FACT CHECK: Did Justin Trudeau Announce A Three-Year Freeze On Accept­ing Immi­grants Into Cana­da?

A post shared on Face­book claims Cana­di­an Prime Min­is­ter Justin Trudeau announced a three-year freeze on new immi­gra­tion into Cana­da. 

Ver­dict: False

This claim is inac­cu­rate. Cana­da will be lim­it­ing its num­ber of immi­grants over the next two years, not putting a freeze on the accep­tance of immi­grants.

Fact Check: 

Pres­i­dent-elect Don­ald Trump met with Trudeau and expressed dis­sat­is­fac­tion with Cana­da, say­ing it “failed the U.S. bor­der,” accord­ing to Fox News. Trump sug­gest­ed that he will impose a 25% tar­iff on Cana­di­an goods if Cana­da does not improve issues with the bor­der and trade deficit, which Trudeau claimed would “kill” their econ­o­my, the out­let report­ed.

The Face­book post pur­ports Trudeau will “freeze” immi­gra­tion. The post shows an image of Trudeau smil­ing with Cana­di­an flags in the back­ground.

Its cap­tion reads, “BREAKING: Justin Trudeau just announced a 3‑year freeze on accept­ing immi­grants into Cana­da. ‘We made some mis­takes.’”

The claim is inac­cu­rate. There are no state­ments to cor­rob­o­rate the claim on Trudeau’s web­site. (RELATED: Image Claims To Show ‘F*** Trudeau’ Signs At Hock­ey Game)

Trudeau made a post to X on Oct. 24 explain­ing that Cana­da will be reduc­ing the num­ber of immi­grants com­ing into the coun­try, not putting a freeze on accept­ing immi­grants. “We’re going to sig­nif­i­cant­ly reduce the num­ber of immi­grants com­ing to Cana­da for the next two years,” it reads, in part. “This is tem­po­rary — to pause our pop­u­la­tion growth and let our econ­o­my catch up.” 

We’re going to sig­nif­i­cant­ly reduce the num­ber of immi­grants com­ing to Cana­da for the next two years. This is tem­po­rary — to pause our pop­u­la­tion growth and let our econ­o­my catch up.

We have to get the sys­tem work­ing right for all Cana­di­ans.

— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) Octo­ber 24, 2024

A press release from the Gov­ern­ment of Cana­da web­site explains that the coun­try is reduc­ing its per­ma­nent res­i­dent tar­get. The tar­gets will go from 500,000 per­ma­nent res­i­dents to 395,000 in 2025, 500,000 to 380,000 in 2026 and the 2027 tar­get will be 365,000.

Check Your Fact reached out to spokes­peo­ple for the Cana­da Bor­der Ser­vices Agency and Trudeau for com­ment.