The housing crisis, coupled with lack of jobs and inflation, is making the lives of Indian students in Canada extremely difficult. Such is the situation that some are questioning if shifting to Canada at this moment should even be considered.
Students who have landed fresh from India are lugging their bags and going door to door in residential neighbourhoods in Canada’s Ontario, seeking spaces on rent from absolute strangers. The desperate move by the students, without a roof over their heads, isn’t welcomed by most residents.
Around 30 students, mostly from India, who joined the Canadore College in North Bay, Ontario, protested outside its campus in the first week of September as they were left without shelter. The institute provided the Indian students with just two days of accommodation and then left them to fend for themselves.
The Canadian dream is turning into an unimaginable nightmare for Indians, mostly students in their 20s. Behind this is a housing crisis and a lack of part-time jobs that students bank upon to sustain themselves thousands of kilometres away from home and family.
In 2023, Canada is on track to welcome 500,000 permanent residents on top of a staggering 900,000 international students. One of the key reasons for the Canadian government to bring in immigrants is to drive economic growth and resiliency.
The drive, though, comes at a time when Canada is witnessing a housing crisis.
There is abysmally low construction of houses and the record-high interest rates have made new housing units beyond the reach of common Canadians and new immigrants.
There is a shortfall of at least 3,45,000 housing units across Canada, according to government data.
House rents have skyrocketed too, pushing students to cramped basement setups where their safety is compromised.
Why so many students flock to Canada every year is not because of education. It’s because the student visa provides what is thought to be an easy route to Canada, and then a pathway to permanent residency and citizenship. The student visa route is one of the main channels through which foreign citizens emigrate to Canada. Indians make up the bulk of the foreign students in Canada.
In 2022, 2.26 lakh students out of 5.5 lakh international students, or 40 per cent of the total, were from India, according to Canadian government data. And there were 3.2 lakh Indians staying in Canada on student visas.