A trip to Brampton, Ontario: Do international students have the ‘right’ to stay in Canada?
Last weekend, Brampton, Ontario saw international students from India protesting with demands to extend work permits of those whose are expiring next year and to have post-graduate work permits extended from three years to five years.
RATIO'D PREVIEW: Indian international students staged a protest in Brampton yesterday demanding post graduate work permit extensions to avoid deportation from Canada.
— Harrison Faulkner (@Harry__Faulkner) June 3, 2024
Follow @TrueNorthCentre for more original journalism documenting Canada's mass immigration crisis. pic.twitter.com/AalLY780ng
Canada hosted more than a million international students this past school year, reaching unprecedented numbers almost as high as those of the United States, a country whose population is about ten times that of Canada’s. Many fear that these high levels of immigration are unsustainable as the country is already experiencing a housing crisis and many are struggling to find jobs.
Many foreigners are studying in Canada with the purpose of obtaining postgraduate work permits and eventually permanent residency. Now that the Canadian government is cutting down on work permits — except those in much-needed sectors — students are upset that this plan hasn’t worked out as they hoped, or perhaps as they were told that it would, and they have to leave the country.
The truth is, many of these students were sold the dream from immigration consultants, that all they have to do is enroll in a Canadian university or college and soon enough they’ll be on the path to citizenship and be able to bring their families over for a better life. The number of licensed immigration and citizenship consultants has increased from approximately 6,000 in 2018 to over 12,000 in 2022.
The Government of Canada website reports that $302,000 in fines have been given to liscensed immigration consultants for exploitative practices, and states that “While the vast majority of immigration consultants operate within the high standards of the profession, the industry can be exploited by dishonest individuals.”
A former international student from India has spoken out against migrant workers demanding the right to stay in Canada.
— Lincoln Jay (@lincolnmjay) May 24, 2024
These foreign workers have been protesting the expiry of their work permits in Prince Edward Island.
Watch the full video at https://t.co/BSfC94asg0 pic.twitter.com/wqnGanvN3J
Rebel News spoke to some Brampton locals to find out what they thought about these protests, and whether or not they think foreigners who come here on a student visa have the “right” to stay permanently.
Following this, we visited Sheridan College in Brampton to speak to international students and find out what promises were made to them, and who was selling them these lies about a guaranteed path to citizenship.
Sarah Stock
Formerly Ontario-based, Canadian-American Sarah Stock joined Rebel News in 2022 where she worked behind the scenes before reporting on the streets of Toronto in 2024. Now, Sarah is located in Southern California where she reports for Rebel part-time and studies political science at Vanguard University.
https://twitter.com/sarahcstock