Citizenship and Immigration Committee on Oct. 9th, 2025

[Roopa Desai Trilokekar]

Yes, I think there's a lot we can learn from other countries. As I said, Germany's an excellent example because it shows us how a system that's not reliant on tuition from international students can support international students and support local institutions with regard to the benefits of hosting international students. Mind you, Germany also has an interest in transferring international students from being students to being future immigrants in its country as well. As I mentioned, it has a wide diversity of students; it's a far more balanced approach. It looks at international students as high-skilled labour, not just as folks who would fill in any labour situations in the country. Germany has far more local-level initiatives that are worth looking at. It has many protective mechanisms so that international students do not face the exploitation that our students have faced in the labour market when they do seek jobs.

In New Zealand, for example, there is a new code of practice, which looks at learner safety and well-being.

So, there are many models we can look at to see how countries have consulted to develop these processes and to see what kinds of partnerships they have built. As I said before, a major challenge in Canada is the kind of decentralization that we have and the system we have. I don't mean to suggest that we should have a federal ministry of education. However, the fact is that we don't have one, and that changes a lot of situations for us. There's a lot we can learn about mechanisms for protection, for systems of practice, for looking at care and well-being, and for creating regulating, monitoring and legislative acts like other countries have done. Yes, there's a lot we can learn, and we can really reinforce this idea that we need to fund our system well.

[Sameer Zuberi, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

Thank you.

I invite you to put anything additional in writing to us so that we can consider it for the report.

In your research, you speak about how you would like to see increased coordination between provinces and federal governments. What policies or best practices can we get from other federal states with respect to aligning education, immigration and settlements?

[Roopa Desai Trilokekar]

For one, I'm not in favour of aligning education, immigration and the labour market. I don't think that's the direction we should head in. There could be a linkage, but I don't think they should be linked as they are currently. We're going to run into these problems even more if we do that, so I want to clarify that.

However, there are other models that we can look at in terms of how this is done. Again, I keep going back to Germany for two reasons. One is that it is a highly decentralized federation like we are. Its states have a lot of autonomy, just like our provinces. The partnerships that have been developed between the federal and the state governments are worth looking at.

Again, we've had good models. For example, Nova Scotia's study and stay program is great—

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Michelle Rempel]

Thank you. Unfortunately, we are out of time.

It has been great testimony, and it's very hard for me to cut everybody off, but we do have to suspend briefly to set up our next panel.

I want to thank the witnesses for their time.

With that, colleagues, we'll have a brief suspension just to reset the panels.

Thank you.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Michelle Rempel]

I call the meeting back to order.

In our second panel today, we are joined by Dr. Lisa Brunner, as an individual.

We also have Jason Jacques and Caroline Nicol from the Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer.

You'll each have five minutes for your remarks.

I'll start with Dr. Brunner.

[Lisa Brunner, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of British Columbia, Centre for Migration Studies, As an Individual]

Thank you to the chair and to the committee for this opportunity.

I am joining you from the traditional, ancestral and unceded territory of the Musqueam people, where the University of British Columbia centre for migration studies is located. I am a postdoctoral research fellow. I am appearing as an academic expert and not as a representative of the institution.

Explaining the systemic issues within the international student program is not a simple task, and I don't think the actors can be neatly sorted into victims, villains and victors. I did submit to the committee a report published yesterday by the Centre of Excellence on the Canadian Federation, which outlines my assessment of the program in detail. Today, I am just going to highlight a few points that have not been raised much, so far.

Since World War II, the recruitment of international students has been framed as a solution to many different Canadian policy problems. First, it was framed as a soft power vehicle and a form of international development and aid, as we heard from Dr. Trilokekar. Then, in the 1980s, it was an export industry to generate funds through differential tuition and later as a source of highly skilled researchers. In the 2010s, it was a source of so-called “ideal immigrants”, and most recently, it was used to ease short-term labour shortages.

Each wave attracts different kinds of international students with different motivations, which makes it very difficult to discuss them as a single, homogeneous group. They are not. Each wave also draws in different policy actors with distinct objectives. Sometimes their objectives overlap, but they can also misalign to the point of contradiction.

What we see today is a disjointed and volatile policy arena that lacks multi-level, cross-sectoral policy coordination. Your study emphasizes long-term solutions. We need forward-looking, collaborative, systems-thinking planning that recognizes the recruitment and retention of international students as a distinct form of migration and the domino effects that occur when changes are made without genuine consultation. This is particularly important now that the higher education system is a growing economic immigrant recruitment mechanism across the OECD in many different countries, again, as Dr. Trilokekar has discussed. It may not be long before the Canadian federal government finds itself struggling to compete for international students as immigrants.

Including temporary resident targets in the immigration levels plan was productive, in my opinion, but immigration policy requires stability, reliable processing times and, most importantly, planning beyond a three-year horizon. Many elements of the international student program garner support across party lines when policies are clear and sustainable. We need to urgently restore public confidence not just in the international student program but also in our immigration and public higher education systems.

Once Canada has a coherent strategy, transparency should be ensured in two key ways. First, rigorous, publicly accessible reporting is required to promote shared accountability. Currently, there is significant disparity among institutional and provincial practices. What proportion of each institution’s international student tuition revenue, for example, is directed toward purpose-built housing and support services for international students? Are provincial and territorial quality assurance mechanisms governing designated learning institutions sufficient? Given the degree of marketization introduced by this system, explicit benchmarks are essential.

Second, international student pathways to permanent residency need to be predictable and clearly communicated so that students have accurate expectations and can make informed choices. Not all international students want to stay in Canada after graduation, but many do, and those who become permanent residents have above average economic outcomes and contribute significantly to our communities. Achieving that goal under our current system requires years of uncertainty as to whether they will be able to stay permanently.

This leaves a segment of our society vulnerable to exploitation, with limited recourse or political representation. More transparency would uphold Canadian values of fairness and would address the systemic precarity associated with prolonged temporary status.

Finally, given reductions in study permit targets, Canada should think carefully about which international students to prioritize and about how we support them. Tailored initiatives such as the Atlantic Canada study and stay program, which I believe Dr. Trilokekar mentioned, and the francophone minority communities student pilot, which tie into broader policy goals like targeted regional retention, should be assessed.

As we rebuild trust, we also have the opportunity to reaffirm Canada’s reputation for globally respected, evidence-driven immigration policy innovation.

Thank you, and I look forward to your questions.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Michelle Rempel]

Thank you very much, Dr. Brunner.

Now we'll go over to our colleagues from the parliamentary budget office.

[Jason Jacques, Interim Parliamentary Budget Officer, Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer]

Thanks for inviting us.

I'm here with Caroline Nicol. She's our expert in demography and immigration in the office.

In January 2025, we published “Impact assessment of the 2025-2027 Immigration Level Plan”. We estimate that the government's “new immigration targets [will] reduce nominal GDP” by about $37 billion “on average over the next three years.”

We would be pleased to respond to any questions you may have regarding our analysis of the 2025-27 immigration level plan or other PBO work.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Michelle Rempel]

Thank you very much.

All right, folks, we will head into our round of six-minute questions.

We're going to start with Mr. Ma for six minutes.

[Michael Ma, Conservative, Markham—Unionville, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

My questions are initially addressed to Dr. Brunner.

First of all, thank you very much for recognizing the problems that we currently have, or have had in the past 10 years, with the student immigration and student permit program.

I want to provide some background to my question that's coming. You were the lead author on a 2025 paper in which you compared the higher education institutions of Australia, Canada and Germany from 1990 to 2019 with regard to their roles in immigration governance. I couldn't help but notice that in your summary of Australia's 2011 strategic review of student visa programs, the main policy issue faced by Australia over a decade ago maps closely to what Canada is facing today.

Your summary of the problem faced by Australia in 2011 was that the “[t]arnished reputation of [the] Australian [education] sector” was due to the “growth of unscrupulous private colleges [and] 'non-genuine' [international students] using education as a pathway for immigration”.

In your discussion in this report, I see statements that track to present-day Canada, such as, one, international students “were exploited by private education providers and agents”; two, “student visa program integrity was at stake”; and three, “the quality of education was perceived to diminish at some” institutions.

Given your understanding of the evolving migration policy landscape in Australia and Canada as tied to higher education institutions, my question to you relates to their trajectories.

Do you agree that there is a time delay parallel between Australia and Canada related to the international students in the policy domain where education meets immigration? If so, what lessons can Canada learn from the crisis Australia faced in 2011?

[Lisa Brunner]

I think Dr. Trilokekar spoke to this a bit in her comments.

There are similar competing priorities among policy actors and jurisdictional frictions in Australia and Canada. They happen at different periods of time. There are, obviously, significant differences in the two countries, but I think they do both suffer from a challenge on the higher education side, which is funding issues and the resulting marketization of public post-secondary institutions.

On the immigration side, they're explicitly positioning permanent residency as a carrot, without enough space for all of those students to transfer to permanent residency, and there's an impact on the higher education system in terms of what kinds of programs are attracting students and whether those align with the labour market.

Germany is very interesting because, in Germany, international students are not charged differential tuition compared to domestic students. Essentially, in Germany, the higher education system is funded much more robustly than in Canada, so we really see that the marketization of higher education has a very big impact. If we had more opportunities for funding for higher education, I think that would stabilize some of the issues—of course, with regulation as well.

Germany is primarily attracting international students as immigrants, not necessarily to fund its higher education system.

[Michael Ma, Conservative, Markham—Unionville, ON]

I want to follow up on what role international caps have played in the mitigation of the exploitation international students faced in Australia and Canada.

[Lisa Brunner]

The rapid growth of temporary residents overall in 2022 and 2023 contributed to Canada having the highest annual population growth rate since 1957. Population growth has since slowed with the caps.

I understand that public attitudes towards immigration are very important for Canada to maintain the social licence of having support for immigration, which we know the country depends on significantly.

[Michael Ma, Conservative, Markham—Unionville, ON]

I'll move on to a different area. In your analysis in your report, you highlighted that “higher education's recognition of its own economic dependence on international students as a vulnerability was the most notable focus” in the briefs you've encountered.

Why are we issuing study permits to foreigners who have not demonstrated at least a working proficiency in one of our national languages such that they need language training after graduating?

[Lisa Brunner]

I would have to see exactly what you're referring to.

[Michael Ma, Conservative, Markham—Unionville, ON]

This is in a paper you issued.

[Lisa Brunner]

I'm not aware of any institutions in Canada that don't have a minimum language requirement for French or English, but I could be mistaken. I'm not sure.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Michelle Rempel]

Thank you. We are out of time.

We will go to Ms. Zahid for six minutes.

[Salma Zahid, Liberal, Scarborough Centre—Don Valley East, ON]

Thank you, Chair.

Thanks to both of the witnesses for appearing before the committee today.

My question is for Dr. Brunner. Your post-doctoral work at the UBC centre for migration studies emphasizes social justice in migrant integration, including the gendered and rationalized dimensions of international student experiences, to foster a truly equitable system.

What measures would you propose to protect vulnerable international students, such as those from the global south, from exploitation in the education and migration pipeline while ensuring pathways to belonging that align with Canada's commitments to decolonization and inclusion?

[Lisa Brunner]

Thank you very much. I really appreciate that question.

There's a challenge with the marketization of international education overall because, in some ways, we see a large wealth transfer from lower-income countries to countries like Canada across the global north. As I mentioned, Germany has a very different approach. In some countries, there's more of a focus on recruiting international students as part of a broader development approach and a broader aid approach, prioritizing different diversity among students and their backgrounds.

It's a difficult question to answer because of the restrictions in the system. I'm just trying to think about this for a moment.

Many institutions have important services that they provide for international students that could be further supported. Higher education institutions play a really important role on behalf of the government in providing these services, which are essentially settlement supports for students who the government would have previously funded. There could be coordination and regulation of those services to ensure that there's consistency and that students are able to thrive while they're here.

Maintaining a positive outlook on immigration to ensure that we don't fall into empty immigration rhetoric that could produce an increase in hate crimes, racism and discrimination is also extremely important.

[Salma Zahid, Liberal, Scarborough Centre—Don Valley East, ON]

You mentioned Germany. Are there any other specific countries that have done this in a better way?

[Lisa Brunner]

What do you mean by a better way, exactly?

[Salma Zahid, Liberal, Scarborough Centre—Don Valley East, ON]

What has really worked for any country specifically for supporting higher education and the integration?

[Lisa Brunner]

When it comes to international students, I think there are areas for policy innovation. I think that's a role Canada could play if we really take seriously the opportunity to develop an international education strategy that puts that at the forefront and really thinks about the purpose of our higher education institutions and our responsibility to our own country and to the world.

There are opportunities for complementary pathway programs that can support students who are selected from outside Canada and brought in based on certain elements of need, if they're done in a very coordinated way.

[Salma Zahid, Liberal, Scarborough Centre—Don Valley East, ON]

Thank you.

In your Ph.D. dissertation on “edugration”, you described the recruitment of international students as a distinct, three-step economic immigration process that has shifted the societal role of higher education.

Given the rapid growth in international student numbers in Canada, how would you recommend the federal government implement a managed migration framework to ensure sustainable inflows while balancing economic benefits with integration challenges?