There is great concern in Ontario over the two-year capping of the number of foreign students accepted into the country. The measure raises fears for the financial health of French-speaking establishments, as well as for the vitality of communities in minority contexts. Ottawa, which recognizes that French-speakers could be affected, says it is “looking for mechanisms to minimize the impact” of its decision.
The province will indeed see the number of study permits granted drop by half in 2024, according to preliminary figures put forward by the federal Minister of Immigration, Marc Miller. “It’s a threat to establishments. It is also a threat to the communities that host them,” Duty Martin Normand, director of international relations for the Association of Colleges and Universities of the Canadian Francophonie (ACUFC).
“We are looking for mechanisms to minimize the impact on French-speaking institutions outside Quebec and on French-speakers in countries where we already have a low acceptance rate,” assured the Duty the director of communications of the Ministry of Immigration, Assa Diop, stressing that the provinces have “a role to play”.
Under this measure announced Monday, Ottawa plans to grant approximately 360,000 study permits in 2024, 35% less than in 2023. The ceiling for each province will be modulated according to the population of the latter; the decrease in the number of international students will therefore be felt much more “in the provinces where the population of foreign students has experienced the most unsustainable growth.”
In 2022, Ontario welcomed 51% of all international students in the country, at all levels of study, according to the Canadian Bureau for International Education.
It is true that the number of study permit applications has “exploded in recent years, and we had to act,” says Mr. Normand. But Ontario’s French-speaking post-secondary institutions “count on international clientele to generate revenue that allows them to stay afloat,” he explains.
Several French-speaking establishments therefore risk being “weakened,” confirms Mariève Forest, president of the social research firm Sociopol. The imposition of a cap “will have a major impact on the University’s finances [d’Ottawa] “, reacted in writing the principal communications manager of the establishment, Ricky Landry, referring in particular to “the freezing of tuition fees” and the “chronic underfunding of [sa] French-speaking mission”, which “already exert enormous pressure on universities”.
The general director of the Franco-Ontarian Student Regroupment (REFO), François Hastir, hopes that the situation will demonstrate “the importance, throughout Canada, of not relying solely on international students” for the financing of post-secondary institutions. And, in Ontario, it is “important that the government takes responsibility” and “makes up for decades of underfunding”.
Targeting “malicious actors”
The provincial government, responsible for distributing permit quotas between establishments, has not yet indicated how this distribution will be carried out. The ACUFC, which accuses Ottawa of having “relieved itself of a certain responsibility”, deplores the absence of “directives [fédérales] clear”. “There is nothing that requires the government [provincial] to allocate a fair share of study permits to French-speaking establishments. »
“It is absolutely necessary that there be specific measures for French-speakers outside Quebec to ensure that we do not destroy the efforts that the federal government has made until now to attract these communities to Canada,” believes the REFO.
The federal immigration ministry, which ensures that French-speaking immigration remains a “priority”, writes that it is considering “special measures”, such as the development of a “pilot project to increase the attraction and access of international students of French expression to post-secondary institutions outside Quebec”, and “more generally, through a reform of its programs”.
Rather than attacking French-speakers, Ottawa maintains that it wants to target “malicious actors” who do not welcome students well, whether in terms of housing or mental health support services.
The provincial minister of Colleges and Universities, Jill Dunlop, also said she wanted to “repress [des] abusive practices.” In a written statement, she argues that “certain malicious individuals exploit [des] students by making them false promises.”
According to Ottawa, which specifies that the final decision will be the responsibility of the provinces, establishments which provide good conditions for their students should not fear a significant reduction in the permits granted.
But small French-speaking institutions may have a reduced service offering due to “lack of resources,” says M.me Forest. They should therefore not be designated de facto as “malicious” establishments to target. A risk that we “cannot exclude”, according to Mr. Normand.
The vitality of communities threatened
For meme Forest, the greatest threat is to the “vitality of French-speaking communities”, since a person who has studied in French at the post-secondary level will have a greater chance of using the language of Tremblay the rest of their life, argues She.
Francophone immigrants also contribute to “resolving the labor shortage in important sectors,” defends Mr. Normand. He considers the measure “in flagrant contradiction” with the new version of the Official Languages Act, and the Francophone Immigration Policy. Unveiled last week, it aims in particular to attract more French-speaking foreign students outside Quebec.
” The measure [du plafonnement] does not directly attack Francophones, but the way in which it will be deployed could have unforeseen consequences on Francophones,” he warns.
This report is supported by the Local Journalism Initiative, funded by the Government of Canada.