Amid a continued housing crunch and sky-high costs of living, the federal government’s immigration targets and plans for international students are facing renewed scrutiny.
Immigration Minister Marc Miller said in an interview with The Canadian Press that international student enrolments may need to be adjusted while noting that the government has no plans to cut immigration numbers.
But what should any adjustments to the international students program look like, and will they be enough to address calls from those who work with international students to protect them against exploitation?
“There needs to be a cap on how much these institutions can charge from international students. We cannot be expected to pay 10 times the fees that domestic students pay,” said Varun Khanna, president of the Montreal Youth Students Organization (MYSO).
Khanna said students are trapped in a cycle of working to pay off their fees and paying their rent.
“It’s very common to see students live six to a room in cities like Brampton. That’s all they can afford on their meagre income,” he said.
Bikram Singh, a member of the Brampton, Ont.-based advocacy group Naujawan Support Network, said international students have very little support once they land in Canada.
“The only guidance some students get is from shady immigration consultants in India. When they land in Canada, they are overwhelmed,” Singh said. “They need to have mandatory orientation for new students, which helps them navigate life in a new country and makes them aware of their rights.”
Khanna said the government should permanently lift the 20-hours-a-week work limit, because the high cost of living and tuition is leaving many international students struggling.
“Those students who need to work will find ways to work. The only thing it will lead to is more exploitation of students, who will be paid below minimum wage for difficult work,” he said.
Singh also said the vast majority of workers who fall prey to wage theft are students.
“The 20-hour work limit was making the problem worse. Students were afraid to come forward because technically, they were not allowed to work for more than 20 hours,” he said.
“So they were working on cash, below minimum wage. Students have started to come forward since the limit was lifted.”
Singh said housing was a major concern for students.
“If they (the Canadian government) want us here, if they want our labour to build this country, they should give us secure housing so we can live with dignity.”
In a statement to Global News, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) said the federal government was “undertaking a review” of the international students program after Miller told The Canadian Press in an interview that he is open to reconsidering international student enrolments, particularly amid fraud concerns.
The spokesperson said they were already in consultation with universities, colleges and other stakeholders on how best to manage that flow, but that would not mean cutting the number of student visas being issued.
“IRCC does not establish levels/caps for study permits in the way we do for permanent residence programs through the multi-year levels plan,” IRCC spokesperson Jeffery MacDonald said.
Housing for incoming international students is also a major concern in the consultations.
“The Department is currently undertaking a review of the program to examine how it can better select and retain students who can help Canada meet its economic, social and cultural goals,” MacDonald said in a statement.
“This includes meeting our broad immigration objectives, while also working closely with national educational institutions to address the ongoing challenges, including international student fraud and housing.”
According to Statistics Canada, the country continues to face significant labour shortages.
Between 34 and 36 per cent of all businesses in Canada are expected to face challenges in recruiting skilled labour. International students working off campus have emerged as a key part of Ottawa’s strategy to fill those gaps.
The share of international students with paid employment income among total paid workers grew from 0.1 per cent (21,800) in 2000 to 1.4 per cent (277,400) in 2018.
In November last year, the federal government temporarily lifted the limit of 20 hours per week that international students were allowed to work off campus.
The exemption will be up for renewal in December this year.
MacDonald said IRCC was also looking at the impact the exemption was having on labour shortages in Canada.
In May this year, a group of international students protested against deportation orders issued against them after they say they were the victims of a massive scam by an immigration consultant.
According to the protesting students, those facing deportation orders came to Canada in 2017 and 2018 on student permits after they were issued “fake college admission letters drafted by their immigration consultants, namely a Jalandhar-based consultant named Brijesh Mishra.”
The process to evaluate many of those cases remains underway.