On Friday evening, my wife and I were dining in an Indian restaurant in Thunder Bay that was opening softly. Our waitress was friendly and outgoing, and we began a conversation. We learned that she was from Nepal and attending Confederation College working towards a human resources diploma. She had arrived in Thunder Bay in January of 2023.
We were surprised that she had chosen Northwestern Ontario to pursue her studies especially so after she told us she had planned to immigrate to Australia but ended up in Canada. She was working under her student visa, and she was using the money to attend school.
There are over a million students just like that young lady from Nepal who are in Canada to gain an education. Most will want to stay in Canada following graduation or post graduate degrees because life in Canada is much better than where they came from.
There is a student in Alberta who is 39 years old. She was a lawyer in El Salvador before she can to Canada with a student visa. She has now completed two post graduate degrees, but her five-year visa has expired. As a student she was able to work in her new profession, but with the expiration of her visa she had to give up her position. She has now applied for permanent residency in Canada.
Up until 2023, the government of Canada was expanding the opportunity of immigrants to come to Canada, study and often offered those students permanent residency. Canadians now feel that Canada’s immigration process was too liberal, and the government has cracked down and has greatly reduced the number of immigrants and students into Canada.
Students are among the first to be impacted by the change in policy. The opportunity to remain in Canada that was open only two years ago has closed. There are over one million foreign students are impacted by the change. They can be expelled.
Many of those students are taking courses that are needed in Canada, nursing, PSW’s, trades people, human resources, and business. Even in Fort Frances, we can see how immigration has positively impacted our community.
The immigration changes now have fewer students looking to study in Canada, instead choosing the United States, Germany, France and other European countries. Canada recognizes that immigration is important to the country’s future, but is it being short-sighted in reducing students and eliminating their opportunity to work in Canada following their graduation?
