Citizenship and Immigration Committee on June 19th, 2023

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

With that, we will go to Ms. Sidhu, who will be sharing her time with Mr. El-Khoury.

Go ahead, Ms. Sidhu.

[Sonia Sidhu, Liberal, Brampton South, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

My first question will be for Dr. Morrison.

Dr. Morrison, I know the amount of work that Sheridan puts into providing support for international students. It is remarkable. It is true that the same standard applies to both you and small plaza colleges. You mentioned that there are 70 colleges there. Can you describe what you are hearing about these plaza colleges in Brampton?

[Dr. Janet Morrison]

I can't be specific, but Sheridan regularly convenes small tables of international students who call Brampton home. Many of them are not registered with Sheridan. We continue to hear stories of falsehoods around promises made prior to arrival in the country. We certainly hear stories about insecure housing and a lack of housing support. We hear stories about landlord-tenant exploitation. We hear stories about food insecurity.

Sheridan's programming, and I think the programming at public colleges across the province, is purposefully designed to address those issues. For example, we have mental health services that are multilingual and culturally designed for the students we welcome, support and serve at Sheridan. That's simply not the case across the board.

[Sonia Sidhu, Liberal, Brampton South, ON]

I have a follow-up question. I know that you are providing the necessary resources and quality education that students expect. However, in terms of the other colleges, do you think they are providing orientation or student services or other supports that students expect and that are necessary?

[Dr. Janet Morrison]

No.

[Sonia Sidhu, Liberal, Brampton South, ON]

Can you comment on that?

[Dr. Janet Morrison]

Certainly, from the stories we hear from learners at some of the private, smaller, unregulated colleges, they are not privy to the same array of supports. They don't have mandatory health insurance. They don't have housing support. They don't have legal support. There aren't mental health supports in place. All these things are fundamental to post-secondary success and, frankly, to the integrity of Canada's commitment to those learners.

[Sonia Sidhu, Liberal, Brampton South, ON]

Finally, do you think inspections and audits are necessary?

[Dr. Janet Morrison]

We're open to that and embrace it.

I would tell the committee that Colleges Ontario has proposed a charter for all members that will include a quality assurance audit to be done by a third party. That process is expected to launch in the next year.

[Sonia Sidhu, Liberal, Brampton South, ON]

Thank you.

It's over to you, Mr. El-Khoury.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Go ahead, Mr. El-Khoury.

[Fayçal El-Khoury, Liberal, Laval—Les Îles, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I'd like to thank the witnesses for joining us. The study we are currently conducting is very important, and we must be constructive and rigorous in order to find real solutions.

My first question will be addressed to Ms. Morrison or Ms. Bezo.

When I study the situation, I find myself faced with three elements that form a triangle and are linked to this scandal: students, consultants and institutions. If students know that the documents are forged, that's one thing. If not, it means they are innocent and should be treated as such. As far as consultants and institutions are concerned, if they are complicit, it means they are equally responsible. If not, it's one of them.

If a consultant is responsible, are you going to take legal action against them in Canada or abroad, through our embassies? If not, why aren't you?

As for institutions, will there also be disciplinary and judicial measures to prevent this problem from ever recurring?

[Dr. Janet Morrison]

I'm sorry, to whom is the question directed?

[Fayçal El-Khoury, Liberal, Laval—Les Îles, QC]

It’s addressed to you or to Ms. Bezo.

[Dr. Janet Morrison]

I'll just suggest that Sheridan supports putting a mechanism in place for IRCC to authenticate admissions letters directly with post-secondary institutions. Sheridan employs that practice internally. We would certainly support that being deployed nationally.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Is there anyone else who would like to speak?

[Larissa Bezo]

Perhaps I will just add to that.

With respect to those institutions that in fact partner with educational consultants or agents, I think it's important to note that, first of all, not all institutions partner directly. Some institutions do not have partnerships. In fact, students individually take those initiatives in working with educational consultants.

As Global Affairs is marketing Canada and branding the value proposition, we have an opportunity to do more to educate our prospective students about who they are able to rely on in seeking that support in that initial part of the process. There's more we can do to inform and empower those students because that is not information that is proactively shared. There's more we can do to raise that profile and awareness.

The other part of this is that a significant number of recruitment and educational consultants who work with our institutions behave very ethically and do strive to support students in very meaningful ways. I think it's important for us to see there's a very significant number who fall into that category.

As I mentioned during my opening remarks, those are the trust partners with whom.... I know CBIE is working with individual provincial governments and some regional international education associations to further build their capacity. You have agents who are behaving ethically, but may not have a full and well-rounded grounding in how immigration processes related to study permit applications function and how best to support students. There's capacity we can build to help mitigate some of those risks.

Not all of them are behaving nefariously, but with further capacity building, they can be an even stronger ethical partner in working with our institutions to shore up some of these opportunities for our students.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Thank you.

We will now proceed to Mr. Brunelle-Duceppe for six minutes.

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Mr. Casey, I think you were listening when we heard from the first group of witnesses, the students who were directly affected by the cases of fraud and who are experiencing appalling stress and pressure on their mental health. I want to emphasize this, because I feel that the government played a part in the current state of their mental health by sending out deportation notices.

Do you know whether the government contacted any of these students to inquire about their mental health?

[James Casey]

Thank you for the question.

I am not aware at this point of whether the government has reached out regarding their mental health.

I can certainly agree with the students, and from all the students I've spoken with, the longer this goes on, the larger a toll it takes on their mental health.

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

Thank you.

In that case, perhaps the Committee should recommend that the Government of Canada make mental health resources available to these students.

Would you agree?

[James Casey]

Absolutely. They need to take the initiative. I think it's incumbent on all parties involved to be proactive and take the initiative to reach out and make sure those resources are available for those students.

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

Very well.

Mr. Casey, several recommendations and solutions have been proposed to prevent this from recurring.

[Voices]

Oh, oh!