June 2026

 

Did you know that Niagara Falls is not Canada’s highest waterfall? It boasts the highest flow rate and is definitely the most famous, but the actual highest waterfall in Canada is in British Columbia. This past week, I had the pleasure of visiting Montmorency Falls, which is 30 metres higher than Niagara and the highest in Quebec. I climbed an impressive set of stairs from the bottom of the falls to a suspension bridge that spanned the top of the falls. It was quite the view.

The excursion was during a three-day mini-vacation to Quebec City. During that week, Canada’s Immigration Minister paused processing of citizenship by descent applications, the Ontario government announced Phase 1 of its Immigrant Program Redesign, and IRCC updated its program delivery instructions for Study Permits: Assessing study permit conditions. This meant, in addition to the 192 emails that came into my inbox while I was away, I had to come up to speed on these developments and more.

In the province of Quebec, there is a government-mandated two-week summer vacation for the province’s construction workers that begins the second-last Sunday of July. According to my research (which consisted of a quick visit to Wikipedia), ‘While initially created in 1971 to coordinate different building trades on large projects, it has grown into a widespread cultural tradition. Roughly a quarter of all workers in Quebec take their vacation at this time, resulting in a major peak for tourism, cottage rentals, and traffic across the province.’

I would like to propose a similar government-mandated two-week summer vacation for the Canadian and provincial immigration industry. There would be a decree prohibiting policy announcements from any level of government. Deportations would be suspended. The Federal Court would not hear any immigration-related matters. The Immigration and Refugee Protection Division would suspend proceedings.  Provincial and national law societies would not meet to plan conferences or draft policy statements to the government, and listserv postings would be prohibited. No one would post to X. All lawyers and other members of the immigration legal community would spend time with their families, pursue personal interests and find waterfalls.

I’ve not taken two consecutive weeks off during my career. How could I, when IRCC regularly sends out letters requesting that documents be provided within a 7-day deadline? Most immigration lawyers work as sole practitioners or in small firms. It’s not the type of job where you can take weeks off at a time and completely ‘unplug’. It is a job I love, but the constant onslaught of information is a challenge. My call for a mandated summer vacation is tongue-in-cheek, but short of retiring, it is probably the only way my colleagues and I will ever manage to get a true vacation.  

Happy Canada Day, everyone.