Earlier in November, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced, as part of the Liberal government’s new immigration plan, that the number of international students permitted entry into Canadian post-secondary institutions would be cut by half. The announcement comes on the heels of a series of policy changes aimed at reducing immigration numbers since early 2024.
Many post-secondary institutions, including our own, have spoken publicly about the financial fallout of recent government decisions, and will undoubtedly feel this new announcement just as hard. Yet international students rarely seem to be the subject focus of these conversations, often relegated to pawns in a game with severe economic, political and social consequences for all involved.
This is a mistake.
In the face of rising polarization, context is vital. Canada’s journey with international students involves several factors, from the ever-evolving perception of foreigners to the changing federal funding policies and the subsequent profit-motivated decisions of post-secondary institutions. A picture that does not include these details will be misguided at best and dangerous at worst.
So, where did it all start?
In the years following the Second World War and the onset of the Cold War, Canada began seriously considering opening its borders to international students. From the 1960s onwards, students from places like Pakistan, India and the West Indies were welcomed into post-secondary institutions across the nation.
International student fees were initially regulated and kept equal to those of their domestic counterparts. The government did not, at the time, prioritize financial gain. Instead, their sights were set on securing soft power, promoting Canada’s image internationally, while cultivating a globally educated class with goodwill towards the nation. In the context of the Cold War, this was considered an invaluable asset.
Some decades later, the federal government decided to cut corporate income taxes to drive industry and attract more business to the country. The result was a decrease in government earnings, which led to reduced public funding for the universities. Around the same time, the provincial governments began deregulating international student tuition, allowing post-secondary institutions to make up for those lost government funds by hiking up international fees.
Through the 90s and the 2000s, the Canadian government, suffering from brain drain to the United States, enacted policies encouraging foreign students to remain in the country. These policies included the Off-Campus Work Permit, the Post Graduate Work Permit (PGWP) program, and advantageous permanent residence streams. They continued, over the years, to draw in more and more students, both for the gains they brought and the potential of a workforce to fill the gaps.
Between 2003 and 2023, international students in Canada rose from 164,000 to around one million. At the same time, their tuition fees continued to rise, with recent statistics showing that they pay, on average, around five times the amount that domestic students pay.
There is no argument that this was profitable for the institutions and the nation as a whole. In 2022, international students contributed $31 billion to the economy, accounting for 1.2% of Canada’s total GDP. Yet, according to some post-secondary officials, this increase was not accompanied by an increase in resources. As a result, international students struggled to find housing and faced disparate job prospects. They were also vulnerable to bad actors, predatory recruitment methods, degree mills and false study permits.
The data shows that foreign students were exploited from several directions. They were welcomed into the country at staggering rates yet offered insufficient support once they arrived, while many profited in the meantime.
Despite this, the flood of international students was met with significant attrition. Public opinion began to trend downward, and for the first time in a quarter century, a majority of Canadians said that there was ‘too much immigration.’ Many at the time pointed to foreign students as a probable cause of the growing housing crisis, a fact which led many experts to worry about the prospect of scapegoating.
On Jan. 22, 2024, then-immigration minister Marc Miller announced a 2-year cap on international student permits. Over the next 18 months, about a dozen more policy changes followed, from further permit reductions to adjustments to the PGWP program and work regulations.
Since then, many students have faced isolation and disillusionment in the face of a crumbling system and, according to mental health specialist Christina Furtado, now must contend with higher rates of anxiety, depression, loneliness and chronic stress. The increasingly fragile reality of their place in Canada, as well as the uncertainty from ever-changing policies and the growing negative sentiments from the public, has left many with a sense of insecurity.
It is important to understand that at no point in this journey were these students to blame for the current situation. The commodification of international students over several decades has harmed them significantly, and these policy ‘corrections’ only seem to further that harm. The politicization of the issue doesn’t help matters, putting them in the center of an increasingly divisive climate. At a time of growing xenophobia, racism and anti-immigration sentiments across the Western world, many international students feel left in the lurch. And with the Carney government’s new announcement, it feels like they’re in this for the long haul.