There was an odd sight Rebel News encountered last Saturday afternoon in Brampton, Ont. — the home of Sneaky Patrick Brown.

Namely, dozens of international students from India assembled behind the Shoppers World mall to stage a demonstration. The skinny: it is estimated that there are up to 100,000 international student graduates in Canada facing potential deportation orders as their work permits are slated to expire this year and in 2025.

The problem, according to sources, is that the lion’s share of these students not only want to remain in Canada, but they also want to be fast-tracked for permanent residency — and ultimately, full Canadian citizenship.

But why such entitlement? Permanent residency or citizenship was never part of the deal when these people originally came to Canada to study and /or work temporarily.

CHARLOTTETOWN, PEI: Rebel News' @lincolnmjay speaks with an immigrant worker from India, who joins the protest in demand for work permit extensions.

He claims many demonstrators have committed to work and hunger strikes, and that they 'will not take no for an answer'.… pic.twitter.com/CvWVwbala5

— Rebel News (@RebelNewsOnline) May 16, 2024

And we found it most odd that at a demonstration in which foreign nationals are clamouring for Canadian citizenship, we did not observe a single Canadian flag being displayed. We did observe several multi-coloured flags depicting an eagle and a snake. It looked like something lifted from Game of Thrones, but no, according to one demonstrator, this is supposedly “the flag of international students.” We’re not making this up.

Incidentally, that was the extent of the information we gleaned from the demonstrators. Most of them embraced the Sgt. Schultz routine (“I know nothing; I saw nothing.”) And those who did initiate interviews with us were quickly told by a frantic woman speaking (we presume) Punjabi not to say anything. And they complied with her demands.

Which is very bizarre. Isn’t the very point of a demonstration to get one’s message out, and the more media coverage the better? Apparently not. From what we could tell, interviews were only granted to so-called “friendly media” (again, in a foreign language).

For the record, here were our queries for the students:

What did you study in Canada?

What college did you go to?

How many hours a week did you work during classes?

Are you employed in your field?

Did you come halfway around the world for a really high-quality education or was your goal permanent residency?

Alas, all of questions went unanswered.

Here’s something else that struck us as very odd. All of the demonstrators were Indian except for one Caucasian lady who seemed to be one of the ringleaders. We tried to interview her; she refused. We figured — erroneously, it turns out — that she might be one of the administrators at a so-called “diploma mill college” (of which there are about 70 in Brampton alone). But no. We later identified her as Laura Walton, the president of the Ontario Federation of Labour.

But what is the OFL’s agenda here? On its webpage, the OFL’s mission statement is the following: “As Canada’s largest labour federation, we fight for positive change in every area that affects people’s daily lives. We believe that all people deserve safe, just, inclusive, and equitable working and living conditions — whether you belong to a union or not.”

Changes in Prince Edward Island's immigration policy have sparked protests by foreign workers in Charlottetown, who are demanding that the government extend post-graduate work permits.

FULL REPORT by @LincolnMJay: https://t.co/fuZGLzgYM7

— Rebel News (@RebelNewsOnline) May 23, 2024

But why would an organization committed to unionization (and the higher wages and lofty benefit programs that typically go with unionization) be advocating for these demonstrators who, according to sources, are not highly skilled, and in many cases, are only qualified for minimum wage service jobs? Could it be the OFL has been colonized by corporations that very much covet a cheap labour pool? If not, what’s the unspoken strategy here?

Regardless, Walton also gave Rebel News the silent treatment, so we can only speculate.

All in all, it was a surreal demonstration.

And at the end of day, nothing is stopping these individuals from applying for Canadian citizenship via the usual channels. So, why the entitlement?

Bottom line: politically speaking, immigration has always been one of those third rail issues in Canada, right up there with abortion and the partial privatization of healthcare. But it is getting increasingly harder to ignore the elephant in the room. Case in point: in the past few years, observers say that more than one million people have taking the fake, diploma mill college route to gain access to Canada.

But these students want to remain in Canada after their visas expire, gain permanent residency, and naturally, they want to sponsor their entire families to emigrate here as well. Disturbingly, Immigration Minister Marc Miller doesn’t seem to have a problem with this.

But is this fast-tracking push fair to those who immigrate to Canada via legitimate channels? Are the Trudeau Liberals truly promoting sound policy when it comes to immigration vis-à-vis the betterment of our dominion — or is there something more at play here?