatures, I called on the government to expand processing capacity and honour its commitments to people fleeing political persecution and human rights abuses. This announcement is an important victory for the thousands of people and communities who refused to give up.
But this falls short of what Canada needs in the long term and abandons too many people who have and continue to contribute to Canada's economic and social fabric. It also does not address the systemic failure of a system that is allowed to exploit newcomers.
What is needed is for this temporary plan to be made permanent so that the thousands of undocumented workers, international graduates and migrant workers can access a secure pathway to permanent residency. People who have lived and worked here for years should not be left in limbo, vulnerable to exploitation and abuse.
The new immigration plan for 2027 also shows a shift of prioritizing a high volume of economic immigrants at the expense of other streams reinforces structural imbalances and worker vulnerability.
With more than 64% of permanent resident admissions allocated to economic immigration, family reunification and humanitarian commitments are pushed further down the priority list.
Families should not have to wait years to be reunited, and refugees should not be treated as an afterthought.
Canada is failing to uphold its humanitarian obligations. Refugee resettlement has been cut by 43 per cent since 2023, with devastating consequences for people fleeing war and persecution. In addition, the negative impacts of Bill C-12 and ongoing deportations have been devastating for communities. Canada must restore its commitment to refugee resettlement, including a minimum of 20,000 government-assisted refugees annually.
At the same time, the government is cutting the very settlement services newcomers rely on to build their lives. Organizations are laying off staff, reducing services and scaling back language training. These cuts are short-sighted and undermine successful integration.
Canada needs an immigration system grounded in fairness, dignity and humanitarian responsibility. We need pathways to permanent residency for people already contributing to our communities, meaningful family reunification, robust refugee protection and properly funded settlement services.
OTTAWA - China has exponentially expanded its network of illegal overseas police stations, to “extend its tentacles” across a web of new community associations, according to a report by international human rights group Safeguard Defenders.
In its latest report, the Spanish non-governmental organization (NGO) identifies nearly 1,250 overseas Chinese associations which they say are fronts for suspected police centres in 91 countries.
“That network is being used to watch the diaspora. To watch what they do, what they say and to essentially police them,” says Laura Harth, Safeguard Defender’s China director in an interview with CTV News.
The new figures are also a 12-fold increase from the NGO’s findings four years earlier.
In 2022, the NGO identified 100 illegal Chinese police stations operating in more than 50 countries, including Canada.
The report, A Formula for Repression, asserts that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is exporting “its domestic system of surveillance and control to Chinese diaspora communities around the world.”
New Democratic Party MP, Jenny Kwan calls the allegations troubling.
“If true, it suggests that existing government responses have not been sufficient to deter these illegal activities,” Kwan wrote in an open letter addressed to Canada’s public safety minister.
“Canada must close the legal gaps, investigate these operations and ensure that people in our communities can speak, organize and exercise their democratic rights without coercion, intimidation or fear.”
*Click image or link to read or watch the news - https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/article/report-alleges-china-linked-to-at-least-18-overseas-police-stations-in-canada/
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT RELEASES NEW HUMANITARIAN SPACES FOLLOWING PRESSURE FROM MP JENNY KWAN AND THOUSANDS OF CANADIANS
Kwan’s parliamentary petition e-7636 mobilized nationwide support to secure processing space for Hong Kong Pathway and Ukraine applicants amidst Conservative push for further immigration cuts.
OTTAWA, ON — Following months of relentless NDP advocacy and the formal tabling of Parliamentary Petition e-7636, MP Jenny Kwan (Vancouver East) welcomed the federal government’s announcement reserving 100,000 temporary resident spaces for humanitarian applicants, including Hongkongers and Ukrainians who were a mere footnote in last year's budget.
For months, tens of thousands of Hongkongers, Ukrainians, and Sudanese applicants faced severe processing delays, with many Hong Kong Pathway permanent residency (PR) applicants trapped in backlogs estimated to stretch up to a decade due to low annual immigration quotas.
In response to this growing crisis, MP Kwan worked with Hongkonger groups and sponsored Parliamentary Petition e-7636, which garnered over 20,600 validated signatures from across Canada calling directly on Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) to raise immigration targets and allocate sufficient processing capacity for humanitarian PR streams.
This win stands in stark contrast to the Official Opposition, as Conservatives continue to advocate for further across-the-board cuts to immigration levels—a move that would shut the door on vulnerable applicants and leave Hong Kong human rights defenders stranded in processing limbo.
“When the government left tens of thousands of Hong Kongers stuck in administrative limbo, and the Conservatives called to close Canada's doors even further. Refusing to backdown, I called for the government to increase the quota without impacting persecuted refugees who are seeking safety in Canada,” said Jenny Kwan, MP for Vancouver East. “This announcement of 100,000 spaces shows what happens when impacted communities and allies come together to demand fairness. The government is finally responding to the clear call set out in Petition e-7636: Canada must honor its promises to those fleeing political oppression and human rights abuses.”
While acknowledging the announcement as a key victory in forcing the government’s hand, Kwan emphasized that the NDP will closely monitor implementation to ensure these spaces translate into immediate PR processing and that all Hong Kong and Ukraine special immigration applications will be processed by 2027.
“A policy promise is only as good as its execution,” added Kwan. “We pushed the government to open these doors despite Conservative calls to shrink intake, and we will keep pushing until every eligible Hong Kong resident and Ukraine humanitarian applicants who built a life here gets the permanent status they were promised.”