Behind the Headlines: Covering Canada’s Immigration Transformation

Canada’s immigration policy is in flux, marked by record high levels of permanent resident entries, massively expanding numbers of temporary foreign workers and international students, and falling rates of citizenship acquisition by newcomers. Public opinion, which has long supported a robust immigration policy, has soured of late, driven by concerns over how immigration may be exacerbating the housing crisis. Drawing on the insights of Canada’s top journalists, this panel examines how these developments have been covered in Canada’s leading print media outlets and where Canada’s immigration policy may be heading in the future. This is a can’t miss event for anyone interested in immigration policy and politics in Canada!

 

Sarah Champagne is a reporter based in Montreal for the daily newspaper Le Devoir. She specializes in immigration and precarious work. She has contributed to the TV documentary Essentials (research, writing and co-host), which depicts Quebec’s dependence on asylum seekers and temporary workers. Sarah has been honoured with two Judith-Jasmin awards in 2023, the highest journalism distinction in the province, for this work and a series of articles on the major shift towards temporary immigration.

 

Nicholas Keung is the immigration reporter of the Toronto Star and has written extensively about Canada’s immigration, refugee and border policies, and the lived experience of migrants impacted by these policies. A former international student and immigrant, the Hong Kong native started his journalistic career at Sing Tao Daily, a Chinese-language newspaper in Toronto, covering municipal politics and the police beat. He has a Bachelor of Arts degree in communications and psychology from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

 

Matt Lundy is an economics reporter at The Globe and Mail, where he covers a wide range of topics: affordability, real estate, monetary policy, and quite often, the economics of immigration. Matt has broken several stories related to federal immigration policies. Last year, Matt was a recipient of an Arthur F. Burns Fellowship, which sent him to Berlin for two months of reporting.

 

 

Marina Jimenez spent 25 years as a journalist and worked for six newsrooms in three provinces including stints as an immigration reporter and editorial writer at the Globe and Mail, foreign writer for the Toronto Star, and on-air reporter for CBC TV Alberta News. She is the recipient of two Gold National Magazine Awards and a National Newspaper Award for her coverage of the immigration beat. In 2009/10, she was a Southam Journalism Fellow at Massey College, University of Toronto. She is Director of Communications for the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, UHN and Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation.