A federal announcement on September 18 introduced tighter restrictions on international student study permits, causing concern at a number of Canadian post-secondary institutions, including Camosun College.
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada announced it will be limiting eligibility to Canada’s post-graduation work permit program, allowing only for international students studying within 966 programs in five eligible areas of education: agriculture and agri-food; health care; science, technology, engineering, and mathematics; skilled trades; and transportation. (Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship of Canada Marc Miller declined to be interviewed for this story.)
Beginning Friday, November 1, the most recent policy changes add an additional 10-percent decrease to all intakes from a previous reduction, capping permits at 437,000 for both 2025 and 2026 enrolments. The cap now includes graduate and doctoral students, who were exempt from the former restrictions.
Camosun College Student Society (CCSS) executive director Michel Turcotte is unsurprised with the new rules, however, he worries certain areas of the restrictions will have major impacts on Camosun.
“We were almost expecting the further decrease in the quota amount, which may have some effect on Camosun, but that is by far not the most serious program change that will impact Camosun. That change is the post-graduate work permit requirements being restricted to particular programs in college environments,” says Turcotte. “And that, I think, will have significant impacts for the most part moving forward.”
Turcotte says the government’s new policy to better target Canadian labour market needs ignores sectors that are still in demand. Additionally, he says current Camosun infrastructure is not equipped for what fields of study the government is looking to prioritize.
“[T]hings like early childhood education are not included in the current listings of codes that will qualify for the post-graduate work permit,” says Turcotte, “but that is something that is highly needed in our community and other communities across the country. But also, most of the other ones seem restricted to agriculture, health care, and some science and technology, which we think is an arbitrary view of the needs within the Canadian economy in general. I mean, while we certainly need more people in those areas, some of those areas are not traditionally the ones where institutions are equipped to handle larger numbers of international students.”
Camosun international student enrolments have already seen a decrease of roughly 400 students in the 2023-2024 year (director of Camosun International Christiaan Bernard declined to comment for this story). The college ran an opinion piece on its website on October 2, written by BC Colleges president Colin Ewart, speaking out against the changes. Turcotte says, if enforced, the restrictions could cause numbers to decline further.
“If these policy changes actually get implemented fully,” he says, “we can lose hundreds, if not potentially well over a thousand students for sure… When you take away the post-graduate work permit, as an attraction, that makes it a lot more difficult to attract students.”
Turcotte says he understands the flaws of the current post-secondary system, relying heavily on international student tuition as means of financially supporting colleges and universities in Canada. He says the new policy’s solution to the issue is insufficient.
“[R]elying on international students to fund your domestic post-secondary education opportunities is a problem and probably a strategy that is being called into question right now,” he says. “It’s almost like ripping the Band-Aid off all at once because the solution here may be slightly more damaging than if we had progressively worked our way to a different model within Canada.”
Turcotte says the CCSS is concerned about what financial availability Camosun has left. Coming out of COVID, he says, the college has depleted much of its reserves, as instructed by the government.
“[The college] has not had the opportunity to really replenish its reserves after facing that challenge and has very little money left. So if, barring some sort of provincial financial intervention, Camosun would have to cut costs significantly, and it only has a few levers to do that, that would be to reduce programming, which we oppose. It would also be to reduce its staffing levels in some ways, because just like any other public-sector organization, the majority of the money is spent on human resources… So, those are the very limited options available to the college, and none of them are good, I would say,” says Turcotte. “We want students to be able to continue their pathway.”
Turcotte stresses a re-evaluation of the policy changes. He says the implication of the restrictions impact everyone involved in post-secondary education.
“I think it’s important to recognize that it was inappropriate for governments to use international students as a means of funding post-secondary education in British Columbia and in Canada generally, that acting so dramatically in this way in response to perceived political pressure actually hurts domestic students and the international students already here. This will have huge ramifications for training domestic students in the programs of their choice or the ones that will meet Canada’s various labour market needs,” says Turcotte. “The CCSS calls on governments at all levels to respond appropriately to this crisis and to make the decisions that are actually in British Columbia’s and Canada’s best interests going forward.”
The Camosun College Faculty Association, along with other college faculty associations, lobbied in Ottawa after this issue went to press, seeking to mitigate potential damage to the college sector. Look for our full story next issue.