The verdict: Misleading

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a reduction, not a freeze, on immigration to Canada.

Context

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has not announced a three-year freeze on admitting immigrants to the country, despite claims shared online that misinterpret a recently unveiled plan to reduce immigration.

The complaint (archived here) surfaced on X, with the post reaching 2.1 million views (archived here) which says: “BREAKING: Justin Trudeau has just announced a 3-year freeze on the acceptance of immigrants to Canada. “We made mistakes.” Reality takes over. » The complaint also appeared on Facebook (archived example here) and Bluesky (archived example here).

We also found an iteration of the claim (archived here) on TikTok using Accelerate logicallya product that allows the discovery of content worthy of verification on social networks.

These publications misinterpret the plan announced at the end of October aimed at reducing immigration of permanent and temporary residents over the next three years, and not freezing it, from 2025.

Actually

The plan was first presented at a press conference on October 24, 2024, hosted by the non-profit Canadian television service Cable Public Affairs Channel (CPAC). broadcast live.

The plan is also detailed on the Official Canadian government websiteentitled “Immigration Levels Plan 2025 to 2027”.

According to the government website, the 2024 allocation of new permanent residents will decrease from 485,000 to 395,000 in 2025, 380,000 in 2026 and 365,000 in 2027.

The plan also includes a reduction in the number of temporary workers from 367,750 in 2025 to 237,700 in 2027 and a lowering of the cap for international students.

This comes after the the government announced that the cap for international students would be 360,000 permits in 2024, down 35% from 2023. From 2025, the cap will be 305,900 permits.

Nowhere in the 2025-2027 plan, on the government website or in the press conference of October 24, is there any reference to a freeze or halt to immigration.

Trudeau then released a moving video via his account on November 17, and a longer video of almost seven minutes was posted online on his YouTube account the same day.

HAS 00:16 In the YouTube video, Trudeau says: “We are reducing the number of immigrants who will come to Canada over the next three years. »

Trudeau said that in the past, temporary workers and international students were not included in the government’s immigration targets.

He said an increase in the number of temporary workers was needed after the pandemic to quell the labor shortage. At 03:32he said: “Some saw it as an opportunity to make a profit, to game the system. We’ve seen far too many big companies do this.

HAS 04:11he said: “Looking back, when the post-pandemic boom subsided and companies no longer needed additional labor help, as a team federal government, we could have acted more quickly and turned off the taps more quickly.

Trudeau added: “Far too many colleges and universities have relied on international students to boost their results. »

In the video, he also said there are “bad actors” who exploit “vulnerable immigrants” by promising them pathways to citizenship that don’t materialize.

HAS 05:36Trudeau said that between people entering Canada and those leaving, the country will experience a pause in population growth over the next two years before increasing at a “sustainable rate” starting in 2027, with a return to pre-pandemic growth thereafter.

Logically Facts contacted the Department of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada and the Office of the Prime Minister of Canada, but they did not immediately responded to requests for comment.

The verdict

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau did not announce an immigration freeze at the end of October, but a reduction in permanent and temporary residents as part of a 2025 to 2027 immigration plan. Therefore, we marked this statement as misleading.

This report was first published on logicallyfacts.comand was re-released on ABP Live under a special arrangement. Aside from the headline, no changes have been made to the ABP Live report.