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Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada has claimed that a ‘lack of funding’ prevented it from investigating rampant fraud, while its budget was at an all-time high.

Auditor General Karen Hogan’s report details how fraud is plaguing Canada’s international student program while the ministry twiddles its thumbs and demands more money.

Hogan explained that 153,000 cases of potentially fraudulent international students were flagged by learning institutions to the immigration department. “They suspected the students weren’t attending full-time, which is a condition of their permit,” she said, noting that this requires subsequent investigation and follow-up.

“What’s concerning for me is that 40% of [these cases] were closed even though the student never communicated back with the immigration department,” Hogan continued.

“I would have expected they would have taken that all the way to the end, and then done something with it – either put a flag or a notice on the student's file so that when or if they apply for another immigration permit, you can apply some rigour there and have it factor into your decision-making the next time around.”

Hogan’s report details that after study permit applications exploded 121% between 2019 and 2023, the government finally slammed on the brakes on the program in January 2024, only after the damage to social systems was already done.

Interestingly, the most significant downshift from source countries that occurred after that change came from India, which accounted for 51.6% of all incoming students in 2023 and only 8.1% in 2025.

Shadow Minister for Immigration Michelle Rempel Garner said she pushed for accountability, to no avail.

“The Minister of Immigration admitted that the government is still bringing in very high levels of foreign student permits, knowing that there are close to 2.9 million people in the country that are either on expired or will have their visas expire this year,” Garner detailed, saying the minister failed to instill confidence that the system was being reigned in. “In fact, they're kind of doubling down on flawed processes and a lack of coordination at a time when we have a jobs crisis.”

What no one is talking about is that while Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) clung to ‘lack of funding’ as their excuse as to why they couldn’t investigate fraud happening under their noses, their funding was the highest it had ever been.

Since 2017, IRCC’s operating budget has exploded from just over $2 billion to an astronomical $6.5 billion in 2023/24 — the same period the agency insisted it lacked the resources to tackle fraud.

Billions flowed in, their budget expanded significantly, yet oversight failed, leaving a system awash in money but drowning in mismanagement.

MP Rempel summarizes the issue facing Canadians well. Too many people have been brought in, too quickly (and fraudulently), for housing, jobs and healthcare to keep up.

This is not sustainable — and throwing even more money at a department that has already proven it cannot enforce its own rules is not a solution. Until accountability, enforcement, and basic oversight are restored, Canadians shouldn’t be asked to pay more for the same failures.

Radical immigration policies, dwarfing historical averages, enacted by the Liberals over the last decade, have cost thousands of Canadian kids their jobs, and those same kids are being solicited to partake in sham marriages and immigration fraud themselves.

Alleged immigration fraud at Picton Tim Hortons sparks investigation

An underage employee alleges her manager attempted to orchestrate a $20,000 immigration fraud scheme by proposing she marry the manager's brother, highlighting ongoing concerns around exploitation of Canada’s… pic.twitter.com/bxoovBdTyM

— Rebel News (@RebelNewsOnline) September 30, 2025

As the integrity of Canada’s systems erodes under the weight of poor policy, reckless spending, and not only weak enforcement, but even weaker governance, let Hogan’s report be a warning, and a call to action that can no longer be ignored.