THUNDER BAY – City council forges ahead with an ask from the Intergovernmental Affairs Committee to push back against Ottawa’s decision to cap the number of permits given to international students.
Westfort Coun. Kristen Oliver provided a motion to council that pleads with the federal government to consider a measured approach to implementation, which would include consultation with post-secondary institutions in Northwestern Ontario and municipalities affected by this change.
“I think the fact that Thunder Bay is an attractive place for international students to learn makes the whole community richer,” said Current River Coun. Andrew Foulds.
“The fact that these one off or arbitrary decisions have been made without consulting others, in particular the northern communities, is very concerning.”
On Jan. 22 Ottawa unveiled plans to reduce the number of new international student permits by 35 per cent in 2024 as part of a temporary two-year cap on foreign enrolment.
This year, Confederation College has 1,838 foreign students enrolled while Lakehead University has approximately 1,900 students, or over 20 per cent of the student population of more than 9,000, who are international students.
Mayor Ken Boshcoff is confident that a letter from the city, once this decision is ratified at a later council meeting, will send a message to the federal government.
“If every city and municipality sends a message to the other orders of government, it will make them think that this is an issue that we have to deal with,” Boshcoff noted.
“The northwest can sustain a lot more growth. We are working towards being able to handle all of these immigrants and people who want to move here.”
Red River Coun. Michael Zussino and At-large Coun. Trevor Giertuga voted against the motion, with Zussino pointing to not enough current supply to meet the demand for places to stay.
“I think the exorbitant amount of tuition that international students pay makes them have to go out and get multiple jobs, which can lead to burn out,” Zussino said.
“It would be nice to have a little more housing supply so that we could give these students a place to stay and see if they can actually enjoy living here.”
Giertuga also mentioned the demand for a place to live, pointing to an apartment that he is showing that has had as many as 2,500 views.
“We don’t have the housing right now, and I’m torn on this issue,” Giertuga said.
“I think that’s why the government put the cap in place because we keep bringing people in but where are they going to stay? Are we going to have to set up more tent cities within Thunder Bay? I just don’t know.”
The cap is expected to result in 364,000 new approved permits in 2024.
The 2025 limit on new applications will be reassessed at the end of this year.
The province unveiled on Monday $1.3 billion in new funding to post-secondary institutions while holding the line on the tuition fee freeze that the governing Progressive Conservatives put in in 2019.
