In blaming international students for allegedly putting pressure on the housing market and on public services, the government is employing dog whistle tactics that could amplify xenophobia and racism.
As a union that represents international students across the country, CUPE joins migrant justice advocates in calling for measures that would actually address the housing crisis.
Speculative investors and corporate landlords – not international students – are increasing peoples’ rents, evicting tenants into homelessness, and gambling with real estate to drive up the cost of purchasing a home. Yet, the government has chosen to impose punishing new rules on international students, including forced family separation.
The government should ensure that international students have the protections they need – including permanent residence on arrival – instead of cynically scapegoating them for an affordability crisis that they, themselves, are suffering from.
The new rules include:
- Starting September 1, 2024, preventing some international students in private colleges from obtaining a Post Graduate Work Permit. This punishes international students instead of the private colleges that exploit them.
- Denying work permits to spouses of international students in undergraduate and college programs. Without the ability to work, this will force many spouses to stay behind, separating families.
- Allowing international students in graduate programs to apply for a 3-year Post Graduate Work Permit.
- A new cap on the number of international students permitted into Canada (360,000 in 2024 – a 35% drop from 2023)
- Requiring an attestation letter from provinces and territories for all new study permit applications from January 22, 2024. Provinces and territories have until March 31, 2024 to come up with a process.