Canada urged to rebuild brand for foreign students

OTTAWA — Canadians should rebuild the country’s brand as a destination for bright minds, India’s envoy to Ottawa said Tuesday as he lamented that a number of international students had died after being exploited.

High Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma told the Montreal Council on Foreign Relations that exploitation is undermining the role Indian students in Canada play in helping both countries advance their technological knowledge.

Canada’s international student program has come under intense scrutiny after a sharp rise in study permits in recent years, leading the federal government to implement a two-year cap on foreign student admissions.

Last year, there were more than one million international students in Canada.

India is the top source of the students, but Verma said there are bogus schools that have “duped” Indian families, sometimes with tragic consequences.

Verma said some students died after being exploited, though he did not specify whether he was referring to suicides. He told the forum that students often had a lot on the line.

“Many of them come from a poor family. Their parents would sell their lands and farm and animals for them to come here. And when they are duped by unethical educational outlets, that creates quite a sensation in India,” Verma said. “There was a time when we were sending one body bag of an Indian international student every 10 days. And as an ambassador, you can imagine what I would feel in my heart.”

Canadian universities and colleges have turned to international student recruitment to supplement shortfalls in provincial funding.

However, that has come at the expense of desperate students who often take out loans or rely heavily on their family to pay for their studies in Canada.

The Canadian Press reported last week that at Conestoga College, many international students are working full-time hours to make ends meet.

Meanwhile, students who can’t find work are anxious about their financial situation. Some are even questioning their decision to come to Canada.

A Sikh temple in Surrey reported this year that it was aware of more than three dozen students from India who had died in Canada since 2021, the majority due to drug overdoses.

Verma said he has encouraged Indian students who have been living for a year or two in Canada to take to social media and explain the challenges they face.