Canada’s Immigration Policy Is Hypocritical and Damaging, Says Gabor Maté

Canada is moving toward stricter immigration and asylum rules. Bill C-12, passed in March, limits refugee claims, speeds up removals and case closures, and gives the government broader authority to pause or alter visa, study permit, and work permit processing. It builds on earlier measures, including the 2002 Safe Third Country Agreement with the United States—which was expanded in 2023 and requires asylum seekers to seek protection in the first safe country they reach, barring those who arrive from the US at official land crossings from claiming refugee status in Canada.

In other related developments, immigration minister Lena Metlege Diab recently came under criticism over “piecemeal” communication about a planned pathway to permanent residency for 33,000 skilled workers, with critics saying it fuelled confusion and misinformation among migrants before full program details were released and that it created opportunities for unauthorized immigration consultants to exploit temporary residents at risk of losing status.

Moreover, immigration discourse in Canada continues to be influenced by US policy narratives and media framing, with anti-immigrant sentiment and polarizing rhetoric shaping how migration is understood on both sides of the border. Data reveals that Canadians’ support for immigration levels decreased substantially in 2023 and 2024 to a thirty-year low, despite historically stable attitudes, just as annual permanent resident intake rose between 2001 and 2023 from about 250,000 to over 470,000, and that 56 percent of Canadians in 2025 believed the country was accepting too many immigrants.

Against this backdrop, concerns about the mental health of immigrants and refugees, the trauma they live with, and their long-term integration have become more pressing. Newcomers arriving from conflict-affected regions often face not only the psychological impact of displacement but also the pressures of adapting to shifting immigration systems and public attitudes in host countries.

To explore these issues, I spoke by Zoom with Gabor Maté—physician and author whose work focuses on trauma, addiction, and the social roots of mental illness. As someone who himself came to Canada as an immigrant and has spent decades working with newcomer families in family practice, Maté brings a personal and clinical perspective to these questions, often emphasizing a deeper understanding of immigrant experience than is commonly reflected in public debates.

The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

You came to Canada as an immigrant when you were a child. What motivated you and your family to build a life here? How does that experience compare to what newcomers face today?

We came to Canada in 1957 as refugees from Hungary, and Europeans were generally more accepted here than non-Europeans. We were welcomed and were given all kinds of support, and that was very generous of Canada. We came after the Hungarian Revolution, an anti-communist revolution, so politically, too, we were welcome here.

But, for me, it was still very hard. I remember being called a “DP,” a displaced person. It was a term originally used for people who had to leave their countries during the Second World War, but here in Canada, it was used as a pejorative. It was an insult.

So, on the one hand, we were supported by the Canadian government and brought here very generously. But, on the other, it was still difficult to fit in culturally. There are factors that can make integration easier for some groups—though it was still very hard in our case—but for people who come from other parts of the world and don’t receive the same level of political or social support, it can be much harder.

How do recent Canadian immigration policy changes, such as Bill C-12, affect newcomers psychologically?

Well, in the first place, where are people coming from? People are coming from places where there’s conflict, insecurity, poverty, oppression, and all kinds of stress and trauma. They are places where the Western world has created all the problems, like Syria, Iraq, North Africa, Libya, South America, and the Caribbean, among others. These are all places that the West, including Canada, has made really miserable in all kinds of ways: by economic pressures, military interventions, and so on.

These people are already terribly insecure, terribly stressed. Now they come to the West. Canadian policies that make their experience more difficult, more insecure, and more punishing are only going to deepen people’s anxiety, stress, and trauma. And it’s not just in Canada. It’s part of a whole Western trend of clamping down on immigrants and refugees—refugees from all the countries that the West has ruined, such as Afghanistan. Not to mention Palestine.

And it’s very selective. In six months after the Ukraine war broke out, Canada approved a million refugee claims. But from a place like the Gaza Strip, where the death toll and destruction are exponentially greater, they accepted only a few thousand. So the policy is not only harsh but also discriminatory in the sense that people of colour are being affected more.

How do these global conflicts affect communities differently in Canada?

It’s different for different groups of people. For example, Ukrainians are considered Europeans, so they are very welcome and receive all kinds of support and advantages. I think that’s fine. Meanwhile, people from the Gaza Strip are often not welcomed in the same way. They face much harsher rules and much more limited possibilities for receiving help than Ukrainians. Not that Ukrainians shouldn’t be welcome—of course, they should be. They’re refugees from a terrible conflict. But Gazans are in much greater need.

Mental health in the Gaza Strip is at great risk because of the incredible suffering from the genocide. Mental health is a huge issue and has been for a long time. There was a study done in 2004, many years before October 7, which showed that a large percentage of children in the Gaza Strip had symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. Can you imagine what it is like now, with so many deaths and families losing members?

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Do the global conflicts contribute to an increase in racism and discrimination toward minorities in Canada?

There’s always been a certain degree of reaction against immigrants of colour, like anti-Chinese racism in Canada. That’s been going on for over a hundred years. There were anti-Asian riots and anti-Indian policies in Vancouver back in the early twentieth century.

With the global economy being more and more uncertain for people, as it is right now, they tend to look upon identifiable strangers as threats to their own well-being. People of different colours are obvious targets. Whenever there’s conflict, there are triggers for stress: uncertainty, lack of information, loss of control. When people are stressed, they tend to get more polarized and more hostile toward many people.

How do people from conflict zones carry deep trauma but still remain resilient when they come to Canada?

People have survived terrible conditions throughout our history. It’s part of human nature to deal with reality. But also, these people tend to come from cultures where there’s a strong sense of community and belonging. They have each other and back each other. That’s a factor for resilience.

And lastly, what impact do you think US immigration policies have on Canada and migrants here?

I don’t have specific data, studies, or observations on it, but I believe it’s going to have an effect. There’s so much anti-immigrant propaganda coming from the US and US media, which doesn’t provide much truth. It is not only in America but other Western countries too. Refugees from North Africa are drowning in the Mediterranean Sea in large numbers, and the Europeans are letting it happen. There is a general anti-immigrant sentiment sweeping Europe, and there are all kinds of parties that are openly racist now.

At the same time, America is the worst example, with American policies separating families from their children. The Canadian one is hypocritical, and it’s damaging. The policy is getting harsher, that’s for sure. It is worth remembering that America is a nation of immigrants—as is Canada.