Marc Miller, Canada’s immigration minister, has just made an announcement today on strengthening international student program integrity.
The minister stressed that he is not in favour of imposing a cap on new international student arrivals. However, to limit fraud against international students, the federal government is rolling out a new scheme to verify the Letters of Acceptance (LOA) that prospective international students need to apply for a study permit.
In addition, the government will move ahead with a new “Recognized Institutions Framework” for Canadian designated learning institutions (DLIs) by the fall semester of 2024. DLIs are the colleges, universities, and other educational institutions approved by provincial and territorial governments to welcome international students. The framework will set a higher standard for services, support and outcomes for international students. The rationale behind the idea is that DLIs who meet certain IRCC integrity criteria would be eligible for certain benefits, such as priority processing of study permit applications by IRCC.
Further details will be shared about how institutions can become recognized and what the benefits will look like.
Miller also announced that IRCC will conduct its first review of the popular Post-Graduation Work Permit (PGWP), which has not been reviewed in 10 years, and will announce reforms in the coming months. He says the goal is to calibrate the the PGWP to address Canada’s labour shortages in areas of the economy with a greater need, as well as regional and Francophone immigration goals.
Canada set to host 900,000 international students this year
Canada is a leading destination for international students. In 2022, it welcomed a record 551,405 international students from 184 countries. As of the end of 2022, there were 807,750 international students holding valid Canadian study permits, another all-time high. Canada’s international student population has quadrupled over the past 15 years. This is due to factors such as the rising global middle class seeking to study abroad, as well as Canada’s attractiveness to international students in areas like quality of education, employment prospects, and immigration pathways.
In 2022, the top source countries of new international students were India (226,450 students), China (52,165 students) and the Philippines (23,280 students). The leading destinations were Ontario (411,00 students) and British Columbia (164,000 students).
Marc Miller has shared that Canada is on track to host around 900,000 international students in 2023.
The Canadian government continues to issue a large number of study permits. Between January and June 2023, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) issued more than 280,000 new study permits, a 77% increase compared to the same period in 2022.
International student challenges
Today’s announcement comes after more than 700 Indian students in Canada were faced with deportation earlier this year after finding out that their letter of acceptance (LOAs) were discovered by the Canadian government to be fake. Many of the students had come to Canada to study in 2018 and 2019, and the fraud was only discovered after many of them had completed their studies and were applying for permanent residency.
Reports indicated that the LOAs were forged by an unscrupulous immigration consultant in India and who has since disappeared.
At the time, IRCC announced that the international students that were not aware or involved in the fraud would not face deportation.
International student integrity highlighted in recent report from members of Canada’s Senate
International student integrity was also brought to the forefront recently thanks to a report released on September 20 by four members of Canada’s Senate.
The report, while highlighting the benefits of international students to Canada’s economy, as well as the country’s social and cultural landscape, also highlighted several challenge areas to do with the integrity of Canada’s international student system. Among them, the report highlights that education agents – those who work as a “middleman” in foreign countries on behalf of international student hopefuls – play a significant role in compromising the integrity of Canada’s international student landscape.
This is because many education agents may direct international students toward a Canadian post-secondary program that is ineligible for a Post-Graduation Work Permit (PGWP). Completing a program that does not leave graduates eligible for a PGWP can often be a waste of significant time and money because they may not be eligible to work and gain permanent residence following graduation.
Miller’s past comments highlight concerns about integrity
Miller has addressed international student integrity a number of times since becoming Canada’s immigration minister this summer. In several interviews since the summer, Miller addressed the potency of this topic by noting the “integrity challenges” associated with “the current visa process for international students across Canada.”
Echoing many of the same points brought up in the Senate report, Miller articulated that international students are being driven by “false hope” provided to them by actors looking to take advantage of them – something the minister says IRCC recognizes they need to tackle head-on going forward.
He also spoke about the need to address integrity issues during a hearing earlier this week before the Canadian Parliamentary Committee for Citizenship and Immigration (CIMM).
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
