Federal immigration department cutting 3,300 jobs over three years

A federal government building in downtown Ottawa is seen in this Sept. 11, 2024 image. (Dave Charbonneau/CTV News Ottawa)

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) says it will be eliminating 3,300 positions over the next three years.

IRCC confirmed the coming job cuts in a statement to CTV News Ottawa on Monday.

“IRCC can confirm that a message was shared with all IRCC employees on Monday, January 20 regarding upcoming labour reductions. Over the next three years, we will reduce our planned workforce by approximately 3,300 positions. This will impact to various degrees every sector and every branch across IRCC, both domestically and internationally, in HQ and in the regions, and at all levels, including up to the executive levels," the statement said.

“We estimate that about 80% of these reductions can be achieved by reducing staffing commitments and our temporary workforce. The remaining 20% of reductions will need to be achieved through the Workforce Adjustment process and will affect indeterminate employees.”

The federal department says these staffing changes are meant to align with reduced immigration levels and funding.

“In recent years, IRCC expanded rapidly to address global crises like the pandemic, modernize systems and support record immigration levels that boosted economic recovery and addressed labour shortages. This growth relied on temporary funding, which was never meant to be permanent,” the statement said. “In October 2024, the Government of Canada announced its Immigration Levels Plan for the next three years, which will see reduced immigration levels resulting in a short-term pause in our population growth to achieve more sustainable long-term growth. The new immigration levels plan introduces lower targets to focus on sustainable growth aligned with housing, infrastructure and social services. Staffing within IRCC is being adjusted to align with reduced levels and permanent funding.”

‘Devastating blow’: Federal unions decry service cuts

The Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) and the Canada Employment and Immigration Union (CEIU) issued a statement about the potential job cuts, calling it a “devastating blow to the public services families, businesses and communities in Canada rely on.”

The unions say there are no “clear details” about who will be affected by the job cuts, with more information to be announced in mid-February.

“These massive cuts will hurt families and businesses who rely on these critical public services and make a growing immigration crisis even worse,” Sharon DeSousa, PSAC National President, said in a statement.

“Sweeping public service cuts always hurt Canada’s most vulnerable populations and leave thousands of workers in limbo, unsure if they’ll be out of a job next month.”

According to the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, there were 13,092 employees at Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada in 2024. That’s up from 10,248 in 2022 and 7,800 in 2019.

The union says employees at Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada are “essential in processing citizenship, permanent and residency applications, passports, conducting interviews, and ensuring Canada can attract the talent needed to strengthen our economy.”

The 2024 federal budget outlined plans to reduce 5,000 public service jobs through attrition over four years.

The 2023 federal budget included a plan to find $15.4 billion in public sector spending reductions over five years, while the 2023 fall fiscal update in November 2023 included a pledge to “extend and expand” efforts to refocus government spending by $345.6 million in 2025-26, and $691 million a year from 2026-27 onward.

In October, former Treasury Board President Anita Anand sent a letter to federal departments, asking staff to “carefully review” spending to identify operations that would be streamlined or business processes that could be reengineered to provide “better value for money.”

The Treasury Board Secretariat said savings would “only be drawn from operating budgets and through natural attrition, to the greatest extent possible.”

In November, the Canada Revenue Agency announced it was eliminating approximately 600 temporary and contract employees across the country by mid-December. The CRA told CTV News Ottawa it decided to “release” term employees early, in accordance with the terms of the employment contract.

“The newly announced cuts at IRCC are the most significant so far, but more are expected as federal departments are being asked to find savings across the board,” the unions said.

PSAC and the Canada Employment and Immigration Union are urging the government to “collaborate on real solutions,” including replacing outsourcing contracts.

“Last month, immigration processing wait times continued to reach record-breaking backlog levels, and these cuts will only worsen an already dire situation,” Rubina Boucher, national president of the CEIU, said. “Families longing to reunite, businesses grappling with critical labour shortages and a healthcare system desperate for skilled workers will all suffer the consequences of this reckless decision.”

The Canadian Association of Professional Employees (CAPE) also commented Monday, calling on the government to put any anticipated job cuts on hold until Parliament reconvenes.

“The timing of this decision raises serious questions given the immigration case backlog and broader geopolitical context, particularly the potential for drastic changes to U.S. immigration policy under the Trump administration,” CAPE president Nathan Prier wrote in a letter to Immigration Minister Marc Miller.

“Given the current political and social climate, it would be prudent to put these anticipated workforce reductions on hold, or at the very least to slow them down, until Parliament resumes, and a clearer national direction can be set as we now face a looming crisis in our relationship with the United States.”

NDP immigration critic Jenny Kwan reacted to the news, saying cuts would make processing delays worse.

“Many of the streams are already faced with severe processing delays. We have seen little to no improvements on the processing times of the vast majority of the streams. For some it’s worse. For example, spousal sponsorship applications outside of Quebec jumped from 12 months to 24 months,” Kwan said.

“For too long, families have had to suffer the pain and anguish of being separated from their loved ones. Cuts to IRCC staff will only further prolong that pain.”

There were 367,772 employees in the federal public service in 2024, according to the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat.