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Canada has seen a sharp increase in the number of foreign travellers it's turning away at ports of entry, according to data from the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), while the federal government continues to face criticism for allowing immigration numbers to balloon, putting pressure on the housing supply.
The data — included in an emailed statement to CTV News — show the agency turned away an average of nearly 4,000 foreign travellers per month through the first seven months of 2024, which includes both non-refugee visa holders and those deemed “allowed to leave.”
That’s a more than 20-per-cent increase compared to the 3,271 turned away during the same period in 2023. Meanwhile, July marked the highest number of rejected entrants in a month in the last five years, with 285 non-refugee visa holders turned away at ports of entry and 5,853 were categorized as “allowed to leave.”
An “allowed to leave” is when travellers are given the opportunity to “withdraw their application and leave voluntarily,” according to CBSA.
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