When Samuel Bonne received $15,000 in student grants to fund his studies, he wasn’t expecting to have to pay it back. But just two years later — in the middle of the pandemic — those grants were converted to loans.
At the end of his sophomore year at the University of Toronto, the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP) asked Bonne, originally from Mauritius, for his parents’ financial documents, but they couldn’t provide them.
“My dad works in Kenya and my mom doesn’t work,” said Bonne. “So I ended up having $15,000 in loans that I did not know about.”
Bonne, who became a permanent resident in 2018 on humanitarian grounds, says there was no consideration for the fact that his parents were not Canadian citizens and didn’t have the relevant documentation.
“That’s when the interest starts taking over,” Bonne said.
Bonne was grateful that he was able to find summer work and receive a research grant, which allowed him to get a head start on his payments.
“I’m just not comfortable with the idea of taking that [debt] for the rest of my life,” he said.
But he isn’t in the clear yet. Bonne enters medical school at McGill University in Montreal this fall — and, pending other scholarship funding, he’s considering taking on a line of credit from a bank, which offers medical students loans of up to $350,000 to finance their medical education.
Bonne isn’t sure what area of medicine he wants to pursue yet. But he wants to serve immigrants and other marginalized groups in Quebec, recalling a time after his family first came to Canada in 2009 when his sister got sick and they didn’t have a family doctor or a clinic they could go to.
“That’s a problem many immigrants face today. I don’t even have a family doctor; I’m still on a waitlist,” he said, darkly noting that he might be a family physician before he has one himself.
WATCH | Where are all the doctors?
Why is it so hard to find a family doctor in Canada?
7 months ago
Duration 7:36
As one in five Canadians struggle to find a family doctor, CBC News set out to learn what’s driving so many from their jobs, and visits a community that may have found a solution.
Bonne says he’ll take the funding he needs but no more, noting that he also doesn’t have family support in Canada to fall back on in a crisis.
“One bedroom, one desk — that’s really all I need.”
‘Gateway debt’
Bonne is far from alone in his struggle with student debt; 1.9 million Canadians owed the federal government a total of $23.5 billion in student loans as of July 2022 — a number that only balloons further when including provincial loans and private debt. More than half of those who pursued professional programs such as medicine took on bank loans or lines of credit, according to a 2020 Statistics Canada report.
Erika Shaker, the director of the national office at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, says this “gateway debt” perpetuates social inequality and prevents people from achieving financial independence.
“That debt that you graduate with sticks around,” she said. “It ends up with you postponing the choices that you can make, whether or not you can buy that house, whether or not you can buy a car, whether or not you can start a family.”
It’s a reality Ari Black knows well.
“I don’t have any financial goals. I can’t,” said Black, who teaches American Sign Language at Carleton University in Ottawa. “My financial goal is to make sure that I pay all of my bills, I don’t default on my student loan — and there’s groceries.”
WATCH | Petition takes aim at student loan interest:
Why Ari Black started a petition to eliminate all student loan interest
3 days ago
Duration 1:03
Ari Black, an instructor at Carleton University who teaches American Sign Language, explains why he started a petition to eliminate student loan interest in all jurisdictions.
Black says he’s been on interest-only payments since he graduated with a master of education from the University of Ottawa in 2019. As such, the student-turned-activist has made little progress paying off the principal. But he stresses that he had a little choice, especially given the limited income he makes teaching.
So after a final period of reduced payments, he says he’ll likely have to apply for a repayment assistance plan.
All this led to Black starting an online petition to eliminate student loan interest at all levels of government. It has roughly 74 signatures.
Shaker says eliminating interest is “the least that can be done.”
Erika Shaker, the director of the national office at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, says student debt is a ‘gateway debt’ that perpetuates social inequality and prevents people from achieving financial independence. (Submitted by Erika Shaker)
“If we’re really looking at systemically addressing the issue, the answer is not more loans, not raising the loan ceiling,” she said. “It’s actually acknowledging that investing in post-secondary education is not just a commitment to the students who want to pursue it, but it’s a commitment to future innovation, future equity.”
High costs of higher education
Shaker says pressure to make loan payments can also trap many former students in a cycle of precarity as they take on “whatever job[s] they can” to make ends meet. Beyond that, she stresses that the increasing costs of higher education excludes those whose families can’t or don’t support them — and those who have children or other dependants of their own.
Average undergraduate tuition fees for full-time domestic students have risen from $534 in 1972-73 to $6,834 in 2022-23. These figures are almost double what they would be if tuition rates grew proportionally with inflation.
“We need a much more honest understanding of who is going to post secondary,” said Shaker. “Otherwise we’re leaving out swaths of students who don’t fit this template and we’re reproducing the inequalities that already exist.”
Rania Phillips, a recent graduate of the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, feels that the student financial aid system places too much emphasis on income over wealth.
“Things like expenses are very much affected by wealth,” she said. “Families who make less money but don’t necessarily have to pay a mortgage have a very different financial situation than families who do have a mortgage, especially in the current housing market.”
Rania Phillips, a recent graduate of the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, says the student financial aid system focuses too much on income over wealth. (Aloysius Wong/CBC)
Phillips worked three jobs in her final year of undergraduate studies and took a year off to work before pursuing a masters degree this fall. She says the pressure to make ends meet led her to only consider academic programs that would allow her to immediately start repaying her student loans.
“There’s certainly … a different way you carry yourself when you don’t have the constant stress of how you’re going to make the very basics of your education,” she said.
Despite his difficulties, Black says he’s appreciative of how the student loan system allowed him to pursue an education, and he intends to pay back “every cent.”
“I don’t want to give anyone the impression that I think that I’m somehow a blameless victim in this scenario — I’m not,” said Black. “I’m an active participant in my situation.”
But unlike a lease on a car or a mortgage on a house, he says, he can’t return the education he received — nor would he want to.
“I was gambling that I would succeed,” he said. “So far, it’s helping me, but it’s not helping me enough to keep up with what they are asking for. And I can’t give it to them to make up for it.
“There’s nothing for me to pay them back with — so I’m trapped in the system.”
TORONTO – Canada Goose Holdings Inc. says it has signed a deal that will result in the creation of its first eyewear collection.
The deal announced on Thursday by the Toronto-based luxury apparel company comes in the form of an exclusive, long-term global licensing agreement with Marchon Eyewear Inc.
The terms and value of the agreement were not disclosed, but Marchon produces eyewear for brands including Lacoste, Nike, Calvin Klein, Ferragamo, Longchamp and Zeiss.
Marchon plans to roll out both sunglasses and optical wear under the Canada Goose name next spring, starting in North America.
Canada Goose says the eyewear will be sold through optical retailers, department stores, Canada Goose shops and its website.
Canada Goose CEO Dani Reiss told The Canadian Press in August that he envisioned his company eventually expanding into eyewear and luggage.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
Almost seven years since news broke of an alleged conspiracy to fix the price of packaged bread across Canada, the saga isn’t over: the Competition Bureau continues to investigate the companies that may have been involved, and two class-action lawsuits continue to work their way through the courts.
Here’s a timeline of key events in the bread price-fixing case.
Oct. 31, 2017: The Competition Bureau says it’s investigating allegations of bread price-fixing and that it was granted search warrants in the case. Several grocers confirm they are co-operating in the probe.
Dec. 19, 2017: Loblaw and George Weston say they participated in an “industry-wide price-fixing arrangement” to raise the price of packaged bread. The companies say they have been co-operating in the Competition Bureau’s investigation since March 2015, when they self-reported to the bureau upon discovering anti-competitive behaviour, and are receiving immunity from prosecution. They announce they are offering $25 gift cards to customers amid the ongoing investigation into alleged bread price-fixing.
Jan. 31, 2018: In court documents, the Competition Bureau says at least $1.50 was added to the price of a loaf of bread between about 2001 and 2016.
Dec. 20, 2019: A class-action lawsuit in a Quebec court against multiple grocers and food companies is certified against a number of companies allegedly involved in bread price-fixing, including Loblaw, George Weston, Metro, Sobeys, Walmart Canada, Canada Bread and Giant Tiger (which have all denied involvement, except for Loblaw and George Weston, which later settled with the plaintiffs).
Dec. 31, 2021: A class-action lawsuit in an Ontario court covering all Canadian residents except those in Quebec who bought packaged bread from a company named in the suit is certified against roughly the same group of companies.
June 21, 2023: Bakery giant Canada Bread Co. is fined $50 million after pleading guilty to four counts of price-fixing under the Competition Act as part of the Competition Bureau’s ongoing investigation.
Oct. 25 2023: Canada Bread files a statement of defence in the Ontario class action denying participating in the alleged conspiracy and saying any anti-competitive behaviour it participated in was at the direction and to the benefit of its then-majority owner Maple Leaf Foods, which is not a defendant in the case (neither is its current owner Grupo Bimbo). Maple Leaf calls Canada Bread’s accusations “baseless.”
Dec. 20, 2023: Metro files new documents in the Ontario class action accusing Loblaw and its parent company George Weston of conspiring to implicate it in the alleged scheme, denying involvement. Sobeys has made a similar claim. The two companies deny the allegations.
July 25, 2024: Loblaw and George Weston say they agreed to pay a combined $500 million to settle both the Ontario and Quebec class-action lawsuits. Loblaw’s share of the settlement includes a $96-million credit for the gift cards it gave out years earlier.
Sept. 12, 2024: Canada Bread files new documents in Ontario court as part of the class action, claiming Maple Leaf used it as a “shield” to avoid liability in the alleged scheme. Maple Leaf was a majority shareholder of Canada Bread until 2014, and the company claims it’s liable for any price-fixing activity. Maple Leaf refutes the claims.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
Companies in this story: (TSX:L, TSX:MFI, TSX:MRU, TSX:EMP.A, TSX:WN)
TORONTO – TD Bank Group, which is mired in a money laundering scandal in the U.S., says chief executive Bharat Masrani will retire next year.
Masrani, who will retire officially on April 10, 2025, says the bank’s, “anti-money laundering challenges,” took place on his watch and he takes full responsibility.
The bank named Raymond Chun, TD’s group head, Canadian personal banking, as his successor.
As part of a transition plan, Chun will become chief operating officer on Nov. 1 before taking over the top job when Masrani steps down at the bank’s annual meeting next year.
TD also announced that Riaz Ahmed, group head, wholesale banking and president and CEO of TD Securities, will retire at the end of January 2025.
TD has taken billions in charges related to ongoing U.S. investigations into the failure of its anti-money laundering program.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
