QUESTION PERIOD — Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship
International Students
May 9, 2024
This question is for the Government Representative in the Senate.
I rise today to express my deep concern about the workforce limitations imposed on international students, reducing the number of hours that they can work each week to 24. Although this is more than the original 20 hours pre-COVID, it is an unnecessary restriction given that there have been no negative consequences of the cap being removed over the last few years. International students are here in Canada to gain a world-class education in our institutions. Why are we restricting their ability to support themselves through employment?
Thank you for your question. The government agrees with the importance of opening our country and our institutions to foreign students and, of course, providing them an opportunity to finance their studies while they are here.
However, it is also important for the government to strike the right balance. This is both for the sake of the students themselves — because research shows that there is a limit beyond which working affects one’s ability to succeed scholastically — and to address the troubling situation with institutions attracting people not for education but simply as a way to circumvent our rules, which we’ve discussed and the government has addressed in many ways. The government has reached a fair balance and will continue to monitor how it’s being implemented.
Employment is a premium way to put down roots in a community. Furthermore, why should we restrict international students when domestic students are not restricted in this regard? Is it the place of academic institutions to determine the number of hours students can work, especially given that they may charge international students two or three times the tuition they do domestic students?
Additionally, what are employers who are grappling with labour issues — especially those in post-secondary communities like mine — supposed to do?
Thank you for your question. You and other senators will recall that there was previously a cap of a 20-hour work week for international students, which was lifted during the pandemic to help combat those labour shortages. As we transition out of the pandemic, the government has raised it somewhat to 24 hours and — again — believes it has struck the right balance.
