Given the recently announced caps on international students and other funding constraints, unlikely these programs will expand significantly. And suspect that university admistrations would run by their legal experts the assertion that “charges and prosecutions using these provisions are highly unlikely,”:
…According to a 2023 York U paper on the issue, without programs like the ones at York and TMU, after students with precarious status turn 18, they are often “blocked from accessing postsecondary education either because they do not have study permits or because they cannot afford prohibitively expensive international tuition fees.”
This is made worse by the fact that “in recent years the Canadian government has ‘increasingly relied on temporary status to manage migration’, which, in turn, ‘facilitates multitude forms of temporariness’,” the paper states.
“You’re stuck in that point in time because you can’t go forward, and you definitely can’t go back,” says Vernetta, who had been waiting “many years” for her PR application to be processed. “It’s a kind of permanent temporariness.”
Tanya Aberman, who coordinates both programs, says “that’s why it became so important to create this pathway: as people are trying to navigate the immigration system, they are still able to pursue their education and pursue their dreams.”
To Vernetta, it made “a world of a difference.”
“The sanctuary scholars program allows you to move forward, even though it’s just within the space of education, but at least you have that sense of control over your life,” she says. “It’s something in your life that you can control, that you’re making progress in.”
Aberman says students are officially categorized with the province as “Non-Canadian, status unknown (refugees and other foreign students in Canada whose status is unknown).”
In its answers to NCM, IRCC said students considered to be foreign nationals and studying without a study permit “may be determined inadmissible to Canada on the basis of non-compliance with the Act and/or Regulations.”
“As well, the CBSA may conduct criminal investigations when it is determined that organizations/individuals have deliberately circumvented the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.”
However, Aberman assures the program is based on absolute confidentiality and students only report their status to her. In fact, she says, professors and other staff aren’t even aware of which students are in the program.
This is absolutely key, says Vernetta, because “when you have precarious status, that fear of exposure, of being found out, is very real … Just one unfortunate encounter and you’re going to be exposed.”
That’s why Aberman says “it would be wonderful” and “a positive thing” to expand the programs nationwide.
Yet, outside of those two institutions — which have limited spaces (TMU’s fall cohort, for instance, only admitted 20 students) — people with precarious status continue falling through the cracks.
According to a The Varsity news report from last October, the administration for Toronto’s other major institution — University of Toronto — is “dragging its feet,” avoiding direct questions as to when a similar program might be implemented there.
“We are engaging in conversations and consultations to understand the particular educational barriers that people with precarious immigration status face and possible models to address them. Discussions on this issue are ongoing and no decisions have been made,” a U of T spokesperson is quoted as saying.
The York U academic paper notes that institutions may be fearful that by admitting students without a study permit — which is a violation under IRPA — they may be culpable too.
But “charges and prosecutions using these provisions are highly unlikely,” the authors argue. “Moreover, if such charges were pursued, there is a good argument to be made that the Courts would find the relevant provisions unconstitutional.”
Even if an institution is penalized for breaking the law, they argue, “this is one of the limited sets of circumstances where pushing back against the law — and even breaking the law if necessary — would be warranted.”
Ontario’s Ministry of Colleges and Universities did not reply to NCM’s multiple requests for comments as to their position on such programs and what legal or other barriers institutions might face in implementing them.
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) replied through email, saying provinces and territories are “responsible for education.” It added that “most people attending elementary or secondary schools in Canada are minors and have the right to study while in Canada. Not all of them require a study permit.”
Multicultural Meanderings 