Published 16th Feb, 2024

By Tola Owoyele

In January, Marc Miller, the Canadian immigration minister, announced that the North American country was considering reducing the number of foreign students admitted into the country for two years.

While making the announcement, Miller said the planned reduction was necessary just so the Canadian government could address the housing and healthcare issues currently being faced in the country.

The plan, which only applies to students in a diploma or undergraduate programme, is expected to result in a 35 percent decrease in the total number of approved study permits for 2024.

After Miller’s announcement, many Nigerian students who were aspiring to travel to Canada to further their education expressed divergent views on the development.

While some, during their interview with FIJ, said they still planned to apply to schools in Canada despite the announcement, others said they would consider applying to schools in American and European countries.

THE WAR OF WORDS

Things took an interesting turn when, between Monday and Tuesday, the issue degenerated into a trade of words between two Canadian college presidents.

According to the Globe and Mail, a Canadian newspaper, the feud that ensued between the two reflected growing tension over the future of the revenue size the country was used to realising from international students’ tuition fees.

Presently, most Canadian schools see the federal government’s two-year cap on study permits as a threat to a multibillion-dollar revenue stream.

The row began on Monday, when David Orazietti, the president of Sault College, a school in Sault St. Marie, Ontario, during a podcast, alleged that Conestoga College, one of Ontario’s largest colleges, received more international study permit approvals than any other school in the country in 2022.

Oriazietti then went on to say that the high international study permit Conestoga received played a role in the local housing crisis the entire country was going through.

He asked how it was possible to bring roughly 30,000 international students to a community and not create chaos in housing and other services.

On hearing this, John Tibbits, the president of Conestoga College, fired back on Tuesday, saying Oriazetti “needed to learn to shut his mouth”.

“I can’t stand the guy, by the way,” Tibbits said of Oriazetti while discussing Conestoga College’s contribution to the local economy at a public event.

Tibbits also went on to describe Orazietti as a “whore” in his other remarks.

In a statement issued on Thursday, Conestoga College’s board said the languages Tibbits had used were unacceptable and did not align with the values of the institution.

The board also promised to review the incident internally.

POPULATION GROWTH

In 2022, Canada grew by over a million people in the span of one year for the first time ever. A study conducted showed that the growth was largely driven by the influx of foreign students. Last year, Canada’s population hit a record of 40 million people.

The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, a national housing agency, estimates that the country will need 3.5 million more housing units by 2030 to restore affordability.

In November 2023, a report by ApplyBoard.com showed that Nigerians had become Canada’s fastest-growing student population.

Nearly 18,000 Canadian study permits were issued to Nigerians in the first six months of 2023, more than for any other country but India.

According to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), approvals for Nigerians went from 2,788 in 2019 to 23,930 in 2023, and this represents a 758 percent increase.

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