Tensions are high between Canada and India after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced last Monday that he had evidence linking the Indian government to the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar. India, which had previously accused Nijjar of committing terrorist activity in the state of Punjab, denied the allegation. The rift between Canada and India now threatens to impact our immigration sector, which is why the conflict must be resolved as quickly as possible.
In retaliation for the accusation last week, India paused visa services for Canadians wishing to visit and issued a travel advisory discouraging travel to Canada. This could impact the number of Indian students coming to Canada. We cannot afford to lose our leading source country for immigration.
Last year, 118,095 Indians became permanent residents. This does not include the hundreds of thousands of Indians entering as temporary residents (workers, students and visitors). For context, the next largest source country was China, at 31,815.
These newcomers are needed because Canada’s population isn’t just aging — it’s already aged. Our birth rate is too low. To maintain our standard of living, we need immigrants. Unlike the United States, where the majority of immigration is family-based, Canada relies mostly on economic immigration. We rely on India to fill our more ambitious immigration targets.
Proponents for more immigration talk of better employment opportunities down the road for Canadians, because greater diversity fosters innovation and trade. Critics argue that GDP per capita is the priority metric, and that it’s being depressed by large numbers of new entrants. In particular, they point to the 900,000 international students that Canada is on track to admitting this year (roughly triple from a decade ago) who can be used to provide cheap labour and relieve employers of the need to innovate.
Neither the proponents nor the critics are wrong. To reap the benefits of immigration, we need to tweak a few things.
First, governments need to focus on productivity. We shouldn’t be only 70 per cent as productive as Americans and less productive than Europeans. Many owners of small- and medium-sized businesses (which are responsible for more than $2 trillion in assets) will retire soon, their kids not interested in taking the reins. Canada must bring in entrepreneurs to boost our faltering productivity.
We also need to stop blaming international students for the country’s ills, including our lack of housing. Canada’s housing shortage has existed for decades, so it’s unfair to blame students now. Governments at all levels need to solve the housing crisis urgently.
Provincial governments should not rely on international students to make up for shortfalls in funding to our universities and community colleges. The number of applicants, however, are rising every year, with government forecasts estimating that Canada will receive 1.4 million applicants in 2027. International students contribute around $22 billion in tuition to our economy.
But this system has been exploited. There have been reports of poor educational quality with some colleges overenrolling and others holding classes in strip malls or movie theatres . This often happens when students enroll at a private collage partnering with a public college, with the latter issuing the diploma.
These colleges are on the federal government’s approved list for student visa issuance, but some graduates are not even eligible to apply for coveted work permits upon graduation, unlike those who attend public institutions. The federal government should therefore prevent student visa issuance in these scenarios.
We should also monitor immigration consultants more closely. Their numbers have risen rapidly, to more than 11,000 . Some consultants make false promises, guaranteeing pathways to permanent residency even though only 30 per cent of temporary residents obtain it within 10 years of arriving.
Fraud and negligence are rampant among some registered consultants in Canada, as well as their non-registered counterparts in India. For instance, it was reported this summer that 700 students from India faced deportation after it was found that they were accepted to come to Canada on fake admission letters. The problem needs to be solved.
It is high time we required all consultants to work under the supervision of lawyers, who are professionally regulated and stand to lose their investment in law school if they face severe discipline.
I have practiced in this area for more than 20 years, and while a small number of immigration lawyers have been disciplined professionally, I regularly see victims of immigration consultants who enroll students at private college programs that don’t lead to work permits. These consultants will even arrange fake jobs and suggest making refugee claims simply as a way of staying in Canada.
While these changes could reduce immigration from India, this would ease Canada’s dependence on one country for international students. India would remain a main source country, but the numbers would come down to a more reasonable level.
The fraying relationship between Canada and India is incredibly unfortunate. Let’s at least use this opportunity to examine the benefits brought by Indian immigrants and temporary residents and improve the faults in our system that allow for exploitation.
Source: National Post
