Canada will reduce the number of new international student permits by 35 per cent next year as part of a temporary two-year cap on foreign enrolment, Immigration Minister Marc Miller announced Monday morning.
The cap is expected to result in 364,000 new approved permits in 2024. The 2025 limit on new applications will be reassessed at the end of this year.
He said the move would allow them to address institutions and “bad actors” who are charging exorbitantly high tuition fees for international students, all while increasing the number of international students they are accepting.
Miller also vowed the measure would “maintain a sustainable level of temporary residence in Canada.”
He added that they would be allocating cap space by province based on population, meaning some provinces will see a sharper reduction in the number of international students permitted.
While the reduction is 35 per cent overall in new study visas, some provinces such as Ontario could see reductions greater than 50 per cent. The cap will remain in place for two years.
Miller specified that provinces will be in charge of determining the distribution of the cap between schools in their region, and that the federal government would be working with provinces to refine the policy.
He said that he has already had “productive” conversations with British Columbia and Ontario, though he later noted that provinces, in general, have not moved as quickly in tackling this issue as the federal government would have liked.
Students applying to graduate level programs such as masters and PhD programs will be exempt from the cap.
“Those are the bright people we need to retain,” Miller said. Students at the elementary and secondary school level will also be exempt.
The federal government has faced pressure from provinces regarding the increasing numbers of non-permanent residents entering Canada while the country struggles with a housing crisis.
More than 800,000 international students were issued temporary study visas in 2022. Miller said last fall that 2023’s numbers were on track to be more than triple the number accepted 10 years ago.
Study permits are granted on a three year basis. Miller clarified that the cap will not apply to anyone already studying in Canada who is seeking to complete or extend their schooling.
Miller stressed in his comments Monday that this cap is not intended to punish international students, but to ensure their experience and education is up to snuff.
“International students are a valuable asset to this country,” he said. “They are bright, young individuals that enrich our communities and bring significant social, cultural and economic benefits. They deserve the best. They deserve (the) world-class academic experiences that they sought out and hoped for. And Canada is renowned for that.”
“Sadly, this has not always been the case,” he added.
Miller said it is “unacceptable that some private institutions” have “taken advantage” of international students, claiming schools have jacked up tuition prices while, in some cases, offering poorer-quality education.
“Those institutions need to be shut down,” he said.
He added that post-secondary institutions have been “underfunded by our provinces” in many regions, potentially incentivizing institutions to charge higher tuition fees for international students since they have less leeway to increase tuition for domestic students.
Questions remain
Until we know more about how provinces will be rolling out the temporary cap, it’s hard to say how specific universities will be affected, according to a statement from Universities Canada.
The organization aims to provide a unified voice for university presidents across the country. It told CTVNews.ca in an email that they are “concerned that the cap per province is going to add stress on an already stressed system.”
The statement took issue with the new requirement for applicants to provide provincial attestation with their study permit application—which Miller said Monday would be “effective immediately.”
“We anticipate the need for letters of attestation from each province could significantly affect processing times which could lead to students choosing to pursue post-secondary study in other countries,” Universities Canada said in their statement.
Miller also announced Monday that post-graduate work permits will no longer be available to the public-private institution models as of Sept. 1, 2024.
It’s a change that is being criticized by Migrant Workers Alliance for Change, which said in a statement Monday that “this does not fix the failures of the massive expansion of such get-rich institutions to which recruiters will continue to funnel vulnerable students.”
It suggested that there instead be “a single system in which schools that are eligible for study permits should also be eligible for post-graduate work permits.”
The National Association of Career Colleges, which represents privately-regulated career colleges (RCCs), accused policymakers of “scapegoating RCCs,” in a statement.
While it “supports the federal government’s efforts to bring stability to our international student system,” it is calling for the release of “more complete data” to create collaborative solutions, it said.
Colleges & Institutes Canada (CICan), a national association that aids the country’s publicly supported post-secondary education, also noted that the cap will have “far-reaching consequences across the sector,” which will “affect both Canadian and international student,” it said in a statement.
Canada’s reputation as a destination for international students seeking post-secondary education may be at risk with such measures, CICan said.
“It is, therefore, imperative that these changes be implemented with care, and in collaboration with provinces, their post-secondary institutions and their associations to avoid significant system disruption and negatively affecting – over the long-term – international students’ perceptions of Canada,” CICan added.
Miller also announced changes to work permits provided to international students’ spouses.
In the coming weeks, Miller promised to reveal more details regarding open work permits, which “will only be allowed and be available to spouses of international students enrolled in masters and doctoral programs, as well as professional programs such as medicine and law.”
“Spouses of international students enrolled in other levels of study,” he said. “Including undergraduate and college programs, will no longer be eligible.”
That was grounds for pause according to the Migrant Workers Alliance for Change. In a statement, it called that shift “cruel.”
“Migrants are facing a roller-coaster of policy changes, with new announcements almost every day — we need predictability and transparency,” it said.
Lawmakers have floated the idea of a cap on permits for international students for months. Miller has previously noted that a cap would not be a “one-size-fits-all solution” to housing shortages, as inflation, a lack of public housing and barriers to new construction are all factors impacting the shortage.
Immigration is also a key driver of Canada’s economy, accounting for almost 100 per cent of Canada’s labour force growth in recent years, according to the federal government.
WATCH: CTV’s W5 investigates how Canadian universities are relying on the recruitment of international students to fill their coffers.
Nova Scotia RCMP say their investigation into two suspicious deaths earlier this month has concluded that one man died by homicide and the other by suicide.
The bodies of two men, aged 40 and 73, were found in a home in Windsor, N.S., on Sept. 3.
Police say the province’s medical examiner determined the 40-year-old man was killed and the 73-year-old man killed himself.
They say the two men were members of the same family.
No arrests or charges are anticipated, and the names of the deceased will not be released.
RCMP say they will not be releasing any further details out of respect for the family.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
For the first time in their history, members of the Cree community of Nemaska received a visit from a sitting Quebec premier on Sunday and were able to share first-hand the story of how they were displaced by a hydroelectric project in the 1970s.
François Legault was greeted in Nemaska by men and women who arrived by canoe to re-enact the founding of their new village in the Eeyou Istchee James Bay region, in northern Quebec, 47 years ago. The community was forced in the early 1970s to move from its original location because members were told it would be flooded as part of the Nottaway-Broadback-Rupert hydro project.
The reservoir was ultimately constructed elsewhere, but by then the members of the village had already left for other places, abandoning their homes and many of their belongings in the process.
George Wapachee, co-author of the book “Going Home,” said community members were “relocated for nothing.”
“We didn’t know what the rights were, or who to turn to,” he said in an interview. “That turned us into refugees and we were forced to abandon the life we knew.”
Nemaska’s story illustrates the challenges Legault’s government faces as it looks to build new dams to meet the province’s power needs, which are anticipated to double by 2050. Legault has promised that any new projects will be developed in partnership with Indigenous people and have “social acceptability,” but experts say that’s easier said than done.
François Bouffard, an associate professor of electrical engineering at McGill University, said the earlier era of hydro projects were developed without any consideration for the Indigenous inhabitants living nearby.
“We live in a much different world now,” he said. “Any kind of hydro development, no matter where in Quebec, will require true consent and partnership from Indigenous communities.” Those groups likely want to be treated as stakeholders, he added.
Securing wider social acceptability for projects that significantly change the landscape — as hydro dams often do — is also “a big ask,” he said. The government, Bouchard added, will likely focus on boosting capacity in its existing dams, or building installations that run off river flow and don’t require flooding large swaths of land to create reservoirs.
Louis Beaumier, executive director of the Trottier Energy Institute at Polytechnique Montreal, said Legault’s visit to Nemaska represents a desire for reconciliation with Indigenous people who were traumatized by the way earlier projects were carried about.
Any new projects will need the consent of local First Nations, Beaumier said, adding that its easier to get their blessing for wind power projects compared to dams, because they’re less destructive to the environment and easier around which to structure a partnership agreement.
Beaumier added that he believes it will be nearly impossible to get the public — Indigenous or not — to agree to “the destruction of a river” for a new dam, noting that in recent decades people have come to recognize rivers as the “unique, irreplaceable riches” that they are.
Legault’s visit to northern Quebec came on Sept. 15, when the community gathers every year to remember the founding of the “New Nemaska,” on the shores of Lake Champion in the heart of the boreal forest, some 1,500 kilometres from Montreal. Nemaska Chief Clarence Jolly said the community invited Legault to a traditional feast on Sunday, and planned to present him with Wapachee’s book and tell him their stories.
The book, published in 2022 along with Susan Marshall, is filled with stories of Nemaska community members. Leaving behind sewing machines and hunting dogs, they were initially sent to two different villages, Wapachee said.
In their new homes, several of them were forced to live in “deplorable conditions,” and some were physically and verbally abused, he said. The new village of Nemaska was only built a few years later, in 1977.
“At this time, families were losing their children to prison-schools,” he said, in reference to the residential school system. “Imagine the burden of losing your community as well.”
Thomas Jolly, a former chief, said he was 15 years old when he was forced to leave his village with all his belongings in a single bag.
Meeting Legault was important “because have to recognize what happened and we have to talk about the repercussions that the relocation had on people,” he said, adding that those effects are still felt today.
Earlier Sunday, Legault was in the Cree community of Eastmain, where he participated in the official renaming of a hydro complex in honour of former premier Bernard Landry. At the event, Legault said he would follow the example of his late predecessor, who oversaw the signing of the historic “Paix des Braves” agreement between the Quebec government and the Cree in 2002.
He said there is “significant potential” in Eeyou Istchee James Bay, both in increasing the capacity of its large dams and in developing wind power projects.
“Obviously, we will do that with the Cree,” he said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
NEMASKA – For the first time in their history, members of the Cree community of Nemaska received a visit from a sitting Quebec premier on Sunday and were able to share first-hand the story of how they were displaced by a hydroelectric project in the 1970s.
François Legault was greeted in Nemaska by men and women who arrived by canoe to re-enact the founding of their new village in the Eeyou Istchee James Bay region, in northern Quebec, 47 years ago. The community was forced in the early 1970s to move from their original location because they were told it would be flooded as part of the Nottaway-Broadback-Rupert hydro project.
The reservoir was ultimately constructed elsewhere, but by then the members of the village had already left for other places, abandoning their homes and many of their belongings in the process.
George Wapachee, co-author of the book “Going Home,” said community members were “relocated for nothing.”
“We didn’t know what the rights were, or who to turn to,” he said in an interview. “That turned us into refugees and we were forced to abandon the life we knew.”
The book, published in 2022 by Wapachee and Susan Marshall, is filled with stories of Cree community members. Leaving behind sewing machines and hunting dogs, they were initially sent to two different villages, 100 and 300 kilometres away, Wapachee said.
In their new homes, several of them were forced to live in “deplorable conditions,” and some were physically and verbally abused, he said. The new village of Nemaska was only built a few years later, in 1977.
“At this time, families were losing their children to prison-schools,” he said, in reference to the residential school system. “Imagine the burden of losing your community as well.”
Legault’s visit came on Sept. 15, when the community gathers every year to remember the founding of the “New Nemaska,” on the shores of Lake Champion in the heart of the boreal forest, some 1,500 kilometres from Montreal. Nemaska Chief Clarence Jolly said the community invited Legault to a traditional feast on Sunday, and planned to present him with Wapachee’s book and tell him their stories.
Thomas Jolly, a former chief, said he was 15 years old when he was forced to leave his village with all his belongings in a single bag.
Meeting Legault was important “because have to recognize what happened and we have to talk about the repercussions that the relocation had on people,” he said, adding that those effects are still felt today.
Earlier Sunday, Legault had been in the Cree community of Eastmain, where he participated in the official renaming of a hydro dam in honour of former premier Bernard Landry.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
