Join Canadian Club Toronto on February 18 for a discussion with The Honourable Lena Metlege Diab, Canada’s Minister of Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship. Minister Metlege Diab will share the government’s approach to restoring sustainable immigration levels, supporting economic growth, meeting labour market needs, and strengthening community capacity.
The conversation will examine how Canada’s immigration policy is being recalibrated to attract global talent, address critical workforce shortages, and strengthen the country’s long-term competitiveness, while maintaining a strong commitment to newcomer integration and humanitarian objectives. Following her remarks, the Minister will sit down for questions with Martin Basiri, Founder & CEO of Passage.
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The Honourable Lena Metlege Diab was first elected as the Member of Parliament for Halifax West in 2021, and was re-elected in April 2025. She was appointed Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship in May 2025. Minister Diab was elected to the Nova Scotia House of Assembly in 2013, and re-elected in 2017, serving on the Executive Council during both terms. In addition to serving as Minister of Immigration, she was the province’s first female Attorney General and Minister of Justice. She also held the roles of Minister of Acadian Affairs and Francophonie, and Minister of Labour and Advanced Education.
Prior to entering politics, Minister Diab was a small business owner, lawyer and active volunteer. She practised law in Halifax for more than 20 years, served on a number of adjudicative boards and was awarded the Queen’s Counsel designation for service to the legal profession.
Her extensive community involvement and volunteerism earned her numerous honours, including Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee Medal, the Progress Women of Excellence Award, the Outstanding Professional of the Year Award from the Canadian Lebanese Chamber of Commerce, and the Lorita Star Award from the Council of Arab League Ambassadors.
Minister Diab holds a Bachelor of Arts from Saint Mary’s University, and a Master of Public Administration and a Law Degree from Dalhousie University. She is also trained in mediation, collaborative family law and interest-based negotiation.
Martin Basiri is Founder and CEO of Passage, which enables immigrants and international students by providing financial access, and Co-Founder and former CEO of ApplyBoard, the world’s largest online international student recruitment platform. Martin, an inventor from a young age, founded his first startup during his undergraduate studies in Iran, where he created and sold six different inventions. His own international student journey began in 2010 where he got his Masters in Mechatronics Engineering from the University of Waterloo. Realizing the opportunity international students had at their fingertips, he helped his brothers, Meti and Massi, navigate the same complex process of applying to study abroad, and the three of them founded ApplyBoard in 2015.
Martin served as CEO of ApplyBoard from 2015 to 2022. Under his leadership, ApplyBoard grew to a team of 1500+ assisting more than 500,000 students with their study abroad journey from more than 130 countries. During this time ApplyBoard partnered with over 1,600+ schools across Canada, US, UK, Australia and Ireland. ApplyBoard was named the fastest growing tech company in Canada and became globally recognized with a valuation of over $3B, and attracting $500 million in investments.
At ApplyBoard, Martin noticed a limitation. There were many deserving students who he wished to help who did not have the financial means to do so. Driven by his commitment and passion for the mission of “educating the world”, he started Passage in 2023. Passage’s goal is to provide financial access for deserving individuals that – through no fault of their own – grew up without the means to fulfill their potential. Continuing and augmenting his work at ApplyBoard as a board member, Martin now is building the financial infrastructure for smart immigration so that anyone with the drive and aspiration can radically change their lives through social mobility.
