Foreign students | A disappointed student, his CEGEP “concerned”

Simon doesn’t understand. His parents don’t understand. His CEGEP doesn’t understand. But if the Quebec government has its way, this nursing student will have to return to France after three years of study with very good grades.

Why? Because he is a victim of the Quebec government’s efforts to reduce the number of foreign students.

“I’m feeling down,” confides Simon Moreau, on the phone in Matane.

This 22-year-old student, originally from Nantes, France, has been studying at the CEGEP in Matane, in Gaspésie, since 2021.

In March, he began procedures to extend his study permit, which was valid for three years. To do so, he applied to the Ministère de l’Immigration, de la Francisation et de l’Intégration (MIFI) for a new Certificat d’acceptation du Québec (CAQ), a document required prior to the issuance of a study permit by the federal government, reserved for foreigners wishing to study in Quebec. But, surprisingly, the MIFI refused to grant it to him because he had not made studies his main activity during the entire validity period of his first CAQ.

In the fall semester, Simon took three courses. He should have taken at least four to meet the requirements, according to the MIFI.

Result: unless a decision is made to the contrary, he will not be able to complete his DEC in nursing and will have to leave his CEGEP residence by mid-September.

The problem is that Simon didn’t know that he had to take at least four courses per session to get a new CAQ. Even his CEGEP didn’t know about it!

“This refusal is a first for us,” says Francis Turcotte, coordinator of the communications and international development department at the Cégep de Matane. “You should know that we have been welcoming foreign students for over 20 years. We are among the Cégeps in Quebec that welcome the largest number of foreign students.”

“It’s certainly a situation that concerns us,” he adds.

A DEC in four years

The high school student successfully completed his first year of studies. “It was relatively easy,” he said. “I got very good grades.”

But the next one was more difficult.

He doesn’t hide it: he went through a depressive episode.

“Things started to get tough in the second year. This is something that is known within the program. The second year is really much harder than the first. It is very demanding. There is a lot of data to remember. And so, in the fall 2022 session, it was quite complicated.”

Living alone, far from his parents, family and friends, in Matane, “a small country town where the CEGEP is very far from the attractive city centre”, has its share of challenges. But “the trigger” for his depression was the “hardness of the courses”.

At the end of the fall 2022 session, Simon therefore made the decision, jointly with the individual psychological assistance (API) of the Cégep de Matane, and supported by a doctor’s certificate, to do his technical DEC in four years rather than three.

He postponed his nursing classes for the winter 2023 semester by one year, taking only three classes. Then, in the winter 2024 semester, he passed his nursing classes.

Simon Moreau is far from alone in this situation. Barely a third of CEGEP students graduate on time, according to government data obtained in 2023, following an access to information request by The Press.

Read the article “Not in a hurry to graduate”

“Our foreign students, like our Quebec students, are increasingly less likely to complete their studies over two or three years, the normal duration,” confirms Francis Turcotte, from the Cégep de Matane.

“There are more and more requests for CAQ renewal because students can’t get their diploma in three years; they’re going to do it in four years. That adds a layer of complexity for our team.”

Surprised, bitter and disconcerted

The MIFI sent Simon an initial intention to refuse on April 17. “You have not demonstrated that you meet the conditions of the Foreign Student Program, in accordance with the Regulations on Immigration to Quebec,” he was told.

The student submitted the requested documents and evidence, but the MIFI refused his CAQ request on June 10 and upheld its decision on August 29 following a request for administrative review.

“We believe that the reasons for MIFI’s refusal are not necessarily appropriate,” says Francis Turcotte, from the Matane CEGEP.

The student is appreciated by his teachers and the international team at the CEGEP, adds Mr. Turcotte.

In addition to his studies, Simon worked part-time, approximately 10 hours per week, as a beneficiary attendant at the CHSLD in Matane.

“How can we understand the actions of a State which, every year, sends delegations from institutions to recruit French students, promises them solid training, professional opportunities, and which abandons them on the path to their studies?” asks his mother, Sandrine Gadet.

“We are surprised, bitter and disconcerted by this administrative decision,” she continued. “We are terribly disappointed, because, like Simon, we believed in this Quebec dream…”

The Canadian dream

Simon still has a few options to pursue his Quebec dream.

The first is to hope for “divine intervention.” But the chances are slim, says M.^e Nadia Barrou, specialized in immigration.

The second option is to try to get around the bureaucracy by obtaining, for example, a closed work permit, if he ever has to wait a year before obtaining a CAQ and being able to resume his studies in Matane.

The third is to return to France and re-enter a nursing school with, he hopes, an equivalence of courses. Otherwise, “it’s returning to France, with nothing, and having come here and having lost three years of my life…”

There is a fourth option, suggested by M^e Barrou and other immigration lawyers: trying the Canadian dream, by going to study in another province, where the rules are more flexible and where French-speaking immigrants are sought.