Mark Carney, Canada’s new Prime Minister, has declared his cabinet in anticipation of the coming 2025 federal election, shuffling immigration ministers in the process. Well, Rachel Bendayan becomes Canada’s new Immigration Minister.
She will serve as the head of Canada’s immigration department, taking over from previous Immigration Minister Marc Miller.
Cabinet shuffles are a common occurrence in Canadian politics. It allows Prime Ministers the opportunity to reappoint ministers to different government departments or remove them from office entirely.
This might be done for various reasons, including awarding ministers for good performance, addressing poor-performing departments, or better-aligning government policy with public opinion.
The last cabinet shuffle took place in July of 2023, in which immigration ministers switched from Sean Fraser to Marc Miller.
Who Is Canada’s New Immigration Minister?
Rachel Bendayan becomes Canada’s new Immigration Minister. Minister Bendayan has held numerous roles in Canadian politics, including serving as the country’s previous Minister of Official Languages.
Moreover, Minister Bendayan previously served as the Parliamentary Secretary to the:
- Minister of Tourism and Associate Minister of Finance
- Minister of Small Businesses, Export Promotion, and International Trade
- Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance
Bendayan was born into a Moroccan-Jewish family and raised in Quebec. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in International Development Studies and a joint Bachelor of Civil Law/ Juris Doctor from McGill University.
With nearly a decade of experience, she established a thriving legal career at Norton Rose Fulbright before entering politics. During her legal career, Bendayan focused on litigation and international arbitration, with a specialization in international trade law. Additionally, she has taught at the Université de Montréal’s Faculty of Law.
Immigration Policy Under Prime Minister Mark Carney
With a transition of administrations, Canada’s immigration policy is now in the hands of a new Prime Minister & Immigration Minister.
Canadian ministers are given a Mandate Letter from the Prime Minister. The letter details the objectives that each minister must work to achieve & the challenges that they will have to address.
Prime Minister Carney’s views on these objectives as well as challenges for Canada’s Immigration Minister are unclear at this moment. However, previous statements provide some idea of his thinking. Among other policies, Carney has previously advocated for:
- Capping immigration to a ‘sustainable pre-pandemic trend’
- Prioritizing temporary residents of Canada for permanent residence
- Reining in numbers of temporary foreign workers
What Impact Did Marc Miller Have On Canada’s Immigration System?
As Rachel Bendayan becomes Canada’s new Immigration Minister, let us discuss Minister Miller’s impact on Canada’s immigration system.
Well, Marc Miller’s tenure as Immigration Minister of Canada yielded significant changes to the nation’s immigration system. The change was specifically around the contraction in temporary and permanent immigration to the country.
Many of Miller’s policies follow these themes, with the most impactful measures working to curb newcomer inflows to treat domestic housing and affordability pressures.
Among other changes in his time as Immigration Minister, Miller:
- Imposed levels on in-flows of new study as well as work permit holders
- Reduced the levels of permanent resident immigration to roughly pre-pandemic numbers
- Instituted a pause on applications for new LMIAS, i.e., Labour Market Impact Assessments in metropolitan areas with an unemployment rate equal to or greater than 6%
- Re-oriented federal economic immigration to an ‘In-Canada’ focus
- Established a cap on new international student enrollment, imposing province-by-province student allocations in the process
- Committed to serious rollbacks of Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program
- Made sweeping changes to Canada’s Express Entry category occupations
- Introduced language as well as field of study requirements for Post-Graduation Work Permit issuances
- Introduced new permanent residence pathways as well as study permit exemptions for skilled workers working in in-demand trades and construction sectors
- Implemented restrictions on the issuance of family Open Work Permits
- Announced the removal of arranged employment points under the CRS, i.e., Comprehensive Ranking System for Express Entry candidates
The Significance Of The Immigration Portfolio
Immigration is a key issue in Canadian society, with the inflow of newcomers/ immigrants serving crucially to bolster Canada’s labor market and demography. In his time as minister of immigration, Marc Miller often noted the significant role that immigration played in Canadian society, allowing Canada to avoid a recession in 2023.
The immigration file is such a key focal point in Canadian politics that former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau led the declaration of the 2025-2027 Immigration Levels Plan himself.
The importance of the immigration portfolio is further evidenced by the prominent role many immigration ministers play even after their time heading IRCC.
Sean Fraser, the immigration minister who preceded Marc Miller, has gone on to become Canada’s Minister of Housing Infrastructure and Communities – a pivotal role given the current asymmetry between housing stock and housing demand in the country, along with the associated negative effects on affordability.
The immigration minister preceding Fraser, Marc Mendicino, has similarly continued to hold prominent positions in Canadian politics, serving as the nation’s Minister of Public Safety until 2023. Mendocino currently serves as Canada’s 16th Chief of Staff-designate under Mark Carney.
In addition to its heightened importance, regulations around immigration in Canada are such that the nation’s immigration department wields a level of control and leeway around its operations that many other governmental departments do not enjoy.
This is evidenced, for instance, by the sweeping public policies IRCC can enact to meet its governmental mandate.
One example of a previously enacted public policy was the temporary policy to lift work hour caps for international students in Canada during regular school semesters.
Under this COVID-era policy, students could work an unlimited number of hours off-campus while attending classes during regular school semesters. This temporary policy was a major change from the previous limit of only 20 off-campus work hours per week. Currently, international students may only work 24 hours a week off-campus during regular school semesters.
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