Citizenship and Immigration committee  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.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  We haven't directly advocated for criminal sanctions to be put into place. Our focus has been on engaging with our interlocutors at all levels of government to push for a code of ethical practice that will finally make explicit commitments on the part of all stakeholders, including our institutions.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Yes.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  We're working on a draft code at the moment. It is quite specific, but it addresses concerns. For example, you posed a question related to capacity: Do institutions have adequate capacity to host students and support their well-being? We're talking about a code that would explicitly address those issues—

Citizenship and Immigration committee  —and be clear about the institutions' obligations.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Thank you. On behalf of the Canadian Bureau for International Education, I am grateful for the opportunity to share with the standing committee a few observations regarding the unsettling situation that has significantly impacted a number of international students in Canada. As the national association focused on advancing international education for Canada, the focus of CBIE's interventions will be on section (e) of Standing Order 108(2) and how to prevent similar situations from occurring in the future.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I'm happy to jump in. There are some very concrete, operational elements that could be introduced to address some of the concerns that you raised about perceived barriers or perceived systemic challenges. One simple way of assessing if there are systemic problems in some of those visa offices and some of the country samples that you cited is to have IRCC analysts from other regions complete a blind review of a sample of applications that have been either favourably or unfavourably processed, to ensure that there's concordance on the findings.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Just picking up on Francis' comments, I agree. This is complex. There are many elements to this kind of puzzle. If we really want to have an impact in our communities, and think about the critical role that our institutions can play as those anchors, social, economic and otherwise, we really need to focus on conversations that focus on better alignment.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Sure. Perhaps I'll add to what Paul has shared. I agree. Similar to the example you shared, we have examples of Afghan students who have applied from a third country and were told that they're being rejected because they cannot prove that they're going to return to their home country—which from a sensitivity standpoint as a country that has opened up a pathway for resettlement is problematic, and there is a very direct human impact.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  —[Inaudible-Editor] we were able to be fair and consistent, but we were also treating those students with respect and making sure that the way in which we do this contributes to that Canadian brand and reputation abroad. Thank you.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I think there are some practical operational issues that need to be addressed. The question about really unpacking what is happening with the discretionary aspect of decision-making certainly needs to be explored. As I mentioned in my comments initially, I think there needs to be [Technical difficulty--Editor] algorithms that we're currently using to screen candidates to make sure that there is no—

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Further, as we look at the processes related to how we're engaging, I think there is more work to be done to make sure that there isn't any kind of structural bias within those kinds of processes. There are some concrete solutions we can use to address that, through blind review, and looking at ways in which we can compare identical cases across visa centres to make sure that we are staying with a consistent approach and one that is in alignment with Canadian values across the globe.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Yes. In fact, with the rates of rejection that we are seeing in particular much more prevalently in Africa and francophone Africa, that's certainly serving as a limitation in terms of that pathway for students to come and to study. That's not even to speak about further pathways that might exist post-graduation.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I guess from our perspective, if we're really thinking about the strategic potential that comes from that pathway and that pipeline, we would strongly recommend that we think outside the box on this. Rather than working within that temporary visa framework that exists, we could think about that pathway for those who may choose to stay and for whom Canada would want to open the door to that possibility.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Yes. I think there's absolute merit in considering that and not applying that much more limiting temporary framework. I think we need to think very differently and much more boldly about how we chart that future path for the country. This would signal that significantly.