Is Canada accepting too many international students? | About That

The federal government is reportedly considering capping the number of international students allowed to study in Canada. Andrew Chang breaks down why experts say international students are both integral to the economy — and straining an overburdened housing system.

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[wayneshelson]

You know things are bad when the CBC is echoing that Immigration levels are a problem. I don't think there are many Canadians out there who think immigration is bad or that it's their fault, but the LEVEL of immigration we have right now is too much.

[crazycommedian]

90% of international students are not coming to Canada for studying, and they are not paying disproportionately exorbitant fees for Canadian education or degrees. They know they are paying a hefty amount to buy Canadian citizenship.

[ramboram]

Canada is attracting the worst kind of international students, poorly educated, poor civic sense, rural men from Northern India esp Punjab. I said this many years ago, to my parents, you're going to see a collapse in social cohesion and we are seeing it in real time. This is having a disastrous effect on health care too, my father waited for 9 hours to get a scan, he lives with me now in the US and it took him 45 minutes to get a scan!!!

[lesliengo]

Basically, Canada is not setting boundaries on how many international students it can handle.

[dangoever]

There are way too many. Canada is just one giant diploma mill. Ontario and BC are just states of India now. This is ridiculous.

[centinela]

The International students accepted were not just young college students, but mature students who came with their partners and children.

[gabrielprandini]

Finally the media is picking up on this. Has been a problem for at least 4 years.

[AbramSJA]

We need to slow down immigration until our social services and infrastructure can catch up. Shut down the diploma mills already.

[MyMelody]

Most of the international students are coming from just one country too…

[kimsedgwick]

This Canadian wants immigration to slow right down. We need to focus on Canadians and get this country back in order.

[WoWmeister]

Get rid of these diploma mills. These students are coming here and not even getting a real education. Funny thing is most of these students don't even want to go to school. They would rather work and get a PR. Absolutely ridiculous.

[WoodEe-zqqv]

1 in 40 people in Canada is an international student.
Last year we let in the same amount of new immigrants as the USA, a country with 10x our population.
Let that sink in.

[lonegladiator]

You guys still don't seem to understand the situation here. These students don't come here for education, they come here for PR. Student Visa is just a bypass route for them to get that PR. I know few so called students who cant speak a word in english, how do you expect them to clear their international courses. They are not bright honest students. They are the jobless youth of India, who take loans or sell their lands to come here as students and spoil Canadian markets with cash jobs. My humble submission will be to stop Immigration for 3 years, and stop student visa to India for 5 years. Things will fall in place.

[middleearthtroll]

I work for the BC provincial government, and part of my job is to hunt for homes to house women who are escaping violence. After spending 3 months searching for homes in Surrey, I've seen anywhere between 10-22 individuals living in a modest sized home. These homes are often very well run-down, have poor plumbing, and many illegal suites, and I've literally seen people sleeping in closets. Landlords can get away with this because the students from India don't care, don't have a choice, or are used to this standard. What the federal government is doing is unbelievable, allowing many people into the country. Just because international students come from places where they can sleep on top of each other doesn't mean they should allow it to happen here, reducing the living standards for everyday tax-paying Canadians. Despicable.

[josephalvarez]

What I am actually worried about is the fact a high school student cannot get a job because some guy named Navdeep or Harmanjit has already taken the job.

[XYZ-zo]

480, 000 people have immigrated to Canada in the last 90 days. These are the poorest of the poor, people that are considered low skill in Punjab. Canada is taking them all, with no plan to feed or house them.

[LN_]

Andrew Chang's mini-documentaries are the best thing to come out of CBC in a long time. Protect this man at all costs.

[braudhadoch]

we can't even afford a bachelor, our own kids are forced out of our own universities. Housing and our Hospitals are overflowing.

[orobleh]

Some of them don’t even go school. They go under and work in the underground economy

[DisturbedRocks]

This is a Canadian greed problem. Not the students' fault at all.
Of course they'll come if we allow them to. And we are allowing them to.
Why?
Because the colleges are accepting them without adequate facilities to teach them (forget housing them). Some of these CANADIAN colleges are renting movie theatres.

So these colleges are basically defrauding these students, and the burden goes onto the other Canadians.