DOING THE SAME THING OVER AND OVER AND EXPECTING A DIFFERENT RESULT

By SHAGORIKA EASWAR

The questions from extended family and friends in India about opportunities for international students in Canada have changed.

Now they are less about where they will stay and what they will eat and more about their safety and mental and emotional well-being.

Because just like in Canada, in Indian media too, there are countless reports of the hardships students are facing in Canada. “I read about the student sleeping under the bridge,” says a cousin. A friend asks if any measures have been taken to protect students working part-time after learning of the young Uber driver who was attacked while making a delivery. The tragedy was compounded when his mother committed suicide on learning that he had succumbed to his injuries.

So what is Canada doing to fix this problem that appears to be growing bigger by the day?

Back in June, then immigration minister Sean Fraser had promised prompt and effective action – at least on one aspect of the problem.

In a statement he said, “There have been recent reports of international students and graduates facing removal from Canada, after letters of acceptance submitted as part of their study permit application were determined to be fraudulent.

“Many of these international students sincerely came to Canada to pursue their studies at some of our world-class institutions and were duped by bad actors who claimed to be helping them in their immigration application process. Other foreign nationals had no intent of pursuing higher education, and used fraudulent acceptance letters to take advantage of Canada’s immigration system. Within this cohort of individuals, some have been involved in organized crime.

“I understand that this situation is distressing for those affected by unscrupulous actors, and I want to assure them that their well-being is of paramount importance. As a result, I have already struck a taskforce of my officials and have asked them to work closely with the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) to identify the victims of fraud; that is, those students who came to study here in Canada and did exactly that.

“I want to make it clear that international students who are not found to be involved in fraud will not face deportation...”

However, between the federal minister laying much of the blame for the distressful situations the students found themselves in on the provincial governments for failing to check the credentials of the so-called academic institutions that were enrolling students by the thousands and the provincial governments basically throwing up their hands and saying don’t look at us, it’s an immigration (and thus federal) problem, students continued to fall through the cracks.

In August, we learnt of the withdrawal of admission to hundreds of international students at Ontario’s Northern College.

Going by where most of the international students are being drawn from, it’s a safe bet to say many of these students who were informed that their admission had been cancelled due to over-enrolment would be desi.

These students, whose families often sell property or borrow money to pay for tuition and living costs, were left in the lurch at the last minute – just before terms began in September. As student visas are issued based on admission to academic institutions, this meant they could no longer enter Canada, and many would not have been able to get refunds on their airfare, either. Time and money were also spent on getting the required documentation for medical tests and IELTS, etc. – which amounts to time and money wasted as the students would have to go through the whole process again were they to apply to another institution as these documents are valid for a specific period. 

While community organizations rallied behind the students, the question remains: Have we not learnt anything from the very similar situation countless students of St. Lawrence College found themselves in last year?

Because, as is evident, nothing much changed on the ground. 

Stuart Thomson, The Hub’s editor-in-chief posted on July 6 that as record numbers of foreign students come to Canada, experts are urging a rethink of the program. Excerpts from that post below:

“Even while their numbers quickly grow, foreign students increasingly seem to be jaded about life in Canada, finding themselves on the front lines of the country’s housing crisis and in schools that don’t live up to their marketing brochures. Despite all this, they feel they have little recourse.

“A fall report by the Association of Atlantic Universities that tallied recruitment numbers showed a 40 per cent increase in international students at Cape Breton University... it’s just one data point in a Canada-wide trend.

“The Canadian government counted more than 800,000 foreign students in Canada at the end of last year, a 31 per cent increase over the previous year. These students represent an extraordinary boon to universities and colleges, paying higher tuition and juicing the schools’ coffers while provinces cut or freeze post-secondary funding. The government estimates that foreign students spend more than $20 billion per year in Canada, on school fees and other consumer spending.

“At least with some of the colleges, they have grown substantially without any plan to house people. So it’s one of these things where it just grew. A lot of different people made a lot of different decisions, and there was no central coordination,” said Mike Moffatt, a professor at the Ivey Business School at Western University.

Because there is no central coordination or limit on how many international students can come to Canada, our post-secondary institutions have basically found a way to monetize permanent resident status, said Mikal Skuterud, an economics professor at the University of Waterloo who specializes in labour markets and immigration.

“So every school for sure is looking at what happens to applications when they increase their tuition fees. And from everything I’ve seen, there is no response,” said Skuterud. “Those foreign students aren’t voting. (Ontario Premier) Doug Ford knows that. And those foreign students’ parents, more importantly, who paid the tuition, especially aren’t voting,” said Skuterud.

Moffatt said the provinces should demand a five-year plan from post-secondary institutions that would lay out targets for international students. The provinces could reject the plan if adequate housing wasn’t available, or they could require the schools to build residences for the new students. Skuterud said the schools should be required to collect data on the students, including graduation rates and their labour market outcomes. If international students aren’t working in industries relevant to their education, it could prompt further investigation into the programs.

If students are simply returning to their home countries after graduation or working low-skilled jobs, then the program isn’t doing much more than filling the coffers of post-secondary institutions and creating fed-up new Canadians, he said.

Einstein said insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

And so we look to the new minister of immigration, Marc Miller, for answers.

New answers.