Immigration minister slams Conestoga College over foreign enrolment

“Not that I would deny any one the right to gain profit, but you’re doing it on a bunch of people that have sometimes had their family earnings pooled into one person, their hopes and dreams into one person … on the basis of that dream that I believe still exists, and have it dashed quickly when they can’t get a job or get a crappy education and then have to file for asylum in some of the worst-case scenarios.”

Kitchener-based Conestoga reported a $106-million surplus last year after recruiting more international students than any other school and charging them tuition fees that are two to four times higher than Canadian students pay.

Conestoga students filed 450 asylum claims with the federal government in 2023, up from 106 claims filed in 2022.

Miller, citing a housing shortage, rising prices and a lack of services, has ordered a two-year cap on foreign student visas that could see Ontario schools lose half their current intake. Conestoga expects to learn soon how many international students it will be permitted.

Conestoga received federal approval for more than 51,000 foreign students over 2022 and 2023. That’s more than double the visas approved for any other school and it is 12 times more foreign students than were approved to attend the University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University.

Miller criticized Conestoga Friday while attending an online Democracy Forum at Toronto Metropolitan University, hosted by Toronto Star columnist Martin Regg Cohn.

He was asked to comment on “the increased anti-immigration sentiment bordering on racism that is now more evident in the Kitchener-Waterloo area” because of the high international student population from India.

The questioner said: “I can’t really blame people for feeling that way. There’s no housing and no jobs, but it seems people are lashing out against, or voicing their dissent against, a group of people instead of the government. It’s not a very reassuring feeling as a brown person to know that in times of crisis, the immediate reaction is more ethnocentric in nature.”

Miller responded: “In tough times, the first people to pay for hardship have often been the most vulnerable. And that includes people that are less wealthy, or racialized folks. That’s just reality that’s consistent throughout time. In this particular instance, we’ve seen in the Kitchener-Waterloo area a significant increase in international students.

“I don’t want to fault them for wanting a better life, wanting to get a job, wanting to get a great education, going to their country (to) make that country better, or get a permanent residency path in Canada. But it has to be done in a way that is regular and reasonable.

“And I think there have been large increases in the population there with a corresponding large increase in the cost of living. It’s unfortunate that people then turn their gaze onto people that don’t look like them. But that is often, sadly, the reality of human nature. And Canadians aren’t immune to that at all.

“I think that we can do better. And I think we will do better once we have a system, when it comes to international students, that is something that is more controlled, and where the institutions themselves have more responsibility in making sure that those people are properly integrated into their surrounding neighbourhoods.”

The college did not immediately respond Monday to requests for comment. College president John Tibbits has denied that Conestoga is a ‘bad actor’ in its lucrative pursuit of international students.

Labour unions at the college say the pace of international expansion has exhausted faculty and staff and may be putting academic quality at risk.

The expanding college has used foreign tuition to add jobs, land, buildings and equipment. The payout for college salaries and benefits is up almost 90 per cent since 2014, adjusted for inflation. The value of college-owned land, buildings and equipment has increased almost 80 per cent, adjusted for inflation.

The college has announced it is expanding its student residences to provide more housing.