Canada: Cap on international students won’t help as they aren’t to blame for medical, housing crises

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, or IRCC, has announced a new cap on international students.

In 2024, IRCC aims to issue 360,000 study permits, a 35% reduction from 2023. This announcement comes on the heels of a doubling of the cost-of-living requirement, whereby international students coming to study in any province except Québec have to demonstrate they have access to $20,635.

There is no doubt that predatory private colleges and exploitative international student recruiters have acted unethically, and steps must be taken to address their actions.

International students also deserve access to supports and services they need to thrive in Canada.

Baseless blame

Media coverage of the cap has also failed to consider the people at the heart of the issue — the international students themselves who, despite their significant economic ($22.3 billion) and social contributions to Canada, are being blamed for many of Canada’s biggest and long-standing challenges.

The media has also reported on the cap’s consequences for public post-secondary institutions which, for years, have commodified international students, viewing them as an important revenue source in the face of shrinking provincial government grants.

These stories have focused on how this policy will have a dire impact on the financial sustainability of universities, and how they might be forced to hike domestic/Canadian students’ tuition, which will adversely affect Canadians.

This ignores the impact on international students themselves, who...

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