In Prince Edward Island, a bucolic corner of Canada best known for potatoes and ‘Anne of Green Gables,’ tension is simmering.
A group of former and current international students, overwhelmingly from India, have taken to the streets, protesting a policy change that threatens their future in this country.
To understand the situation, let’s chart the journey of a typical Indian international student.
For long, this program, called the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP), has helped these provinces maintain sustainable population growth and address their labor shortages while also giving international students a shot at fulfilling their Canadian dream.
This has left international students, most of whom work in the food and retail industries, in a lurch.
In Prince Edward Island, a bucolic corner of Canada best known for potatoes and ‘Anne of Green Gables,’ tension is simmering. A group of former and current international students, overwhelmingly from India, have taken to the streets, protesting a policy change that threatens their future in this country.
So what is happening in PEI, and why there?
To understand the situation, let’s chart the journey of a typical Indian international student. After enrolling in a diploma mill in, say, Ontario or B.C., the student, upon arriving, realizes the pathway to permanent residency in their province of choice is rather steep because it’s already full of people and there’s too much competition. So they cancel their admission in that Ontario/B.C. college and join another diploma mill in a remote province. That province, which has a stagnant, aging population, has programs that make it easier for temporary residents to obtain PR in order to attract people.
For long, this program, called the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP), has helped these provinces maintain sustainable population growth and address their labor shortages while also giving international students a shot at fulfilling their Canadian dream.
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But Canada has seen unprecedented immigration in the last couple of years. Far too many students have gone to provinces like PEI than could be accommodated through PNP. The government here recently pivoted to prioritize giving PRs to people working in sectors it deems important: healthcare, early childhood education, and construction. This has left international students, most of whom work in the food and retail industries, in a lurch. With the federal government having announced in December 2023 that the Post-Graduation Work Permit (PGWP) would not be extended, many are reaching the end of the line. Out of desperation, they have resorted to what they have seen has worked in the past: dharna.
If last year a group of students could manage to get their deportations halted in the fraudulent admission letters case, so can they – seems to be the rationale. But that was last year. Between then and now, a lot has changed: there is a new minister in charge of immigration; the government’s approval ratings are low; and there are fewer jobs and longer queues of applicants. And because of that, the attitude of Canadians towards immigration and the politics around it have changed too, not drastically but just enough to deduce that the government will likely not budge this time.
That said, what’s happening on the Island will likely not stay there. This protest could, in fact, be the first of many the country could witness in this summer of discontent as international students’ dreams and aspirations collide with the new political reality that Canada is dialing down on immigration. With their work permits expiring and no extensions in sight, and points required for permanent residency impossibly high, tens of thousands will soon have no option but either pack their bags and head back home or, like the group in PEI, protest and hope.
(Daksh Panwar is an Ontario-based journalist and broadcaster. Twitter: @Daksh280)
