World Education Services (WES) is a non-profit social enterprise dedicated to helping international students, immigrants, and refugees achieve their educational and career goals in the United States and Canada. The weekly roundup includes research, stories, and events of interest to the Canadian immigration and settlement community. This content has been created by WES and is reproduced here with their permission, in partnership.
Nearly 50,000 foreign students listed as ‘no-shows’ by Canadian schools (Globe and Mail)
Close to 50,000 international students who received Canadian study permits were reported as “no-shows” at the colleges and universities where they enrolled. Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) shared that non-compliant students made up 6.9 percent of the total number of students approved to attend institutions in the country. Higher learning institutions are required to report twice a year on whether international students are enrolled and attending class in compliance with visa provisions under the International Student Compliance Regime. Data on non-compliant students had been reported on students coming from 144 countries, with 2.2 per cent coming from the Philippines (representing 688 no-show students); 6.4 per cent for China (4,279 no-shows); 11.6 per cent for Iran (1,848 no-shows); and 48.1 per cent for Rwanda (802 no-shows). IRCC is planning to place additional measures to streamline processes and maintain the integrity of Canada’s international education system.
Businesses and unions to form trade council to confer with Ottawa on Trump’s potential tariffs (Globe and Mail)
Donald Trump has been sworn in as the 47th president of the United States. Ahead of his inauguration, the then incoming president signaled at imposing 25 percent tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico, citing plans to review US trade systems and take an “America first” approach to the nation’s fiscal policy. President Trump threatened to apply taxes on all Canadian goods entering the US, unless Canada tightened its border security. Businesses, unions, and trade councils across Canada have formed coalitions to support each other and advise local government on how to safeguard Canada’s economy from the recent threats. The Canada-US Trade Council (CUSTC) represents companies and labour groups representing steel, aluminum, forestry, oil and gas, energy, biomed, dairy, banking, as well as broader national associations such as the Canadian Chamber of Commerce and the Business Council of Canada. While not a lobby group, the CUSTC aims to convene regularly to share knowledge on potential approaches to handling proposed economic scenarios. If plans go forward, this will trigger the “biggest trade war” between the two countries in decades, according to Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly.
To read further:
Federal immigration department cutting 3,300 jobs over three years (CTV News)
Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) will be eliminating 3,300 positions over the next three years. Labour reductions are set to hit the department both domestically and internationally. IRCC notes that staffing changes are meant to align with reduced immigration levels and funding. In recent years, IRCC’s workforce experienced exponential growth in response to socio-economic crises including the pandemic, systems modernization, and increased immigration levels. Data from the Treasury Board Secretariat reveals that there was a total of 13,092 employees at Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada in 2024, well above the 10,248 recorded in 2022, and 7,800 in 2019. According to a statement from the department, IRCC’s expansion relied on temporary funding support that was not meant to be sustained long-term. As a result, staffing will be adjusted to accommodate reduced immigration and pauses in Canada’s population growth.
Canada’s plan to reduce immigration levels leaves newcomer organizations scrambling with ‘off-the-cliff’ funding cuts (Toronto Star)
As the federal government plans its workforce and funding around reduced immigration levels, organizations across the settlement sector are feeling the impact. Many advocates from the sector cite feeling caught off guard by funding cuts that were made without consultation or enough time to reorganize programming. Reducing funding cycles from five years to three may make it even more challenging for long-term planning for agencies that rely on government funding to advance programming. English classes beyond level 4 of the Canadian Language Benchmarks will be funded until September 2026. Funding allocated for settlement services outside of Quebec will fall from $1.17 billion in 2024-2025 – to $1.12 billion for the next fiscal year, in line with the number of newcomers projected, servicing needs, and partner relationships.
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Please take this short survey to help improve the KM4S web site. The survey is anonymous. Thank you for your feedback! (click on the screen anywhere (or on the x in the top right corner) to remove this pop-up)