By Rebel News | Created at 2024-11-15 22:06:30 | Updated at 2024-11-23 01:49:49
1 week ago
The number of foreign students seeking asylum in Canada has already broken last year’s record, just nine months into 2024.
The Globe and Mail reported 13,660 asylum claims filed through September 30 of this year by foreigners, thousands more than all of 2023.
Immigration Minister Marc Miller previously told reporters that some foreigners exploit the generosity of Canadians with bogus refugee claims, remarks he reiterated in a statement to the Globe.
Over the last five years, the number of claims by international students has soared from 1,810 in 2018 to 11,975 in 2023.
The figures show that Ontario colleges, in particular, have observed a stark increase over that period. Data on Seneca College revealed 45 asylum claims in 2018, which rose to 690, five years later.
At Niagara College, this number rose from 20 to 545, over the same period.
Meanwhile, Conestoga College saw 25 asylum claims among 6,000 study permit holders in 2018. Five years later, the number of claims surged to 450.
Those trends have in part driven a wider debate about the number of temporary residents in Canada and their impact on housing and services such as health care.
Canada accepted a record 1,040,000 foreign students last year, according to immigration data. The number of foreign study permits issued has nearly tripled from 352,305 since 2015.
Through this January to September, claims are well on their way to either matching or surpassing last year’s record totals, with 490 from Seneca, 410 from Niagara, and 520 from Conestoga.
This year’s total is expected to grow further, with three more months to be counted.
“Clearly there is advice being given for people that are here that would otherwise have to go home to claim asylum,” claimed Miller, citing anecdotal evidence.
Tom Kmiec, Conservative Shadow Minister for Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada, said Miller approved massive numbers of student visas, and should not deflect blame onto immigration consultants.
The minister suggests that first year students who seek asylum, meanwhile, do so under “mostly false [pretenses].”
“It is a privilege to come to Canada — not a right,” he previously said.
Spokespersons across several colleges and universities provided vastly different comments about some foreign students making illegitimate asylum claims.
The University of Quebec at Chicoutimi called the trend surprising, while Conestoga College did not know of any students seeking asylum.
In addition, the Department of Immigration has yet to contact Niagara College on the matter, according to a vice-president with the institution.
A spokesperson for Cape Breton University, meanwhile, says that very few international students have applied for asylum.
Some observers claimed the increase in students seeking asylum is a direct consequence of tightening rules for permanent residency. Minister Miller announced in January a cap on international students for 364,000 study permits this year.
Miller previously defended his government’s record on foreign students. “If you compare the numbers of people that have come in … from India, we have seen those visas [fall] down from 50,000 in January to less than 10,000 in August,” he said then.
“It is an indicative sign that the measures that we have taken over the summer after discussions with my provincial colleagues are working,” Miller told reporters at the time.
He acknowledged: “There's more work to do.”
India is among the countries of which most claimants originate, according to the Department of Immigration.
Last year, the feds permitted entry to 800,000 temporary residents, including temporary workers and foreign students. By the end of 2023, Statistics Canada reported 2.6 million temporary residents in the country.
Alex Dhaliwal
Calgary Based Journalist
Alex Dhaliwal is a Political Science graduate from the University of Calgary. He has actively written on relevant Canadian issues with several prominent interviews under his belt.
