Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you, all.
I'd like to invite each of the witnesses to comment on three observations made in an email my office received from international student recruitment staff at an Ottawa university.
First, they had noticed the struggles for Africans to get approved for study permits in the past three years. They drew particular attention to the difficulty for francophone applicants from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Ivory Coast and Senegal. For anglophone students, they said that applicants from Nigeria faced similar difficulties.
Second, they raised a concern that there seem to be two messages to applicants, and I quote one: “we need new immigrants to Canada, and we offer the post-graduation work permit, but do not mention that you want to stay in Canada after your studies.” A lot of African students are confused by these messages.
Third, they said that African applicants believe that Canadian universities have a say in accepting or refusing applicants regarding immigration. They suggested that it could be good to advertise that the two application processes of academic and immigration are independent. Can you please comment on this?
Thank you.