College can sue over work-permit denial

An Ontario court has given Niagara College the green light to sue the federal government over the denial of work permits to hundreds of its international graduates.

In 2015, Anish Goyal and Chintan Zankat, two foreign students who graduated from the college’s arts and science program, led a $50-million class-action lawsuit against the school for allegedly misleading them to believe graduates would qualify for Canadian work permits.

In its defence, the college commenced what’s known as a “third-party claim” against the Department of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, arguing that its officials were the real culprits responsible for the mess, which hurt the college’s reputation among foreign students. “This may be a difficult claim to prove, but that is not the issue,” wrote Justice Paul M. Perell, of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, in his recent decision. “The claim as pleaded is legally viable.”

Perell said Immigration Canada had previously issued work permits to international graduates from Niagara College’s general arts and science program from 2010 until the end of 2014, when immigration officials began advising applicants that their program was considered distance learning and, as such, they were ineligible for work permits. Graduates were asked to leave Canada. The college repeatedly reached out to Immigration Canada for an explanation for the change, but officials did not respond, the court heard.

In August 2015, the students launched the class action and the college responded with its lawsuit against the government, demanding it share any court costs or damages awarded to the students. Immigration Canada resumed granting work permits to the program’s foreign graduates and the rejected students were allowed to reapply, making the class-action case moot. However, the recent court decision allows the college to continue its action against the federal government. Niagara College and Immigration Canada declined to comment on the court decision.