PM Trudeau Appoints Sean Fraser as the New Immigration Minister

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"On October 26, 2021, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau revealed his new cabinet. Sean Fraser was appointed as the new Minister of Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada."

Written by My Visa Source Team
Published on: Nov 9, 2021

On October 26, 2021, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau revealed his new cabinet. Sean Fraser was appointed as the new Minister of Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada.

Who Is Sean Fraser?

Sean Fraser is a 37-year old former lawyer from Nova Scotia. He first became a Member of Parliament in 2015. Since then, he has been reelected twice in 2019 and 2021. He will replace the former immigration minister, Marco Mendicino who has held the position since November 2019. Sean Fraser has a Bachelor of Science from St. Francis Xavier University, a law degree from Dalhousie University, and a Master’s Degree in Public International Law from Leiden University in the Netherlands.

With the cabinet set, the Liberal government will continue its work of governing Canada and leading it out of the pandemic. The Parliament is set to reconvene on November 22.

How Will the New Cabinet Affect Canadian Immigration?

The Cabinet is the body of ministerial advisors that help set out the policies and priorities of the federal government. Every cabinet minister receives a mandate letter from the Prime Minister. This letter highlights the priorities and policies the Prime Minister would like each minister to pursue during their time in the office.

The Liberal Party of Canada has been in power since 2015 when it won the federal election with a majority. However, since then they have had to form minority governments in 2019 and 2021. A majority government allows the party to pass any laws in the parliament without opposition. A minority government means that they need the support of the opposition to pass any laws.

Since 2015, the Liberal Party has continued to increase the immigration levels. A process that was first started in the late 1980s by the Conservative Party of Canada. In recent years, the Liberal Party has aggressively increased the immigration levels target to support and sustain the Canadian economy.

The Liberal Party increased the immigration levels target to 300,000 new immigrants per year from 250,000 shortly after coming to power in 2015. In 2020, the Immigration Levels Plan for 2021-23 was introduced which aimed at inviting a whopping 400,000 new immigrants per year. This target was set to help the Canadian economy recover post-pandemic.

What Can Be Expected in the Future for Canadian Immigration?

Since the Liberal Party was reelected, the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) can be expected to continue to pursue its top priority of inviting 401,000 new immigrants in 2021. In addition to that, the focus will be on family reunification and resettling Afghan refugees.

The IRCC along with the various Provincial Nominee Programs (PNPs) and Quebec will continue to invite new immigrants. Prime Minister Trudeau has yet to release the new mandate letters for his ministers. These letters will disclose the top priorities of every federal department, including the IRCC.

Before this, the IRCC was working on reducing the average processing time and introducing new permanent residence pathways for temporary foreign workers and international graduates. The new Immigration Levels Target Plan can be expected by March 2022. Usually, it is released on November 1, every year. However, since the elections were held in September 2021, they got delayed this year.

The Immigration Levels Plan for 2022-24 is not expected to contain any surprises and will probably be a continuation of the existing level plan. Around the same time, the federal government is expected to release Budget 2022 which will highlight the major priorities of the federal government.

The Liberal government will be facing the challenge of clearing up the existing backlogs that have significantly increased due to the pandemic.

They will also be working on reforming the Express Entry system and the Parents and Grandparents Sponsorship. The government will also work on launching the Municipal Nominee Programs and waiving citizenship fees.