Citizenship and Immigration Committee on June 15th, 2026

[The Chair, Liberal, Julie Dzerowicz]

This meeting is called to order.

As mentioned previously, welcome to meeting number 38 of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration.

We have two panels this afternoon. They will be shortened panels. Our last one will be interrupted because we have votes, but I will get right into it.

Today's meeting is taking place in hybrid format.

I would like to make a few comments for the benefit of the witnesses and members.

As always, kindly wait until I recognize you by name before speaking. For those on Zoom, click on the microphone icon.

It's in our second panel that we have someone coming in on Zoom, so I'll skip that part.

I'll remind everyone that members may ask their questions in either French or English. If you need interpretation, to our witnesses, please take a moment now to prepare your earpiece and select the listening channel you need in advance in order to take full advantage of the time allotted for questions and answers.

As a reminder, all comments by members and witnesses should be addressed through the chair. For members who wish to speak, please raise your hand. The committee clerk and I will manage the speaking order as best we can.

I want to remind everyone not to speak over each other, as it will be hard for our interpreters to interpret, and it makes their job very difficult.

I will do my best to let you know when you have only one minute left, whether it is in your opening remarks or during the question and answer period.

Thank you for your co-operation.

Pursuant to Standing Order 108(2) and the motion adopted by the committee on May 6, 2026, the committee is continuing its study of attracting and empowering global talent to strengthen Canada's economy.

I would now like to welcome today's witnesses.

I would like to warmly welcome our two witnesses.

I know we have Mr. David Pierce from the Canadian Chamber of Commerce.

I want to warmly welcome you, Ms. Anne Patterson, from the Information and Communications Technology Council.

You each have five minutes for opening remarks, after which we will begin our rounds of questions.

Mr. Pierce, we'll begin with you for five minutes. Your time begins now.

[David Pierce, Vice-President, Government Relations, Canadian Chamber of Commerce]

Good morning, Madam Chair, and honourable members.

Thank you for the invitation to appear today to provide testimony as part of your study on attracting and empowering global talent to strengthen Canada's economy.

The Canadian Chamber of Commerce is the country's largest business association, with an active network of approximately 400 chambers of commerce and boards of trade, representing nearly 200,000 businesses of all sizes, in all sectors and in most federal ridings across the country.

Immigration is a key driver of economic growth in Canada, but the capacity of the country to attract and empower global talent has been disrupted. Our competitiveness as a top destination for global top talent is being eroded, and we're losing out.

According to the 2026 TD Bank article titled “Canada's Silent Brain Drain”, “Canada has increasingly functioned as a staging ground” for the U.S. labour market, because “it selects skilled immigrants, integrates them into the labour market, and then loses them to larger and more lucrative U.S. ecosystems.”

Among Canadian-born students, exit rates at the top of the skills distribution are roughly double those at the bottom. For international students, top performers are twice as likely to leave as Canadian top performers.

This is not due to poor domestic compensation. Top graduates earn well by Canadian standards. They leave because compensation and upward mobility for their skills is simply higher elsewhere.

A few months ago, I was invited to provide testimony as part of your study on Canada's immigration system. At that time, I highlighted the fact that Canadian businesses are under strain due to real—or the risk of—tariffs shutting down sectors of our economy and aggressive changes to the U.S. tax system, coupled with the requirement that Canadian businesses diversify to other markets. Those risks have not changed.

At a time when Canadian businesses are having to compete in ways they haven't before, we cannot afford to continue eroding Canada's capacity to attract and retain global talent. We need an immigration system that is anchored in the needs of our economy and will help Canadian businesses compete in a rapidly evolving global economy.

Immigration policy is an economic policy. This is the reason the Canadian Chamber of Commerce advocates for practical, evidence-based policy solutions that align immigration with Canada's current and future workforce needs. We need to improve system efficiency and integrity, as well as to ensure that businesses of all sizes can access the talent required to compete and grow.

There is no debate that Canada will continue to need immigration and immigrants for the positive effect they have in developing our country. Immigrants are vital in many sectors, such as health care, in which 25% of registered nurses, 43% of pharmacists, 37% of doctors and 45% of dentists are immigrants.

The government is advancing nation-building projects in which immigrants account for 41% of architects, 40% of civil engineers, 34% of all transportation sector workers, 16% of electricians and 12% of steamfitters and pipefitters. We need more of that.

In the wake of the release of the national AI strategy, I would like to remind this group that two of the three globally known pioneers of AI, nicknamed the “godfathers of AI”, are immigrants to Canada.

Canada's attractiveness is based on its ability to rebuild a system that is favourable to Canadians, as well as global talent who decide to move and establish life here. Restoring public confidence in the system involves placing the debate where it should be. Precisely how can our immigration system make Canadians and Canada's economy better off?

At the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, we've established the immigration council, with members from across industries in all regions of the country to advance those questions. Canada requires an immigration strategy that reflects the economic realities, sector-specific workforce needs and regional demographic pressures of our country.

Our members in rural and remote parts of the country are particularly distressed by current policies and uncertainty, which are having a corrosive effect on their local economies, businesses and industries. Without a workforce, they literally have to close shops and restaurants, and we've heard concerns about keeping hospitals fully functional.

Our colleges, universities and research centres are also facing pressures with the current uncertainty around programs. We support a more coordinated and accountable international student program that protects Canada's global reputation, improves student outcomes and better aligns them with pathways to permanent residency in which the labour market needs and institutional capacity are met.

We believe that restoring public confidence is not simply about reducing and restricting immigration but more about implementing an efficient immigration system that upholds integrity and aligns better with the country's needs.

I look forward to your questions. Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Julie Dzerowicz]

Excellent. That was exactly five minutes, Mr. Pierce. Thank you.

Next, we have five minutes for Ms. Patterson.

Please, Ms. Patterson, your five minutes starts now.

[Anne Patterson, Chief Research and Communications Officer, Information and Communications Technology Council]

Thank you for inviting me to appear today. My name is Anne Patterson, and I'm the chief research and communications officer at ICTC, which is the Information and Communications Technology Council of Canada. ICTC is a national, not-for-profit centre of expertise focused on strengthening Canada's digital advantage in the global economy through research and through programs. Our talent programs have supported more than 13,000 internationally educated technology professionals to contribute meaningfully to Canada's economy alongside initiatives to build domestic digital talent pipelines.

The digital economy employs approximately 2.7 million people, or 13% of Canada's workforce, and accounts for roughly 10% of GDP. ICTC forecasts that employment in Canada's digital economy will grow at 2.7% annually through 2030, more than twice the pace of the broader labour market. This workforce will be critical to Canada's ambitions in artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, defence, digital infrastructure and other strategic sectors.

Canada must continue investing in STEM education, work-integrated learning, upskilling and employer-led training. However, building talent takes time. In fast-moving sectors, delays in accessing critical skills can slow investment, technology adoption and productivity growth. Canada needs both strong domestic talent pipelines and access to global talent.

Immigrants already account for 37% of Canada's digital economy workforce, yet many internationally trained professionals are not working at their full skill level. Canada may attract someone with advanced experience in software, cybersecurity, data or AI, but that person can still face barriers in having their skills recognized, assessed or fully utilized by employers. This is the underutilization challenge.

Not only is Canada competing to attract talent, but it's competing to ensure that the talent contributes quickly and effectively to economic growth. In the digital economy, skills demand changes rapidly. New technologies create new roles and new competency requirements faster than traditional occupational classifications can adapt. If immigration selection relies too heavily on static or backwards-looking indicators, Canada risks selecting for yesterday's labour market needs rather than tomorrow's opportunities.

I would offer three recommendations.

First, Canada should make greater use of forward-looking labour market intelligence in immigration selection. Education, age and language ability remain important, but they should be complemented by labour market forecasts and demand-side indicators. Category-based selection is a very positive step; however, in rapidly evolving sectors such as artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, cloud computing and digital infrastructure, skills demand can change significantly from year to year.

Immigration selection should make greater use of labour market forecasts, vacancy persistence, employment projections, wage trends, skill requirements and regional demand. Selection criteria should be reviewed regularly to ensure that they reflect emerging economic opportunities and rapidly evolving skills needs rather than relying too heavily on historical labour market conditions.

Second, Canada should modernize how it assesses experience and skills. In many digital occupations, the relevance and recency of experience can be more important than the total number of years worked. For example, a software developer with three years of current experience in a very relevant area like AI, cloud architecture or cybersecurity may be better aligned with labour market needs than a software developer with significantly more experience in other technologies. Canada's immigration system should better recognize demonstrated competencies, certifications and occupation-specific skills.

Third, Canada should strengthen employer readiness and talent utilization. Immigration policy often focuses on preparing newcomers while paying less attention to helping employers recruit, assess, onboard and retain international talent. Employers need practical tools and greater confidence in evaluating international experience and skills. Better use of newcomer talent is not only a fairness issue but an economic productivity issue.

If Canada is serious about AI, cybersecurity, digital sovereignty and competitiveness, it must be equally serious about talent. Strategic immigration helps Canada move faster, build faster and compete more effectively.

Thank you, and I look forward to your questions.

[The Chair, Liberal, Julie Dzerowicz]

Thank you so much, Ms. Patterson.

We will begin with our first round of questions, which is six minutes for both the questions and answers.

We will begin with Mr. Davies for six minutes.

[Fred Davies, Conservative, Niagara South, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I'd like to thank the witnesses for their testimony today.

Conservatives have always supported immigration that strengthens Canada's economy, attracts investment and brings the world's best entrepreneurs, innovators and highly skilled workers to our country. The start-up visa program was intended to make Canada a destination of choice for job creators and innovators, yet years of delays, backlogs and poor oversight have instead damaged Canada's reputation, driven investment elsewhere and undermined confidence among the talented individuals our economy needs.

Mr. Pierce, the SUV program was suspended on January 1. We have over 44,000 approved individuals in start-ups now sitting in a possible 10-year bureaucratic purgatory. Has the federal government's mismanagement of this program damaged Canada's reputation as a destination for global talent, in your view?

[David Pierce]

Any time a program like that gets bogged down in that way, it hurts Canada's reputation. I'll steer clear of assigning blame as to how that happened.

From a business perspective, we've heard that the time it takes to identify a labour shortage, identify a labour need, make application to the system and have that processed on just the Canadian side is upwards of a year, let alone if somebody is trying to apply and come in from overseas. That creates disruption. That creates a labour shortage that the Canadian economy needs to continue to weather and manage. We would certainly be calling for addressing that as critically and urgently as possible.

[Fred Davies, Conservative, Niagara South, ON]

On the IRCC website, if you're applying through the current suspended SUV program, it's a 10-year wait, which effectively means you're not going to get here. In your view, how much investment do you believe Canada has lost as we go through these program machinations?

[David Pierce]

I don't have a figure for you. I'll certainly come back with my team if we have one on quantifying that.

We're facing an economic crisis in Canada. The government has introduced a number of very aggressive policies to build across the country. As we've asked time and time again, with what workforce will we accomplish that? We need skilled labour. We need low-skilled labour. We need entrepreneurs. We need the tax system in Canada to be attractive, to draw the best and the brightest to Canada to set up shop here.

Matt Holmes, my executive VP at the Chamber of Commerce, wrote an op-ed last spring saying that it's time to start recruiting top American talent. It happened during the Vietnam War, of course. It's happened many times before. We have a lot to offer, but I don't think we're thinking big enough on immigration. I think we should be thinking bigger. Certainly, from the business perspective, there is no doubt a loss of economic activity. There's been a loss of opportunity for the Canadian economy as a result of all of this.

[Fred Davies, Conservative, Niagara South, ON]

Ms. Patterson, ICTC frequently highlights the need for highly skilled workers. You mentioned that in your comments. I am focusing on the SUV program, because I have a strong interest in it. What is your view on this? You're obviously aware of the program. You're aware of the talent that Canada is no longer receiving as a result of the wait for up to a decade for people to bring their innovative businesses to Canada. What's your perspective? Do you think it has affected Canada's capacity to bring talented people into Canada?

[Anne Patterson]

The start-up visa program holds a lot of promise and a lot of potential. It's certainly what Canada needs, but it is bogged down in some administrative challenges. It's important to consider that we are competing for this start-up talent with the U.K., with Germany and with EU countries. There is a global digital economy that we are in competition for talent with. The more efficient we can make our systems, the better we will do at attracting that talent to Canada.

[Fred Davies, Conservative, Niagara South, ON]

Are you aware of the problems and issues related to the SUV program?

[Anne Patterson]

I can't comment on that specifically.

[Fred Davies, Conservative, Niagara South, ON]

You can't. Okay.

Mr. Pierce, you made reference to capital that leaves Canada. Capital is not patient. Capital goes where opportunities exist. What are the key factors that Canada needs to change if we're going to retain the people who will contribute to our economy?

[David Pierce]

I would almost suggest that you'd need a whole committee meeting to study just that question.

Canada's competitiveness is the story. We need tax competitiveness with the United States and with other jurisdictions around the world. We need credential recognition across the country. If you're trained in one trade or credential here in Ontario, you may not be eligible to move to another jurisdiction if you need to, for whatever business purpose.

To come back to the mandate of this committee, our immigration policies are undermining business success. We have entrepreneurs. We have business leaders who run meat-packing facilities in southwestern Ontario, but they can't find labour. We have universities that are purging programs and entire divisions as a result of a significantly reduced international student program.

On the overall ability to field labour for business, if there's a Canadian or a permanent resident who's interested and qualified, they should have access to a job opportunity in Canada, first and foremost, of course. If those conditions don't exist, then the Canadian business owner should be able to find the labour they need.

We heard of Red Lake's emergency room being closed recently because they couldn't find staff. There are labour shortages across the construction trades, across a number of skilled fields. We need to address those so that we can bring that labour force to Canada and our businesses can grow.

[The Chair, Liberal, Julie Dzerowicz]

Thank you, Mr. Pierce.

Thank you, Mr. Davies.

Mr. Joseph, you have the floor for six minutes.

[Natilien Joseph, Liberal, Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

My question is for you, Mr. Pierce.

In your opening remarks, you cited figures on the presence of immigrants in certain professions and key economic sectors. Could you please remind the committee of those figures and tell us how immigration has contributed to the Canadian labour market and created opportunities for Canadians?

[David Pierce]

Thank you for the question.

We intentionally added that to my speaking notes because I think it's really important to highlight the critical role that immigration and immigration policies have played and will play in growing Canada. However, these opportunities should not be at the expense of Canadians who are permanent residents: They should have access and be able to apply if they are qualified and interested in the role.

I mentioned the statistics that come from IRCC's website, and StatsCan has a number of great data points. As for our growth, the immigrant population is a major source of labour in Canada.

I would challenge this committee and the members on it. We have a demographic problem. We have a population problem, and that is not news. It's now being talked about by the Bank of Canada. If the population number continues to go the way it has been going.... We're facing some pretty considerable economic challenges. You will, quite simply, not attract the business owner of the new software AI company who wants to come to Canada if they can't find access to labour, if their taxes are too high and if the cost of operating their business is too high. It simply won't succeed, and Canada will continue to lose out.

[Natilien Joseph, Liberal, Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC]

The government recently changed its immigration system and immigration levels plan to better meet labour market needs and support the country's economic growth.

In your opinion, how can the immigration policy help achieve those objectives and what role should it play in Canada's economic development?

[David Pierce]

We've certainly been encouraged by recent changes that have been made. However, I think that, fundamentally, when you look at the immigration system, we need to attract highly skilled labour. Everybody has heard the anecdote of a cab driver in Toronto who was a doctor in their home country: I view that as a failure of our immigration system. That individual should be credentialed in Canada—presumably retrained, of course—to serve Canadians in their capacity as a doctor.

We need labour that will come into the country. If there's a labour shortage in cabs and transportation, then let's create that stream so that it's very specific and we're bringing in people who are aligned with their interests and are actually going to stay, operate and succeed.

We're very encouraged by some of those changes. We think there are more needed, especially around creating dedicated, effective streams that aren't suffering from backlog, that don't suffer from a barrage of policies, forms and application processes. Unfortunately, the current system is—

[Natilien Joseph, Liberal, Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC]

Mr. Pierce, I have one last question for you.

Do you have any figures on the number of immigrants in certain specific jobs?

[David Pierce]

I believe that our business data lab, which is a research division of the Canadian Chamber, has data in that regard. I can make sure that it's provided to you after the fact.

[Natilien Joseph, Liberal, Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC]

Thank you.

I will now turn to you, Ms. Patterson.

Can you explain why targeted immigration programs are important to attract the talent that the Canadian digital industry needs?

More broadly, how does immigration contribute to creating opportunities for growth and employment in the digital economy for Canadians?

[Anne Patterson]

Thank you for the question.

The digital economy works a bit differently from Canada's general labour market. It is very skills-intensive, cyclical and sensitive to the quality of experience skills currency, as well as emerging demand.

How we select really matters. We are advocating for a skills-based selection methodology that would allow us to look at what skills are going to be most in demand in the next two, five or 10 years, to make sure that we're future-proofing our decisions.

There's a great opportunity in getting this right for Canada's digital economy, in that it is an engine of productivity and innovation for the country. If we get this right, we will be able to invest in productivity and innovation and grow quite rapidly to meet these national objectives while investing in parallel in domestic experience and talent.

[Natilien Joseph, Liberal, Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC]

I have time for one last question.

We know that Canada aspires to be a global leader in sectors such as artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and advanced technologies. How can targeted economic immigration programs, including category-based selection, help support that ambition?