When Gobindbir Singh describes the stress international students experience, he remembers a young man who called him in tears.
Unable to pay his tuition fees for the upcoming session, the student said his parents were selling their house in India and it was still not enough.
He had asked friends to lend him money and tried to get an extension from the college.
Completely desperate, he turned to Khalsa Aid Canada.
“He literally cried on the phone,” said Mr. Singh, project manager for the organization in Ottawa, which supports international students by providing them with free groceries once a month and winter coats.
“He said, ‘I’ve tried everything and you’re the last resort.’ »
This story is an example of the difficult situations international students find themselves in as the cost of living skyrockets in Canada and it becomes more difficult for newcomers to find work.
These challenges have become even more visible as the number of international students in the country has increased in recent years.
In 2023, more than 900,000 international students had visas to study in Canada, more than triple the number ten years ago.
Postsecondary institutions and policymakers face considerable scrutiny over this increase, as colleges and universities increasingly rely on tuition fees from international students to supplement inadequate government funding.
Mr. Singh, himself a former international student, said the stress of finding a job, paying high tuition fees and adjusting to life in Canada can take a toll on health mentality of a student. And often, students don’t know where to look for help.
Dealing with immigration issues or a family matter at home only makes the situation worse, he added.
“Enormous pressure”
Thushara Rodrigo, Sri Lanka’s consul general in Toronto, recently issued a warning to parents to stay informed about the condition of their children, after a 19-year-old Sri Lankan student was charged with the murder of six people, including four children, in Ottawa last week.
Police have not assigned a motive or disclosed the circumstances leading to the attack.
Some of those who spoke with The Canadian Press were quick to warn that, based on the limited information currently available, it is difficult to draw a connection between this horrific case and the general experiences of international students.
Mr. Rodrigo says he regularly hears from Sri Lankan students who are looking for help finding a job and who are shocked to find out how much it costs to buy groceries and pay their rent in Canada. That’s why he decided to issue this warning, he said.
He added that given Sri Lanka’s economic situation, there is “very high demand” for immigration and families are mortgaging their homes or borrowing money to send their children to what they hope will be a country offering better possibilities.
The problem, he says, is the picture painted by educational consultants hired to recruit and match students to schools across Canada.
He said students don’t know how difficult it is to find a job. And they don’t know that if they get a job, they’ll have to work late nights — as Uber drivers, for example — and then get up early to go to class.
“They are under enormous pressure,” he summarized.
Sarom Rho of the Migrant Workers Alliance for Change said the root cause of the problem is that international students do not have the same rights and protections as permanent residents.
For example, international students cannot benefit from public health care in most provinces.
“It adds an incredible amount of pressure, stress and feeling excluded,” she said.
Students are also under immense pressure to find work after graduation as they aspire to permanent residency.
Distress and substance abuse
Narinder Singh says he has noticed a worrying trend: his Sikh temple in Surrey, British Columbia, has sent the bodies of 30 students back to India since 2021 and cremated about 15 others.
Some died by suicide or accidents, he said, but the majority died of drug overdoses as a crisis ravaged the province.
Mr Singh, president of the Gurdwara Dukh Nivaran, believes one of the reasons why students start using drugs is the mental distress of living in a place where they cannot afford accommodation or accommodation. nourish, and cope with loneliness.
“They had a different vision in mind,” he explained. When they arrived here, the situation was totally, totally different. »
Mr. Singh said he would not recommend Indian parents to send their prospective students to Canada.
Its temple offers welcome packages to new students that include a mattress and other necessities. He said many families were not sending enough money for them to survive.
Lack of services
Jatinder Singh, national director of Khalsa Aid Canada, said the need has continued to grow over the past four years.
In Ottawa alone, the organization has some 920 registered students from 51 different countries.
A new phenomenon, he said, is parents searching for a missing child. He estimates that at least one case comes across his desk per week.
“Invariably what we find is that the student is homeless or has become addicted to drugs and is basically living on the streets or in malls for as long as they can during the day and they don’t study anymore,” he stressed.
Mr Singh blamed this on the lack of comprehensive services for students.
“When they have problems, there’s really no one to turn to. »