From 2022 to 2023, there was a 324 per cent increase in the number of international students from Conestoga College in Kitchener, Ontario, applying for asylum in Canada.
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada confirms that 450 students at the university have applied for asylum in 2023, compared to 106 in 2022.
People can apply for asylum or refugee status if they have reason to fear returning to their home country.
“Some of the questions are: have you been mistreated, threatened or facing persecution in your country?” Eunice Valenzuala, a refugee specialist at the Kitchener-Waterloo Multicultural Centre, said sexual orientation, political opinion, gender and domestic violence are just some of the reasons people apply.
Applying for asylum is a long and difficult process that can sometimes take years to complete.
Attorney Elizabeth Kim, who only works on immigrant refugee cases, said it can take six months to two years from the start of the process to a decision. She called it a “last resort” to file and said attorneys often look to see if other options exist.
“If your goal is to remain in Canada, the last thing you want to do is take the course of action that will get you an automatically issued removal order,” Kim said.
He said there seems to be a misunderstanding that people seeking asylum would simply prefer to stay in Canada. Instead, she said they can’t go back to her house.
“Personally, I haven’t seen many baseless claims where they’re just looking for [stay in Canada]. “I don’t think I’ve seen any,” Kim said.
Increased cost of living
Kim explained that one theory he has for the increase in asylum claims in Waterloo Region is the rising cost of living. She has had clients who cannot pay the tuition and cost of living on their own, so they are forced to drop out of school, meaning they no longer have student permits.
“Because of the housing crisis, because of rapidly increasing living expenses, there’s a lot you can do on your own to deal with all of that, right? Before, if you worked really, really hard, studying during the day and working at night, maybe you could get by a little bit,” Kim said.
He explained that some students plan to complete their studies, graduate, obtain a post-graduate work permit, obtain Canadian work experience and then apply for the Canadian Experience Class to remain in the country. But it’s getting harder and harder to afford that.
While speaking on a virtual panel at Metropolitan University of Toronto, Marc Miller, Canada’s federal minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, said some post-secondary institutions have begun to rely on international students for profit, even if their academic standards are not up to par. at the height.
Miller said some of those students come to Canada hoping for a secure future and a successful career.
“[They] to be quickly terminated when they can’t get a job or receive a poor education and then have to apply for asylum in some of the worst-case scenarios, and that is a rare occurrence,” Miller said.
CTV News requested an interview with Conestoga College but they were unable to grant it.
In a statement, a spokesperson said the university does not receive data on asylum applications.
“A full team of advisors is available to offer help and guidance to international students throughout their journey at Conestoga,” the university said.
Where can students get help?
The Kitchener-Waterloo Multicultural Center does not provide concrete advice on what steps international students should take if they visit, but it does offer information and options.
Valenzuala said more resources for students to get accurate information could help point them in the right direction. He worries that misinformation will also contribute to the growing number of people interested in asylum claims.
“I think it would be very important for professors at the university and other community services to be aware of the asylum application process because sometimes they give people incorrect information,” he said.
Kim said it is important for people to know all of their options and seek legal help.
“You will only help by consulting an expert on the subject,” he said. “It’s a complicated field and there is a lot of misinformation on the Internet.”
Kim added that Legal Aid Ontario can help if someone doesn’t have enough money to hire a legal representative.
“People who are granted protection and have gone through that rigorous process of demonstrating their eligibility, demonstrating their admissibility, demonstrating that they have a legitimate fear of being persecuted in their home countries, then [they] must be supported. You have to hug people,” Kim said.
“People should be part of our community.”