Canada has a new Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship as Marc Miller was given the role in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s reshuffle.

Miller steps up from his position as Minister of Crown Indigenous Relations to take over from Sean Fraser, who has been in the role since 2021. Fraser is the new Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities.

Quebec Liberal MP Miller, 50, attended College Jean-de-Brebeuf at the same time as Trudeau, where the two were friends.

He is a graduate of both the University of Montreal and McGill, from where he has a law degree.

Nova Scotia MP Fraser’s time in charge at Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada was plagued by the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath. He took over from Marco Medicino in October 2021.

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His challenge was to try and keep an immigration system going despite borders being closed, which was achieved by allowing thousands of people in Canada temporarily to become permanent residents.

He had to tackle a backlog of more than 2.5 million applications due to a pandemic-induced reduction in processing capacity.

Despite this, his time at IRCC will likely go down as a success.

He oversaw the introduction of occupation-specific draws to the Express Entry system, which started successfully at the end of June.

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In his most recent Immigration Levels Plan, Fraser announced plans to hit new heights in terms of newcomers to Canada, as the Liberal government looks to tackle a chronic labour shortage and ageing population.

Fraser also oversaw Canada’s response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine from an immigration standpoint, with special measures introduced to allow tens of thousands to move here to escape the conflict.

Only recently, a pathway to permanent residence was added to the package of measures.