Labour leaders lend support to Brampton students fighting to stay in Canada

Leaders from the Ontario Federation of Labour, Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario Peel, United Steelworkers Toronto Area Council, and Ontario’s trucking associations have thrown their support behind international students in Brampton who want to remain in Canada.

The union representatives were in Brampton yesterday (Nov. 27) visiting encamped students who are at risk of deportation as their visas and permits expire.

Several of the students and former students have set up camp near Highway 410 to draw attention to their cause which they say stems from broken promises made about their post-graduation careers.

The pushback from the students and the unions comes as Ottawa plans to reduce the number of post-graduate work permits granted to foreign students who have now finished school. The government also plans to limit the length of time they can staff after graduation.

The unions say Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government is also responding to increasing anti-immigrant sentiments caused by the massive number of newcomers who have been allowed into Canada. Critics charge that foreign students have taken over Canadian college and university campuses and are stealing away entry-level jobs at stores and restaurants, jobs that have traditionally gone to young people who have grown up in this country.

It’s estimated that across the country, 200,000 former foreign students will be told to leave the country under the new initiatives.

The foreign students say they came here under programs meant to lead to permanent residency status after graduating and finding jobs. Now, changes to government policy mean they will no longer be allowed to stay.

“So many of us have been told we have to get out now,” Preet Kaur told INsauga.com. “I myself have invested so much time and money, first to pay for education and now working for long hours for low pay. It’s not fair to change the rules on us.”

Unions have been backing the students who they say helped to bail out the Canadian economy at the height of COVID when nobody else wanted to work.

One union official told INsauga.com that the student/foreign workers drove trucks and worked in logistic plants and warehouses in Brampton to make sure Canadians still received goods and services.

“Many Canadians didn’t want to go to work during COVID and I can’t say that I blame them. But they still needed food and wanted to order their stuff from Amazon. Who do you think made that happen? It was the people who came from other countries,” said the labour leader who was not authorized to speak on the record but still wanted to comment on the matter.

The trucking industry in particular says that changes to the work permit rules will mean labour shortages that will affect the supply change.

“While all efforts are being made to recruit Canadians into the industry, immigration has long been a vital solution to this challenge, helping sustain the workforce needed to keep our country moving forward,” reads a notice from the Canadian Truck Operators Association. “(These immigrants) have dedicated years to working, training, and contributing within the trucking industry…they now face an uncertain future.”

The students and unions are calling on the government to extend the work permits that are about to expire and provide a a fair pathway to permanent residency to those already in the system.

“The Trudeau government changed the goalposts without grandfathering current and former international students already in Canada into the new policies,” said Simrat Kaur, one of the former international students who is protesting because her permit is expiring. “This has been devastating for us.”