Citizenship and Immigration Committee on March 1st, 2022

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Good morning.

Welcome to meeting number eight of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration. I call the meeting to order.

Members and witnesses may speak in the official language of their choice. Interpretation services are available for this meeting. You have the choice, at the bottom of your screen, of floor, English or French. If interpretation is lost, please inform me immediately and we will ensure interpretation is properly restored before resuming the proceedings. The “raise hand” feature at the bottom of the screen can be used at any time if you wish to speak or alert the chair.

Today, we are resuming the study on recruitment and acceptance rates of foreign students.

On behalf of the committee, I would like to welcome the witnesses appearing before the committee today.

Today for this panel we are joined by Réseau des cégeps et des collèges francophones du Canada. They are being represented by Jean Léger, executive director, and François Dornier, chairman of the board. We are also joined by World Education Services, being represented by Shamira Madhany, managing director for Canada and deputy executive director.

I would like to make a few comments for the benefit of the witnesses. Before speaking, please wait until I recognize you by name. When you are ready to speak, you can click on the microphone icon to activate your mike. I remind everyone that all comments should be addressed through the chair. Interpretation in this video conference will work very much as it does in a regular committee meeting. When you are speaking, please speak slowly and clearly. When you are not speaking, your mike should be on mute.

Witnesses will have five minutes for their opening remarks. During the rounds of questions, I will raise cards giving warnings for one minute and for 30 seconds, and a red card showing that the time is up.

I would now like to welcome Mr. Léger.

Mr. Léger, you will have five minutes for your opening remarks. Please begin.

Thank you.

[Jean Léger, Executive Director, Réseau des cégeps et des collèges francophones du Canada]

Good morning, members of the committee. François Dornier will be making the presentation on behalf of the Réseau des cégeps et des collèges francophones du Canada, the RCCFC.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Wait one second, please.

[Brad Redekopp, Conservative, Saskatoon West, SK]

Madam Chair, we don't have any of the video screens on here. I'm not sure if there's a technical issue in the room. It would be helpful if they were on.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

I will suspend the meeting for a minute so we can check the video screens.

We will test the video and resume in a minute.

[Jean Léger]

Madam Chair, I'd like to inform you that François Dornier will be making the presentation on behalf of the RCCFC.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Okay.

You can please begin.

[François Dornier, Chairman of the Board, Réseau des cégeps et des collèges francophones du Canada]

Good morning, Madam Chair and members of the committee.

My name is François Dornier, and, for more than four years, I have been chairman of the Réseau des cégeps et des collèges francophones du Canada, which is known by the acronym RCCFC. I am here today with our executive director, Jean Léger. It's a pleasure to be with you today to outline our organization's perspective to your committee.

The mission of the RCCFC, which was created in 1995, is to establish a true partnership among francophone college-level educational institutions in Canada. The RCCFC is a network of support, promotion and exchange in the development of college-level French-language instruction in Canada, a network that strives to improve and provide access to college-level studies in French.

The RCCFC's mission is also to support development of the Canadian francophonie through the expertise of its member institutions.

Our membership comprises all francophone minority colleges and virtually all Quebec CEGEPs.

We would like to congratulate the committee on its decision to examine the major challenges that francophone post-secondary educational institutions face in recruiting foreign students.

We have surveyed our members in recent weeks to determine their opinions on foreign student recruitment, and many of them are concerned about the present situation and want to see prompt, significant changes to the decision-making criteria and processes for issuing study permits.

We are proud to be cooperating on today's topic with our colleagues from the Association des collèges et universités de la francophonie canadienne, or ACUFC, the Fédération des cégeps du Québec and the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne, the FCFA. That is why we support the positions they presented earlier in your proceedings.

We will not attempt to restate their concerns, with which you are now well acquainted.

As for our perspective, all the leaders we have surveyed feel it is essential that they diversify their revenue sources. Consequently, many institutions are creating greater financial flexibility by admitting foreign students. In some instances, the survival of institutions in certain regions is even at stake. However, reliance on the foreign student market can put the return on their international recruitment investment at serious risk. Some institutions also provide services such as immigrant reception and employment integration, which are becoming gateways to college training and francophone immigration in many communities, hence the importance of this issue. This is why many college administrators would like to see greater cooperation among colleges, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada and embassies to facilitate the issuing of dual-intent student visas, shorten processing time and thus avoid situations in which students arrive after the academic year has begun.

In short, our members are more concerned about processing delays, high refusal rates and real and apparent prejudice in processing student permit applications, particularly those from francophone Africa and the French West Indies, as well as the lack of consistency in decisions made by IRCC officers as they pertain to the dual intent to study and apply for permanent residence.

Consequently, our recommendations are as follows.

We recommend that close and more frequent contact be established between institutions and officers to assist in rectifying the present situation. We also recommend that officer numbers be increased and that officers be better trained in the circumstances of the regions and institutions. Furthermore, refusal letters should provide more details, not a merely few brief facts as is currently the case. It is important to facilitate access to agents for the purpose of obtaining more information on the reasons for refusal, greater cooperation with the institutions and better information sharing. In our view, agents should not make arbitrary decisions without allowing the institution to discuss them at greater length. We recommend establishing a system of intent and direct communication with study permit applicants similar to the system the Quebec government has put in place for the Certificat d'acceptation du Québec, the CAQ.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

I'm sorry for interrupting, but your time is up. You will get an opportunity in the round of questioning.

We will now proceed to Ms. Madhany. She is representing World Education Services.

You will have five minutes for your opening remarks. You can please begin.

[Shamira Madhany, Managing Director, Canada and Deputy Executive Director, World Education Services]

Thank you, Chair. Thank you for giving me this opportunity to speak before the committee.

WES, World Education Services, is a not-for-profit social enterprise dedicated to helping international students, immigrants and refugees to achieve their education and career goals. On behalf of WES, I would like to express my appreciation for the work of this standing committee.

As you've heard from previous speakers, Canada is a top destination for international students. The international student population in Canada has tripled in the last 10 years. They also contribute to the broader economy as consumers—$22 billion in GDP annually—and more than 170,000 jobs.

Most prospective international students perceive study permits as an easier path to permanent residence. Therefore, it is really important to consider the entire journey of the international student, from pre-arrival to studying in Canada, and finally transition into the workforce. Looking more holistically at their experience will help the committee understand the challenges they face as they go through their journey, and key recommendations to address these gaps. It is important to note that this will require increased collaboration among many stakeholders.

Today, World Education Services is making four recommendations to support the success of international students academically and professionally.

First is providing accurate information before arrival. Prospective international students seeking to study in Canada often get advice and assistance from recruitment agents. A November 2021 report from ICEF Monitor, a global organization that supports global student mobility, estimates that almost 50% of international students studying in Canada are referred by an agent. Inaccurate or missing information from recruitment agents presents many challenges, and, unfortunately, international students often rely heavily on these agents to make life-changing decisions.

We have a model right here in Canada that can address this issue. In 2016, Manitoba introduced legislation to regulate the educational service provider industry and protect international students from recruitment agents in Canada and abroad who may lead them astray.

Our first recommendation is that the federal government encourage provinces to introduce similar legislation to Manitoba's to regulate recruitment agents. This will enable students to access accurate information and reduce fraudulent activities.

Second is on succeeding in Canada after arrival. International students must be set up for success if they make the decision to stay in Canada as potential immigrants. Canada needs to support them in the same way that we do with other immigrants. These students need to have access to the same supports and, in some cases, additional unique supports to facilitate labour market integration. This means ensuring equitable access to settlement and employment services.

Our second recommendation is for the federal government to significantly expand the scope of settlement integration services. This includes directly supporting settlement agencies as well as post-secondary institutions to provide settlement services and employment services to international students.

Supporting international students in their transition to the labour market requires expanding access to and funding for what's called work-integrated learning and summer job opportunities. According to Stats Canada, the importance of Canadian work experience is well recognized and contributes to clear earnings advantage for international students who have Canadian education and employment experience. Currently international students are capped at a maximum of 20 hours of off-campus employment. For some, the 20-hour restriction means that they can't apply for relevant internships or co-op work placements.

Therefore, our third recommendation is for the federal government to provide international students with the opportunity to gain Canadian work experience through different work-integrated programs. This requires, among other things, revisiting the current maximum cap on working hours, depending on the occupation.

The final recommendation is on transitioning to permanent residency.

Last year, the federal government introduced a new permanent residency pathway for international students, and the cap of 40,000 applications was reached in 24 hours. According to CBIE, 60% of international students are interested in becoming permanent residents.

To qualify for a study permit, basically they must provide evidence that they will leave, yet what ends up happening is that the federal government encourages them to stay. Nova Scotia has a Study and Stay program, which is an example of an initiative that works.

We think that the government should be transparent and provide consistent information to international students, policy coherence, and alignment between study permit criteria and immigration pathway criteria. Clear policies, accurate information and streamlined supports will benefit Canada and international students who choose to study and live here.

Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Thank you.

With that, we will now proceed to our round of questioning. Our first member will be Mr. Genuis.

Mr. Genuis, you will have six minutes for your round of questioning. You can please begin.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Thank you so much, Madam Chair.

As this is my first time here, I want to say hello to all the members and express how grateful I am to have the opportunity to be joining the immigration committee.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Welcome to the committee.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Thank you.

Appropriately, it's on a study that's been initiated by my friend, Mr. Brunelle-Duceppe, whom I've worked with on another human rights issue.

Mr. Dornier, you were just finishing your statement. I wonder if I could just give you a minute of my time to finish up.

[François Dornier]

Thank you very much.

I'll very briefly go over our recommendations.

Their main focus is to ask IRCC to convene a meeting with the principal stakeholders and partners in the matter as soon as possible to clarify the facts and establish closer and more significant lines of communication with stakeholders. The process is currently vague and unclear.

We suggest that IRCC and its partners organize webinars in certain regions of Africa and the French West Indies to inform applicants more specifically about application requirements and to prevent the potential fraud often involved in these types of interactions.

Lastly, we recommend that IRCC be more accountable to stakeholders and partners on the topic we're discussing today. For example, we suggest that we be given more information on refusal rates, grounds for refusal, the main problems encountered, where students come from, the level of studies for which they are applying and their academic backgrounds.

We need more clarity in this matter, and we need closer cooperation from IRCC.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Thank you very much.

In the future, I'll do better in terms of being prepared to speak in French at these meetings. It's not my first language and I'm a bit rusty, but in the future, I will.

I wanted to just ask about some of the international comparisons. We hear a lot about the efforts of other players. Certainly there's the Government of China's effort to expand its influence in Africa. There's the historic and ongoing influence of France.

What are other countries doing when it comes to engagement and recruitment of international students? Where are students who are refused by Canada more likely to end up? Are there things we should be aware of or learning from in terms of what other countries are doing in this respect?

[François Dornier]

Who's your question for?

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

I'd love to hear from both of you on that.

[François Dornier]

It's hard to say which countries benefit from our study permit application refusals precisely because we don't have a clear and accurate picture of the reasons why students are refused. It's very hard for us to get information on the various stages of the process from the moment students decide to consider coming to Canada to study at the post-secondary level until they disappear off our radar screens. We don't know why they aren't accepted. We don't know why delays occur. So we need more clarity. It would be easier to answer your excellent question if we had better cooperation with IRCC.

[Shamira Madhany]

As we understand it, the three jurisdictions that attract students—I would call them competitor jurisdictions—would be the U.K., the U.S. and Australia. Canada is such an attractive destination because it has one of the pathways to become a permanent resident.

In terms of what my colleague just said, making sure there's clarity around provision of information in terms of expediting applications and making sure they can get into the labour market seamlessly are very important considerations.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Ms. Madhany, do you have concerns about efforts by foreign states to influence or interfere in the lives of international students when they're here in Canada and to monitor their behaviour—for instance, political activities they might be involved in or things they might be saying in the classroom? Is this a concern?

What can we do to protect the rights of people on Canadian soil to participate freely in the democratic life of the university and our country without that kind of interference?

[Shamira Madhany]

I'm not able to respond to that question, because that's not in the jurisdiction of World Education Services. We deal with assessing educational reports of individuals who come to our country.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Thank you.

We will now proceed to Mr. El-Khoury.

Mr. El-Khoury, you will have six minutes for your round of questioning. You can please begin.

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

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Welcome to our guests and thank you for being here today to answer questions and give us your views on the topic we're discussing.

My first question will be for Ms. Madhany.

Ms. Madhany, I'm very pleased to hear you say that the number of foreign students admitted has tripled in recent years. The fact that many foreign students are accepted here in Canada is good news for the Canadian economy. However, once students get here, they need help in adjusting, settling and integrating into social life here. Do you cooperate with the CEGEPs and universities, the departments concerned or the companies in the labour market in assisting those people?

What specific solutions are put in place for the educational establishments and institutions to facilitate students' stay and socioeconomic integration?