I hear this a lot but I can't really make much sense of it.
Canon does not benefit that much by getting us existing DSLR customers to switch to mirrorless.
We were going to buy new DSLRs anyway.
The point of mirrorless is to sell to people who were not intending to buy DSLRs.
They want extra sales.
If Canon has decided that it is no longer profitable to make DSLRs then of course they will want us to buy their mirrorless cameras.
Maybe that is switching in the mind of some people but I would call that settling.
Only Canon knows it's intent, but I think there are a few ways to look at that potential benefit to Canon by pushing people to switch. For instance, I suspect a lot of mirrorless buyers will end up re-buying lenses they already own in EF, resulting in greater lens sales than otherwise anticipated. Secondly, it may be a long term approach to maintaining customers. I think performing the autofocus on the sensor directly holds some clear opportunities and if Canon were to ignore mirrorless entirely, some people may become more likely to change brands in order to access those opportunities in the long run.
With respect to Canon only offering mirrorless to those who didn't want a DSLR, I'm not sure where Canon sees DSLRs in their future, but they have certainly put the vast majority of their effort into RF and relatively little into EF over the last while. They may indeed be pushing people to switch so they can move away from (or drastically reduce) DSLR production/development and there are certainly signs pointing that way. The last two DSLRs they released seem to be the 1DXIII and 850D in January and February of 2020, and plenty of camera lines appear to be either discontinued,
behind on past release schedules, or nearing their typical renewal dates without any rumours of EF replacement. Further,
the last EF lens releases were the 70-200 f/2.8 III and the 70-200 f/4 IS USM II in 2018; and several
EF lenses have been rapidly discontinued, including one of the new EF 70-200's. None of that gives me a ton of confidence that a new batch of high-end DSLRs are coming from Canon. But hey, those sticking with DSLRs may yet be rewarded with extra cheap EF deals on the used market for a while so it's not all bad news!