International students struggle amid Canada policy shifts

Representative Image. / Pexels

The minority Liberal government may have survived three no-confidence motions and the embarrassment of its Deputy Prime Minister turning her back to the federal Cabinet hours before she was to present the Fall Economic Report, yet developments in Canadian politics bring no respite to international students. These students face an uncertain future following rapid changes in the immigration policies and plans announced during the past few months.

In addition to this, a spate of unnatural deaths has left the international student community shellshocked.

Shocking deaths of Ritika Rajput in British Columbia, Harshmandeep Singh in Alberta and Pritpal Singh in Ontario, have been hawking media headlines for the past couple of weeks. All three lives were cut in their prime for no fault of theirs. Though the Indian diplomatic missions in Canada have taken up their cases with the federal government as well as the local and provincial authorities, yet no guarantees for the safety and security of international students have been promised by the authorities concerned. Even their continuation in Canada after completion of their studies is not guaranteed.

Hopes of international students for changes in the immigration laws with the expected change of the government suffered another setback when the leader of the Opposition, Pierre Poilievre, who is favoured to head the new Canadian government as and when federal elections are held in the New Year, made clear of his intentions to “deport all those who cannot claim to live in Canada any more”. With two major Canadian political parties turning their backs to a strong international student community, the US President-elect Donald Trump is also threatening to deport “millions of aliens”, adding to the woes of international students.

Immigration policies shift

Canada and USA have been the most sought-after destination for international students in general and students of the South Asian descent in particular. Their hopes of making Canada their new home received a temporary boost when mayors of some of the Ontario cities wanted the federal government to reconsider its recent changes in immigration policies as they were in the grip of a severe crisis of negative growth of their population.

While the incumbent federal government announced to drastically reduce its immigration targets over the next few years, the mayors of northern Ontario’s largest cities say they need more immigrants to sustain local economies and population. The mayors of Sault Ste. Marie, Thunder Bay and Sudbury are calling on Ottawa to deliver on its promise to make permanent a pilot program that resettled skilled workers in their communities, saying a one-size-fits-all approach to immigration policy doesn’t benefit northern regions.

According to media reports, Sault Ste. Marie Mayor Matthew Shoemaker said the now-closed rural and northern immigration pilot program allowed employers in the city to fill highly skilled positions in aircraft repair, engineering and various trades. “It has been an enormous success,” Shoemaker said, adding that without economic immigrants such jobs would disappear from the region.

The five-year program was aimed at attracting immigrants to smaller communities across Canada, including five cities in northern Ontario, and it provided thousands of newcomers with a path to permanent residence.

Early this year, the federal Liberal government promised to create a permanent rural immigration program while announcing plans to launch two other pilots this fall targeting rural and francophone communities.

But months later, Ottawa said it would slash its immigration target for permanent residents and dramatically reduce the number of temporary residents in the country in order to ease the growing pressures on housing, health care and other services.

The government had targeted bringing in 500,000 new permanent residents in both 2025 and 2026. Next year’s target will instead be 395,000 new permanent residents, and that will fall to 380,000 in 2026 and 365,000 in 2027.

These changes, coupled with other modifications, have put international students in a quandary as they are now increasingly subjected to rigorous controls. Many of them have been asked to upload not only their student visas, but also their academic credentials, including attendance, and other details.

Mayors unhappy

Shoemaker held that the recent changes were designed to blunt the effects of high population growth in large cities, but immigration was vital to the growth of smaller towns like Sault Ste. Marie “because otherwise our death rate outpaces our new births,” leading to a shrinking population and municipal tax base. “One size does not fit all,” he said of the policy change.

More than 1,000 people have been resettled in the city over the last few years thanks to the rural and northern immigration pilot and those immigrants helped the local population grow for the first time in 25 years, to about 78,500 people in 2024. “For the 25 years before 2024, our population shrunk every time it was measured,” he said, maintaining that “the program has provided a turnaround for us in terms of population size.”

The federal government should recognize that the needs of northern Ontario cities are different from those in southern Ontario, he suggested. “Don’t make us pay for the affordability crisis that’s been created in southern Ontario because we can help continue to grow the population and be thriving contributors to the Canadian economy,” he said.

His views were corroborated by Thunder Bay Mayor Ken Boshcoff sharing similar concerns about the federal government’s pivot on immigration. “We have lots of room and lots of jobs because the mining industry is really quite booming,” he said. “The community itself, both from an educational standpoint and as a regional centre, is also doing very well,” he said while claiming that Thunder Bay is working to build more housing as quickly as possible and provide adequate recreational activities to attract more immigrants and entice them to stay.

“We could use as many new immigrants as the federal government would allow us,” Boshcoff added.

Sudbury Mayor Paul Lefebvre said 1,400 skilled immigrants arrived in the city over the course of the pilot program, with some of them bringing their family members for a total of 2,700 new residents.

“We’re asking (the federal government) to reopen the program … as soon as possible because we have a lot of opportunities, a lot of jobs that are waiting to be filled,” media reports quoting Paul Lefebvre said. “We have housing and we’re able to accommodate and certainly welcome them in our communities.”

The Sudbury Mayor further held that the local mining industry was looking for engineers, welders and mechanics, while the health-care and education sectors were also looking for skilled workers.

While mayors sounded their concerns and wanted the federal government to revisit the changes, announcements by the minority Liberal government and the expectant new ruling Conservatives have dashed hopes international students living day by day.