Housing and immigration policy are very much in the news here in Canada. Sean Fraser, the new Housing Minister (who is also outgoing Immigration Minister) sparked quite the discussion when he suggested that his government should consider caps as part of the solution to lack of housing which is being felt right across the country.

The focus has turned to international students, most of whom hail from India. Who Canada lets in on student visas is a matter of federal jurisdiction. The federal government controls the list of “Designated Learning Institutions” (DLIs) and determines if students can work off campus and for how many hours. Moreover, the federal government is responsible for determining how many applicants are approved as Permanent Residents and should know that most international students wish to permanently immigrate.

Last year, the number of foreign students was 807,750 which is a 31% increase from the year before. Many of us saw the numbers increasing and a year ago, on August 30, 2022, I wrote an article for The Lawyer’s Daily and was one of the first to call for a reduction. I wrote that “it is too simplistic to measure the success of international students only in terms of the billions of dollars they bring to Canada.” I said “we should be concerned that our schools now rely on these funds… [and] we should not allow greed by recruiters and schools to blind us to the basic needs of students in terms of things like accommodation given the lack of housing supply and the increasing cost of rent.”

Rather than a hard cap, Ottawa can make some moves that will limit the number of international students while protecting them at the same time. First, Ottawa should remove from the DLI list any educational institution or program which does not lead to a post-graduate work permit. It is embarrassing that Canada lets international students obtain student visas for programs which cannot lead to a work permit after graduation, and therefore presents no pathway to permanent residence.

Secondly, Ottawa should ban student visas to private colleges altogether, even those ‘affiliated’ with public institutions. There have been reports of such private colleges oversubscribing with students arriving and left in limbo. Students have been shocked to find that in some cases, over 90% of their classmates are fellow international students and so they are not rubbing shoulders with Canadians. We have also learned that the private colleges hold classes in strip malls or rented movie theaters – hardly the student experience we should be proud of as a nation.

Further, all DLIs and agents representing them need to be transparent about commissions and accountable to the students they are supposed to be serving.

Finally, be wary of immigration agents and consultants. Some consultants are “registered” and regulated by a College but there are criticisms that the College is very weak and many lawyers have reported that in their interactions with them, registered consultants seem confident they will not face sanctions. Also, it’s troubling that some registered immigration consultants take commissions from private colleges while also acting as legal representatives for their clients’ student visas.

The number of international students committing suicide after being led astray by agents and consultants and exploited by private colleges affiliated with our tax-payer supported public institutions is shocking. Many are spending their parents’ life savings. When they are misguided by negligent consultants about the rules for studying in Canada and qualifying for work permits and when they face refusals of study permit extensions or work permits some simply cannot face the shame they feel in returning home empty handed.

I hope politicians will find the courage to make the badly needed changes I suggest. We need to protect Canada’s reputation and also the international students themselves