Brett Fairbairn: New financial rules for international students signal need for change

2024/01/04 Leave a comment

From the President of Thompson Rivers University. Issue is broader than international student support systems…

New restrictions for international students recently announced by Canada’s federal government are intended to send a message to universities, colleges, and students who want to come here to study.

The changes addressing the cost-of-living financial requirements, work hours, and study permit processing for international students signal a shift in Canada’s approach to international education. Most plainly, the changes acknowledge that students are not commodities. They are valuable contributors to our communities and the Canadian economy, and they deserve better support from universities.

Some of these changes, such as new cost-of-living requirements (students must now show they have $20,635 available instead of $10,000), have been a long time coming, having not been adjusted since the early 2000s. While the increase in required funds may initially seem daunting, it underscores a vital truth for students — living in Canada is expensive, and they have sometimes been underprepared for the cost of living here.

Other changes are intended to make universities and colleges take more responsibility for students and their well-being, especially regarding housing and mental health support, which is in short supply everywhere.

Across Canadian higher education, there needs to be more consistency and accountability in how universities and colleges approach international students. There are too many institutions that “free ride” on the hard-won reputation of higher education in Canada. Some institutions, such as Thompson Rivers University (TRU) in Kamloops, offer extensive enhanced support to their international students. TRU’s approach goes beyond compliance with financial guidelines — we actively foster a nurturing and inclusive environment. This commitment is reflected in comprehensive services that address academic, cultural, and personal needs, ensuring that these students are enrolled and integrated into the campus and broader community. For example, each student is assigned a dedicated international student advisor for assistance with immigration, academics and well-being, along with access to 24/7 mental health support, assistance with living arrangements, and activities for engagement and integration with the local community.

However, some institutions seem to prioritize the financial benefits that international students bring, viewing the increased enrolment of international students primarily as a source of revenue. This approach inevitably leads to inadequate support, potentially leaving students to navigate the challenges of a new educational and cultural environment with minimal assistance.

The new requirements make clear the need for universities and colleges to develop robust support systems. By doing so, universities and colleges, whether public or private, can help international students handle the pressures of adapting to a new country while pursuing their academic goals. We must foster environments where international students feel valued and supported as learners and individuals embarking on a life-changing journey in a new country.

As mentioned before, Canada’s international education brand is hard won, and the result of strategies developed by this government and the last, and we must foster it. Canada risks developing a bad reputation not only because of a handful of “viral” poor experiences of a few students but also if the status quo continues, risking even more drastic and sudden changes in government policies.

Now is the time for governments and the post-secondary sector across Canada to work together to protect our brand, retain the massive positive economic impact international students bring, and ensure we are keeping the promise we made to students of the world of what education in Canada means. Value-added services, accessible housing and employment, and a warm welcome into communities should all be part of our offer.

We also need to hear from international students about what makes their time in Canada more fulfilling. Students have an active voice, and international students, to their credit, are claiming it. We must listen and learn from them to devise better systems.

It is time for institutions and policymakers to move decisively beyond viewing international students through a financial lens and see them as integral, valued community members. This shift will enrich the Canadian landscape, strengthening Canada’s communities and our position as a leader in global education.

Brett Fairbairn is the president and vice-chancellor at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops. This year, TRU World celebrated 40 years of international education.

Source: Brett Fairbairn: New financial rules for international students signal need for change

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Barutciski: Has Canada’s asylum system fallen victim to ideology?

2024/01/04 Leave a comment

Valid question, with focus on two major contributors to the increase, the removal of visas on Mexicans and tightening recently relaxed visa restrictions. And it is true that the majority of academics covering immigration and related issues tend to be on the left side of the spectrum and border on activist perspectives:

According to recent statistics, around 15,000 to 16,000 migrants have claimed asylum in Canada in each of the last three months. There will likely be more than 140,000 claims for 2023, a number several times higher than the old record before the Liberals formed government in 2015.

As the European country with the most asylum seekers, Germany is receiving similar numbers per capita — and its leaders speak openly of a crisis. Prominent progressive leaders from U.S. Democrats to Germany’s coalition Social Democrat and Green partners are realizing that current approaches to asylum are undermining our democracies and encouraging anti-immigrant rhetoric. Justin Trudeau’s Liberals appear distinctly as a global outlier.

Until a decade ago, Canada was receiving on average less than 25,000 asylum claims per year. To suggest the recent increase is related to a global displacement crisis, as repeated by the federal government and others trying to downplay the situation, is to ignore the distinct demographics of the Canadian inflow.

The global statistics reflect mostly displaced people who remain within their countries of origin, along with specific conflict situations (e.g. Syria, Afghanistan, Ukraine); these are not the migrants claiming asylum in Canada.

Mexico remains the top source country for asylum claims in Canada, yet the federal government continues to allow Mexicans to enter the country without visas. Along with several thousand claims from Indian citizens, the unusual situation has been highlighted by Quebec media, which have reported that many international students are claiming asylum.

The boom in temporary residents includes migrants who intend to stay permanently, so it should be expected that the inevitable failure of many to secure permanent status will lead to visa overstaying and even abusive asylum claims. As asylum seekers overwhelm homeless shelters or sleep on the streets, their overall number clearly contributes to population growth. which affects the housing crisis.

To avoid the perception of a broken asylum system, the government could take relatively quick action. Imposing visas on Mexicans. and tightening recently relaxed visitor visa issuance, are measures any responsible government would take if it realized public confidence was being undermined. Likewise, the immigration department’s “client-focused” attitude is misplaced for any bureaucratic service involved in border control.

The only logical explanation for not trying to limit the inflow is ideological: The Trudeau Liberals believe that Canada should take an abstract “fair share” and that their progressive, university-educated constituencies are onboard.

This is partly related to the longstanding politicization of universities. By overcompensating in their attempts not to appear anti-immigrant, Canada’s political and media class are reinforcing the failure of the country’s universities to promote a diversity of analysis concerning asylum dilemmas. Unfortunately, the actual study of this issue is dedicated to a political agenda focused on social engineering. The legitimacy of borders is routinely questioned and there is dogmatic refusal to accept tight enforcement via removals to maintain the system’s integrity.

It is not by chance that Canada’s responsibility-sharing treaty with the U.S., the Safe Third Country Agreement, was uniformly denounced in law journals and academic publications. It took our Supreme Court to clarify earlier this year that our continental partner is indeed safe for asylum seekers. Publicly funded university research should not be so one-sided in addressing complex border issues that otherwise attract a healthy diversity of non-academic views. The limited analytical abilities learned by students will show in how they perform their jobs after graduation, whether in public service, media, etc.

Asylum as a modern humanist notion traditionally relied on strict principles relating to individualized persecution. It cannot be a gateway for “toute la misère du monde,” as recently stated by French President Emmanuel Macron. By pushing a well-intentioned but overly generous approach, inspired by post-national ideology promoted on campuses, the current government threatens the integrity of Canada’s immigration system.

The Liberals originally came to power partly because of the upbeat humanitarian spirit they displayed while the Syrian refugee crisis destabilized allies. Similar asylum issues may ironically contribute to their downfall by illustrating their tendency to jeopardize basic state functions with ideology and incompetence. The important historical concept of asylum is the latest example that leaves the impression some Canadian institutions are approaching a breaking point.

Michael Barutciski teaches at York University’s Glendon College.

Source: Barutciski: Has Canada’s asylum system fallen victim to ideology?

Filed under Immigration Tagged with ,

Viral video explains why immigrants are leaving Ontario in droves

2024/01/04 Leave a comment

Anecdotal reporting but numbers are confirming the trend and that current approach not working: https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/cv.action?pid=1710004001.

A recent viral clip uploaded by a social media content creator in Ontario sheds light on why some immigrants who choose to live in Canada are forced to leave amid the region’s competitive job market, rising costs, and pricey real estate market.

The creator behind Canada Tried and Tested describes the page as a “sincere attempt” to give viewers first-hand information on how to independently immigrate to Canada, manage day-to-day expenses after making the big move, as well as how to secure temporary housing and employment. 

A TikTok by the creator recently garnered over 70,000 views after he transparently discussed the challenges some high-skilled immigrants face after moving to Canada, specifically highlighting the “dream” versus the lived reality of working and living in the country. 

“Friends, after 2015, if the largest number of people came from any country, it was India. There is no surprise in this. If you look at the current trend, many people are leaving Canada and going back to India,” he explains in the video. 

“Many people have gone to the U.S. Many people are talking about Singapore, Malaysia, Dubai, and European countries. It’s not just Indians now. Many Canadians, first-generation, second, third, and fourth generation, are also leaving Canada and going abroad,” a translation of the video reads. 

“So let’s know what is the reason. So the first thing is expectation versus reality in Canada. Because Canada has a picture of the best place to live on Earth, the best place to settle with family, etc. Canada needs people and many Indians like such advertisement,” the creator goes on. …

Source: Viral video explains why immigrants are leaving Ontario in droves

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Canadian schools are accepting international students by the thousands — but nearly half aren’t being allowed into the country

2024/01/03 Leave a comment

Good data journalism highlighting the impact of provincial and federal government policies along with economic interests have resulted in the international student system losing its way. But encouraging that there is some selectivity being applied for study permits:

….The new data, in the eyes of one policy expert, shows the system is being flooded with subpar applicants, a consequence of schools’ hard push to get as many international students through their doors as possible.

Between Jan. 1, 2022, and April 30, 2023, the Immigration Department approved 54.3 per cent or 470,427 of the 866,206 study permit applicants who had been accepted by a school here — so-called designated learning institutions that have been authorized by provinces to host international students.

Ontario is the top destination for international students and home to the largest number of the 1,335 designated learning institutions in Canada. 

Approval rates vary vastly among the schools.

Public colleges generally had higher rejection rates than public universities. Private institutions had still higher rejection rates, though students destined for private institutions made up less than 10 per cent of the overall applications. …

Source: Canadian schools are accepting international students by the thousands — but nearly half aren’t being allowed into the country

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Size of federal public service swells to record high, according to report

2024/01/03 Leave a comment

Does seem to be time for a reckoning:

….“The obvious question from a citizen taxpayer point of view is, ‘We have 40 per cent more people in government, am I getting 40 per cent faster service?’ I don’t think most people feel that value for money,” said Aaron Wudrick, director of domestic policy with the independent non-partisan Macdonald-Laurier Institute think tank in Ottawa.

“It seems to me you either want to retain that expertise outside or inside government and yet they seem to be spending more in both areas.”

He added: “There are obviously choices this government has to make” with higher interest rates and after years of deficits. “They’ve started to make some signals they will have a bit of fiscal retrenchment. We haven’t seen that play out in terms of hard numbers. I think the budget will be a big signal as to whether they’ll actually change direction or continue on this path.”

Donald Savoie, Canada Research Chair in public administration and governance at the University of Moncton, said he was troubled by the fact that overall employment in the National Capital Region of Ottawa-Gatineau has continued to creep up as a share of total PSC-tracked employment, to 47.6 per cent. It was less than 30 per cent four decades ago, and is closer to 20 per cent now in the capital regions of other countries, including the United States, Britain, France and Australia.

“I think that’s something Canadians should be concerned about because the points of service and program delivery happen at the community, regional and provincial level,” he said. With the dwindled share of federal employment outside Ottawa “it’s not a surprise the quality of service delivery will go down.”…

Source: Size of federal public service swells to record high, according to report

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What’s changing in German immigration policy in 2024 – DW (English)

2024/01/03 Leave a comment

Useful overview:

When it comes to immigration policy, Chancellor Olaf Scholz has already set the tone for the new year. In an interview with the news magazine Der Spiegel in December, he came out in favor of “large-scale” deportations for rejected asylum applicants.

In the first half of 2023, government figures show that 7,861 people were deported. A reform, dubbed the Repatriation Improvement Act, hopes to increase that number. Changes include an end to announcing deportations in advance and extending asylum detention to 28 days. Police will also have extended powers to search for those ordered to leave, and access their property, such as phones.

Smugglers and other kinds of criminals, including those without convictions but suspected of criminal associations, could face faster deportations, as part of efforts to “more consistently and more quickly” act against “dangerous individuals,” said Interior Minister Nancy Faeser.

More migration agreements

Germany is also negotiating agreements with Georgia, Moldova, Kenya, Colombia, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, though these would not affect the majority of asylum-seekers who come from Syria, Afghanistan and Turkey. But the move is part of a larger effort to designate more countries as “safe countries of origin,” which would permit Germany to return people to those places. Georgia and Moldova received this status in November.

If the European Union revives its deal with Turkey, a move Germany supports, that could facilitate sending people there, as well.

Germany also wants to process asylum applications faster. Right now, it can take more than two years to handle an asylum claim, according to government data. Proposed changes to the law hope to get that down to between three to six months.

People going through the asylum procedure are also set to receive fewer benefits. Welfare payments, currently accessible after 18 months, will become available only after three years. Those living in state housing will also have the cost of their food deducted.

Cards instead of cash for benefits

More German cities and states want to move to a card-based system for benefits, rather than bank payments, to prevent asylum-seekers from transferring the money to others, such as relatives in the country of origin.

Hannover, in central Germany, started its “social card” in December, which works like a normal bank debit card. Areas of the eastern state of Thuringia have also issued around 160 such cards for asylum-seekers. The cardholder must go to the district asylum office every month to top up the card.

Hamburg and Bavaria are set to follow suit with similar programs in 2024.

More skilled labor immigration

While conditions look to be getting harder for asylum-seekers, recent reforms hope to make life in Germany more attractive for skilled labor.

A points system, based on language proficiency and professional experience, would grant eligible immigrants a one-year visa, during which time they can search for a job. The income requirement has also been lowered, and it will be easier for the applicant to bring along more family members.

The EU Blue Card is also to be expanded to cover sectors suffering from labor shortages, such as health care and education.

Starting in March, foreigners from outside the EU can come directly to Germany and start working while their qualifications are being approved. Workers will be able to stay up to three years, including with dependents, as long as they can prove they are able to support themselves.

The special immigration quota for people from countries in the western Balkans is also to be doubled to 50,000 people in June.

Source: What’s changing in German immigration policy in 2024 – DW (English)

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ICYMI: Ottawa will prevent AI tools from discriminating against potential hires, Anand says

2024/01/03 Leave a comment

Of note:

The federal government will work to prevent artificial intelligence from discriminating against people applying for jobs in federal government departments, says Treasury Board President Anita Anand.

In a wide-ranging year-end interview with CBC News, Anand acknowledged concerns about the use of AI tools in hiring.

“There is no question that at all times, a person’s privacy needs to be respected in accordance with privacy laws, and that our hiring practices must be non-discriminatory and must be embedded with a sense of equality,” Anand said when asked about the government’s use of AI in its hiring process.

“Certainly, as a racialized woman, I feel this very deeply … We need to ensure that any use of AI in the workplace … has to be compliant with existing law and has to be able to stand the moral test of being non-discriminatory….

Source: Ottawa will prevent AI tools from discriminating against potential hires, Anand says

Filed under Government, Multiculturalism Tagged with , ,

Articles I found interesting during the holidays

2024/01/02 Leave a comment

As always, lots of articles on immigration with a continuing stream of voices raising concern regarding current levels of permanent and temporary migration. The National Bank flagged an economic contraction, per capita GDP basis also noted by TD, driven partly by an immigration-fuelled populations increase (Canada’s high immigration is driving down per-capita GDP: report). 

Tristin Hopper correctly noted that the immigration surge cancels out every Liberal housing promise and then some: Canada’s biggest immigration surge in 70 years, while Konrad Yakabuski, citing the Bank of Nova Scotia (« L’immigration est excessive. Point à la ligne ») argues that L’immigration [est] le talon d’Achille de Justin Trudeau. Brian Lilley notes that  Canada has added more than 1 million people and counting in 2023, it’s unsustainable. Meanwhile, while Canada has massive growth, South of the border it is only an uptick, Immigration fuels uptick in US population growth.

Tony Keller continues his series of critiques on immigration, arguing for drastic cutbacks in the number of low-skilled temporary workers, sharp cuts in the number of international students and ending the right of students to work while in school, Can we talk about immigration?

Cam Clark notes that the “failure to control the unplanned boom in temporary residents … is already undermining one of Canada’s great strengths: public support for immigration,” Liberals risk aiding Trump-style politics with temporary-resident failures. Julia Malott observes that the  International student influx exposes the selfish greed of universities, although she fails to note provincial policies failures, particularly in Ontario, that have driven universities in this direction.

Minister Miller continues his tendency of being much more frank than any of his predecessors (“I’m trying to target the effect of a system that’s run a bit rampant for far too long…), signalling that he will ‘rein in’ number of temporary foreign workers.

Le Devoir had a good explainer on current policies and debates in Quebec, Comment parler d’immigration en famille sans se fâcher, along with flagging ongoing IRCC operational issues, Délais à IRCC: Des milliers de réfugiés privés de voyager, même dans l’urgence.

The Star also had a good comparative explainer, Canada, the U.K. and Australia all face immigration challenges. Why Canada’s going a different way. The question is, of course, should Canada go a different way!

Immigration advocates Naomi Alboim, Audrey Macklin and Anna Triandafyllidou argue that Canada’s program to legalize undocumented migrants should be simple and comprehensive forgetting that simple and comprehensive are oxymorons in immigration policies given the practicalities and politics.

Rita Trichur wrote an interesting article on the strengths and weaknesses of TD’s racial equity audits, noting that auditors with racial expertise, comprehensive coverage of all business aspects and be public.  TD Bank’s racial equity audit offers lessons for other public companies

On citizenship, the first generation cut-off for transmission of citizenship was struck down by the courts (‘Lost Canadians’ win in Ontario court as judge ends 2 classes of citizenship – CBC.ca), with Chris Selley: ‘Lost Canadians’ beat Ottawa in court over Charter violations that never should have happened. Not as straightforward a change. Most of the plaintiffs had a route to citizenship for their children, albeit not as convenient as an automatic one. Will see if the government appeals (it should IMO as the decision opens the door to automatic transmission across multiple generations).

The release of the government’s Employment Equity Act Review Task Force late 2023 provides insights into the government’s thinking given that it set the terms of reference for the review and related consultations. The government has already signalled its support for the terminology changes of Indigenous peoples and racialized people, along with creation of a new designated group for 2SLGBTQI+ and the separation for Blacks from the overall racialized people group. While the former addresses a long-standing gap, the latter appears driven more by political considerations given the paucity of evidence presented in the Task Force Report in contrast to other groups, as my earlier analysis of hiring, promotion and separation rates demonstrate.

Meanwhile, from the right, Peter Shawn Taylor argues that It’s Time to Abolish the Absurd (and Slightly Racist) Concept of “Visible Minorities”

Interesting article by Pamela Paul on how social media disadvantages Blacks and Hispanics, who spend more time on social media than whites, Does Social Media Perpetuate Inequality?

Filed under Citizenship, Immigration, Multiculturalism

Looking back on 2023 and forward to 2024

2024/01/02 Leave a comment

Best wishes to all for 2024.

The major development this year has been a sharp reversal in attitudes towards immigration, given the ongoing increases until 2025 of permanent residents and the much larger increases in temporary workers and international students and the consequent impact on housing avilability/affordability, healthcare and infrastructure. 

When I first started raising these and other concerns some five years ago (reviewing Doug Saunders Maximum Canada) and subsequent articles), I was largely a voice in the wilderness. But now, it seems that every week there is another article pointing out the fallacies and problems with the current approach, with virtually all polls showing a significant drop in public support.

Federal and provincial governments, business stakeholders, organizations like Century Initiative and other immigration advocates have largely been caught flat footed by this change given their almost ideological fixation an aging population, their particular interests, and a blindness to broader implications.

While the federal government scrambles to adapt to public concerns on housing, none of the overdue changes to increase housing will have a material impact before the next election. 

The one area I expect to see a meaningful rethink in 2024 is with respect to international students and the “puppy mills” of private colleges to use Minister Miller’s words. Whether the government will similarly restrain or cap temporary foreign workers will be another test of whether it is more attuned to general public and productivity concerns or to business interests in having a larger labour pool for lower skilled workers, along with other special immigration interests.

Most of my time this year was spent on citizenship issues, analyzing citizenship operational data to better understand the declining naturalization rate, opposing the proposed self-affirmation of the citizenship oath and my annual update on birth tourism (non-resident self-pay). 

The petition I launched to oppose the change to the oath and for a return to more in-person ceremonies along with related commentary by others received largely a non-response by the government although it remains to be seen whether they will implement the proposed regulatory change (Minister Miller appears more aware of the importance of citizenship meaningfulness than his predecessor).

Other areas included analysis of employment equity hiring, promotion and separation data, indicating that the government continues to make progress in increasing the representativeness of the public service, annual update of Order of Canada diversity, and a census-driven analysis of riding level demographic, economic and social characteristic.

Next year will likely be more of the same given some of the annual data that I follow. While I will continue my monthly statistical updates, will trim some of the data that has proven less significant (e.g., web traffic) or overtaken by events (e.g., RCMP interceptions given expansion of the STCA).

Top 10 Posts on www.multiculturalmeanderings.com: 

Articles and citations

Citizenship 

Citations

Immigration 

Citations

Multiculturalism, Diversity and Employment Equity

Citations

Political Representation 

Citations

Filed under Citizenship, Immigration, Multiculturalism

Best wishes for the holidays and the New Year

2023/12/16 Leave a comment

See you in 2024

Filed under Multiculturalism

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