More than 300 permanent residency applicants stood outside Queen’s Park in sub-zero temperatures Monday morning, demanding justice for what many described as their “wasted golden years.”

The crowd gathered in response to a Nov. 14 decision by the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP) to suspend its Express Entry Skilled Trades Stream and to return all outstanding applications. The provincial notice said Ontario found “systemic misrepresentation and/or fraud” in the stream’s eligibility criteria and said the program, as structured, was “vulnerable” to abuse.

All applicants were told that their files would be returned and their fees refunded.

But many at Monday’s gathering say they’re paying the price despite doing everything correctly.

Among them was Ramandeep Kalsi, a Cambridge

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