CIMM – Trend Analysis on International Students – February 28, 2024
Minister Miller has made some comments regarding international students lately, including on social media.
Coverage focuses on how the federal government will crack down on non-compliant institutions, if provinces fail to do so.
Some recent coverage included reference to comments from the Province of Ontario, who implied they were caught off guard by the federal announcement. The Minister addressed this sentiment publicly.
New Information – This week
In the last two days, Minister Miller was quoted as saying the there are many bad actors in the private [post secondary education] sphere that need to be shut down and that if provinces don’t address them, the federal government will.
A transcript from a pre-cabinet scrum with Minister Miller also contained some of the exchange covered by the National Post, as well as calling for all parties involved, including the Government of Ontario and institutions, to work together to solve the issue.
A National Post article quoted comments Minister Miller made during a pre-cabinet scrum, saying that claims by provinces that the federal government did not give them enough notice of the cap announcement were untrue. Coverage also noted that according to Minister Miller, provinces and territories have some work to do in regards to the quality of education offered and how they recruit students from abroad.
Un article de Radio-Canada a noté que l'analyse des données d'Immigration, Réfugiés et Citoyenneté Canada (IRCC), obtenues grâce à une demande d'accès à l'information, permet néanmoins de constater que l’augmentation rapide du nombre d'étudiants étrangers en sol canadien est en fait attribuable à une poignée d'écoles, majoritairement situées en Ontario.
“There’s responsibility to go around. I just think that some of the really, really bad actors are in the private sphere and those need to be shut down.” (Minister Miller, Canadian Press)
“And perhaps even — if provinces don’t assume their responsibility — shut down institutions ourselves if they don’t do a good enough job.” (Minister Miller, Canadian Press)
“That’s complete garbage. We said quite clearly they need to get their houses in order. We spoke specifically about Ontario that has the largest number of international students. They should have known it. They’ve had auditor general reports. We’ve spoken quite publicly about it.” (Minister Miller, National Post)
“It’s beneath me to share text messages with journalists, but the reality is that there was communication that just was never followed up on”, “They have some work to do in terms of the quality of the education that they provide to these people and the people that they engage to recruit people abroad. So there’s responsibility to go around.” (Minister Miller, National Post)
“[Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada] statistics are clear: regulated career colleges overwhelmingly train Canadian learners and NACC member institutions account for less than five per cent of all study permits in 2023. We are not the problem,” (Michael Sangster CEO of the National Association of Career Colleges, Canadian Press)
Media Information
IRCC Media Relations have received one media call about internationals students this week.
The Minister was active on social media. He retweeted the stories that were mentioned above. Most other appearances on social media consisted of other outlets and journalists tweeting about various aspects of what the Minister said during his scrum on Feb. 27.
