International Students Protests Arbitrary and Unfair Rule Changes to Post-Graduate Work Permit

On June 24th, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) changed the rules regarding application for the Post-Graduate Work Permit (PGWP). The change, which IRCC claims is a mere “clarification,” means that, starting June 24th, students attending non-credit programmes will no longer qualify for work permits. This change was made quietly, without announcement. Many recent graduates of Portage College, an Albertan post-secondary institution with around 2,000 students between its Edmonton and Calgary campuses, report that while some in their programmes have been accepted others have been arbitrarily refused, and given only 90 days to leave the country.

Students at Portage College in Edmonton have organized an International Students Alliance (ISA) to fight for those who applied for the PWGP before June 24th to be assessed under the previous rules from the IRCC. The ISA represents around 500 students at the Edmonton campus. They have been running a sustained protest campaign in both cities with consistent demonstrations. The momentum has been sustained by a well-organised shift system to keep the signs up along the streets at all times, and by the generous donations of food from the community, particularly from a local Sikh temple. 

The students come from a variety of backgrounds but are united in their desire to be treated fairly and in their opposition to this arbitrary rule change. The response from bourgeois media forces in Alberta has been rather racist and chauvinistic, often accusing the students of “stealing” jobs or trying to “trick” their way into permanent residency. Much of their racist rhetoric tells the students to “go home,” or even outright calls for deportations. As the students who spoke with Rebel Youth explained, most of them would like to go home and plan on doing so once they’ve finished their studies and accrued the job experience they came here seeking and; of which they paid tens of thousands of dollars for. Despite these desires, the ruling class seeks to fan the flames of xenophobia through anti-immigrant rhetoric as a tactic to keep the working class, including students, divided.

There are many reasons for international students to study in Canada, one reason is to pursue an education that is not accessible in their country of origin due to the consequences of imperialism that limits access to jobs and education; consequences which Canadian bourgeois economic interests have perpetuated.

When Canadians attack international students and migrant workers for coming to Canada, we must retort that if not for the economic conditions caused by imperialism, students and workers would not feel compelled to uproot themselves and leave home to seek education and work in countries such as Canada which are cushioned from some of the more dire effects of imperialist plunder. Imperialism, as a world system, creates the conditions that drive them from home, and invites them here for further exploitation through predatory tuition fees or through exploitation via lower wages and restrictive employment conditions.

The Portage College students were promised post-secondary education in Canada predicated on fairness, transparency, and equality: our government and post-secondary institutions lied. The YCL-LJC fights for a public monopoly on education that provides free education for all to make this promise true. The extortion of international students, the yearly tuition hikes, the post-secondary program and job cuts can only be stopped by a united front of working people and their allies in the student movement fighting for a public monopoly on all social services including education. Organize for a future worth living!