COVER STORY

ARE WE FAILING OUR INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS?

Image credit: FOTOS on Unsplash.

By SANDEEP PANESAR

Imagine leaving your family, birth country, and a familiar lifestyle for a new life in the West. Your parents put their life earnings on the line for your brighter future, there’s uncertainty about when you’ll see your family next, and fear of how you’ll make ends meet in a foreign country.

But still, you pack your suitcase with bare necessities, spending cash to help sustain you for the first few months, and the dream of making it big in Canada. 

According to the government of Canada, more than 50 per cent of Canada’s international student population comes from two countries: India and China. Although the country is making way for diversity and expending effort on helping international students come to Canada, do the students feel a sense of safety and security here?

Do they have enough resources to help them succeed in a foreign country?

Are they protected from exploitation and educated on their rights?

The simple answer to these questions is, no.

One Voice Canada, a British Columbia-based non-profit institution aiming to bridge the gap between local communities and international students, reported through The Realities for International Students, that British Columbia and Ontario are the “top destinations” for international students – 71 per cent of all international students studying in Canada are based out of one of these two provinces.

Balraj Kahlon, an active member of One Voice Canada and the author of the aforementioned report, talks extensively about the issues international students face in their day-to-day. Kahlon starts off by saying that the need for an organization like One Voice Canada grew stronger when the students’ post-secondary institutions proved to be “incapable of providing resources to these vulnerable migrants”.

When asked about some of the recurring issues that students come to get help with, Kahlon says: “Everything from workplace abuse/exploitation, mental health, tenancy issues, to issues at private colleges. Sometimes we get students asking for money because they are struggling financially. Periodically we get young women who experience some form of sexual misconduct (abuse, assault, harassment).”

With sexual exploitation being a huge problem for young women, it only made sense to ask for more on how these issues are addressed by One Voice Canada. Keeping the sensitivity of the topic in mind, Kahlon said: “Young women are experiencing sexual harassment/exploitation from those they are economically dependent on, whether it be their employer or landlord. If they are still in that situation then first we get them out. Very rarely are they willing to report the man. We have only had one case where the woman wanted to pursue legal action. One Voice is looking at developing an initiative to shine a light on sexual harassment that many South Asian women experience day-to-day. From what I’ve seen, the men start with subtle harassment and if they can get away with it they become more brazen or aggressive.”

Exploitation at the hands of those who these students rely on takes various forms. On the one hand, Kahlon explains that the offer of a place to stay and/or a job comes with an attempt to sexually harass young and vulnerable women. On the other hand, there are incidents like the one below: 

“A student was working as a delivery driver and got beat up and robbed on the job. He had to spend the night in the hospital. His employer was angry at losing the items but not concerned about the young man’s health. He let him go without giving him his paycheque. The student came to us for help after he got tired of asking for his paycheque. After the usual resistance, we explained to the employer we will file multiple complaints against his business if he does not pay within a week. He then paid.”

Statistics Canada reported that in Canada, international students must pay four times the tuition fee compared to domestic students. This confirms the many stories we hear about families back home having to sell their land and/or prized possessions to give their children a footing in the West.

The Realities for International Students reported that 67 per cent of students (from India) come from farming families. They want to escape their lives for a better future. But, given the current climate surrounding international students here in Canada, would they be better off leaving the state of Punjab but remaining within the country to find fruitful opportunities elsewhere in India?

“There is a part of me that doesn’t want to be critical of someone coming here for a better life,” says Kahlon. “But I wish they would first pursue opportunities in India before coming to Canada. I have heard of some decent paying jobs being filled by people outside Punjab because there are not enough qualified Punjabis. That Punjabis don’t participate in civil service exams for high level bureaucratic jobs at the same rate as people from other states. And I’m sure many people have met Punjabis who left good jobs to come to Canada. My point is that there are opportunities to improve their economic condition in India but too many are caught up in the craze to come to Canada.

“If they are committed to come to Canada, a better path is to first attend a good post-secondary school in Punjab and then come to Canada. They will be more mature, prepared, and have an easier time in getting Permanent Residency. These people still have to struggle to succeed in Canada but they don’t have to tolerate slavery like international students. Too many people coming after grade 12 into random college programs are not equipped to be here. I have started tracking the college programs of students seeking help from us and its mostly students attending a private college or a general arts or business program at a community college.”

From Kahlon’s in-depth research and the plight of the international students in our local communities today, there is one question that comes to mind: Are there students who regret coming to Canada? If so, do they plan to go back? If not, what keeps them here despite their poor quality of life and an unclear future?

“A lot of the women are coming to us for support in pregnancies and sexual health concerns.” Manvir Bhangu, founder, Laadliyaan.

“I have met students who seem to regret coming to Canada even though they will never explicitly say it,” says Kahlon. “But I have not met one person who plans to go back. After being caught up in the craze to come to Canada it’s hard to admit you were wrong and tell your family you want to come back after making such a big investment. And for many, their families are relying on them to improve their economic position.”

The sad truth, he says, is that they would rather die in Canada than return to India.

And many do die here.

It’s evident that a social and/or systemic change needs to be introduced so international students don’t see premature ends to their dreams or even lives by suicide. As an industry professional, and someone who has spent so much time with these migrants, Kahlon agrees. He feels that the country needs to see these students as more than just profit-making machines. Instead, they need to be recognized as a vulnerable group and made a priority.

When it comes to systemic changes, Kahlon believes in making more hard and fast rules: “First, people need to acknowledge that there are systemic issues. I have read and written enough about this topic to confidently say there is no good argument to maintain the status quo. Unfortunately, I find politicians either don’t understand or lack the moral courage to do the right thing. We can’t expect politicians to solve the problem when they are a part of the problem.”

So, would a political agenda on the well-being of international students change the course of their lives? Perhaps. But, sometimes the solutions can also stem from community-borne efforts.

Manvir Bhangu, founder and executive director of Laadliyaan, a non-for-profit organization in the Peel Region in Ontario, weighs in on this:

“Organizations and authorities need to understand that these people are contributing members of our society just like everyone else and they need to be treated like that and not like second-class citizens and not given any attention. We’re really just treating them as a money-making machine at this point but there is a lot more to these students than the money that they’re bringing in. They’re obviously contributing to our economy substantially because many of them are doing jobs that a lot of people here are not willing to do. Those things mean something.

“Systemically, and just as a community, we need to include the students in conversations about them. We need to create physical spaces and services which they can access and ones that aren’t further marginalizing them or treating them poorly, and ensure that they’re not being retraumatized when they share their story about their mental health, or the abuse that they’re facing from their landlord, or whatever else that may be. We need to do a better job as a community to come together and give them that support.

“A lot of our local organizations and places of worship can do a better job of welcoming them and treating them like more than just a statistic that they need to include in their funding reports.”

Laadliyaan has been actively offering support to community members in the Greater Toronto Area and beyond since 2013, and Bhangu shares the story of how it originated

“It started as a Facebook page just to share some information about gender inequity that was going on in the community, and I just wanted to share my thoughts about that. Laadliyaan was then incorporated in 2015.

“Ideally, what we do is inspire South Asian daughters of all ages in education awareness and we focus on topics that are taboo in our community such as gender inequity, sex selective abortions, and generally, things that brown girls go through every single day. We focus on mentorship as well and make sure that women have people in the community who they can lean on and help guide them in the journeys they choose to go on.

“We engage with different generations of women – grandmothers, mothers and young girls. We educate girls on menstrual and sexual health and this has been a huge part of the program for the last couple of years. Laadliyaan is a sisterhood, something that we wish every woman has, a place where she feels empowered regardless of how old she is and regardless of where she comes from.”

Being a girls-only organization, how did Laadliyaan step into the realm of international students? It’s actually a relatively new area for them to explore, but one that has picked up so much steam, says Bhangu.

“During the pandemic we were getting a lot of international student-specific requests. That’s when we started the Udaari program (‘udaari’ means ‘leap’). These women have taken a leap to come to Canada and set up a life of their own, usually alone without any support. That’s how it started. And then came the question of ‘what do we help them with?’ and more often it’s financial support – supporting them with rent because a lot of them are not employed, working under minimum wage, working cash jobs, and mistreatment by their employers and landlords. A lot of people also come because of the lack of support at the schools they go to. We’ve been able to help over 250 with grocery gift cards, winter clothing, shoes, undergarments, and textbooks for school. In extreme cases, we’ve helped pay fees for their programs.”

Aside from the issues listed above, Bhangu makes another interesting observation. “A lot of the women are coming to us for support in pregnancies – pregnancy-related concerns and sexual health concerns in general. Many aren’t aware of what their reproductive rights are and what their bodies can do. We help them navigate that. We’re finding there’s a lot of miseducation or lack of education in the international student population about consent, birth control, and then just pregnancies in general.

“A lot of it comes from them being away from home for the first time and not knowing how to be independent. It’s more about not knowing anything about financial literacy, not knowing what their bodies can do, their menstrual and sexual health and how it works, educating them around their periods and why they’re getting them. It’s about educating them on things they may not know about but are aware now that they’re in a new country and how to navigate these concerns on their own.

“We do get a lot of reports about sexual violence and lack of consent, which is really difficult because we’re not doctors and have to do a lot of referrals and research on these topics as well.”

The One Voice Canada team. “We need to see international students as more than just profit-making machines.” Balraj Kahlon, One Voice Canada.

The hard truth is that their vulnerability and willingness to succeed in Canada supersedes the issues international students face. But are there other factors that contribute to how these students are being treated?

Bhangu thinks so.

“They lack understanding on so many issues. Before you go to a new country, one would assume that you’re prepared and a lot of these young women are scared and are told that if they say anything, they’re going to get deported. If you want to stay here, you have to put up with the abuse and the mistreatment. They know that their families back home are depending on them to make it out here, and by ‘make it’ we mean that they’re trying to become Permanent Residents, or citizens eventually, and they don’t want to go back to India – or anywhere else they’re from – but in most cases, these students are coming from India. They believe that if they say anything it’ll be used against them, and even though that’s not the case, they’re just not educated enough about their rights. They think that because they’re students they don’t have any rights or responsibilities, no one is going to listen to them and their voice won’t matter. We try to educate around that piece as well; you’re not in the wrong if you came here legally for work and you’re enrolled in your classes and you go to school.”

International students are fortunate in the sense that they have spread enough awareness around their situations to the point where organizations are cropping up to help them through their journeys in Canada. Awareness alone may not end their hardships, but to continue to share their stories is a way to ensure that they stay relevant and top of mind of authorities, law makers, and those who can impact change for them.

Anmol* and Mehakjot* are two such students who want to share their story in the hope that they can keep this movement going.

Anmol and Mehakjot both came to Canada as international students in September 2021 and August 2021, respectively. While Anmol’s school friends quickly helped her find accommodation (although it was just for a month or two), Mehakjot had no solid living arrangement until she opted for student housing. From the sounds of it, finding an ideal living situation is close to impossible and requires thorough research and vetting.

Anmol mentioned that in her attempt to find a basement, she looked on Kijiji and Marketplace. After making 50-60 attempts to secure a roof over her head, she still had slim pickings. “Most people don’t reply, and if we do receive a response we need to go and check everything out. How’s the neighborhood? How does the basement look? And mostly, it’s different from the pictures.”

Like Anmol, Mehakjot also turned to Kijiji during her early days in Canada.

“I stayed in student housing for the first month in Canada. Then, I found a place on Kijiji. It was a room for sharing. After visiting, I got to know that I had to share it with two more girls (three in total). That place was completely different from the pictures shown on the website. It was so dirty as well as smelly. Then I found another place. I had my own room but the basement was shared with a couple. They used to fight every day and that was disturbing. I then moved to another basement with Anmol and another one of our classmates.”

And that’s how Anmol and Mehakjot started a difficult journey as two international students searching for a safe and secure accommodation. This shared living arrangement was very short-lived. Mehakjot and Anmol felt that things just weren’t working out and one day they decided to move out. “We started hunting for a basement but couldn’t find one – it’s so hard to find a place,” says Mehakjot. The girls went from place to place – they moved to a temporary rental in White Rock, British Columbia, then an Airbnb, followed by “Dimple’s place” and then finally, a one-bedroom basement.

Just when the girls thought that they had secured what felt like a permanent place to say, they were faced with a shocking eviction. Anmol recalls the turn of events very clearly.

“One day, in the beginning of May, our owner gave us a verbal notice that we have to move because their relatives want to move into the basement where we were living. We started looking for a one-bedroom basement but we couldn’t find it. On June 1, at 12:30 am, after returning from a night shift, it took both of us close to six hours to clean the basement. We cried the whole night because we didn’t know where to go after 8:00 am. We moved our packed boxes to a friend’s basement up until evening and spent the whole day sitting at Tim Hortons.

“Later that evening our old roommates called us and offered us accommodation. It was a whole house. We went there with our stuff packed.”

They’d be sharing the house with one other housemate.

The girls were there for less than two weeks when they came across another hurdle. The landlord asked their housemate to have either Anmol or Mehakjot sleep with him. If they didn’t agree, they’d have to leave the house by June 14 – and this was on June 10. Anmol and Mehakjot had four days to find another place to stay.

The girls had elaborate plans to celebrate Mehakjot’s birthday on June 13, but unfortunately her birthday was spent packing and once again, arranging for a place to stay. They packed their stuff and sent it to one of their friend’s place. With nowhere else to go in the morning, Anmol and Mehakjot thought it would be best to book an Airbnb for the time being. They found one they could afford in Surrey and claimed it for two days. Things started looking up when they found a potential basement. But it turned out to be another nightmare.

Anmol remembers that the basement was infested with insects and had retained an awful smell from being closed up for so long. “We couldn’t stay there for more than five minutes because it was so difficult to breathe in there. We immediately booked another Airbnb but lost the deposit money that we gave to that basement owner. We could only find a last-minute Airbnb in Richmond. When we went there, it was smelly and infested with mice.”

Mehakjot and Anmol stayed there for one night and booked another Airbnb in Coquitlam the next day.

Poor living conditions and scarce options for international students left the girls moving in various cities in the province. Amidst all the chaos, they had left a message with Khalsa Aid to see if they could help. They heaved a huge sigh of relief when Khalsa Aid connected them to One Voice Canada, and the organization reached out to them while they were on their way to Coquitlam; One Voice Canada helped them find accommodation for 15 days.

Now they finally have a place to call home.

When asked if they told their families about what they were going through, they both said, yes. Anmol said, “I wasn’t planning to tell them. I only told my younger sister. Then she forced me to tell mom and dad. They told me not to be scared of anything. Just call the cops but we were too scared to take any action. We also knew the eviction time period is 90 days and it should be in writing. I initially didn’t want to inform my family because I didn’t want them to stress out.”

The stress and burden of her condition were also the two factors preventing Mehakjot from telling her family back home. “At first, I didn’t talk to my parents for a few days because I didn’t want them to stress out, so I was hiding. Then slowly I told them everything and they were so supportive. They told me to take legal help after finding a place. Anmol and I were just so traumatized because we are simple girls who belong to good families but during our hard time weren’t even able to find one room to stay in.”

Despite the troubles they went through, Anmol and Mehakjot are in good spirits. Although there may not have been much light at the end of the tunnel for them earlier on, things are looking brighter now.

And speaking of lights and brightness, Anmol and Mehakjot are excited to celebrate Diwali. They’re keeping things simple and serene by visiting the local gurdwara and celebrating with the community.

It’s commendable that despite being failed multiple times by their own community, Mehakjot and Anmol still see reasons to celebrate with those around them. This goes to show that international students continue to place faith in strangers in the hope that they’ll be accepted and treated equally.

The experiences shared by Anmol and Mehakjot, one of lack of accommodation and sexual exploitation, are just two of the many hardships faced by students like them.

There are people working below minimum wage, working in undesirable work conditions, being misguided by colleges into paying fees but not being given the education they paid for, and this list goes on. It’s time that the community comes together to rally for the rights of those individuals who not only add value to the nation’s economy but also introduce vibrant culture to the country.

For more information on the institutions mentioned in the article visit www.laadliyaan.com and onevoicecanada.org.

*Names changed to protect the privacy of the students.