Why are Indian students protesting in Canada, holding hunger strike?

Off the east coast of Canada , the province of Prince Edward Island (PEI), a significant protest has erupted, involving former and current international students, mostly from India. The controversy centres on recent changes to the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP), a crucial pathway for many international students aiming to secure permanent residency (PR) in Canada.

The protests have been ongoing since 9 May, with some participants even engaging in a hunger strike since 28 May to draw attention to their plight.

What was the change in policy?

The protests are in response to a policy shift by the PEI provincial government, which announced a reduction in the number of nominees for permanent residency through the PNP by 25 per cent in 2024.

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This decision was made due to pressure on the province’s healthcare system and housing market. The new rules, announced in February, prioritise immigrants working in specific occupations such as healthcare and construction, leaving those in retail, food, and service industries at a disadvantage.

As a result, PEI plans to reduce the number of sales and service workers it nominates from more than 800 in 2023 to roughly 200 this year. This policy shift has alarmed many graduates-turned-workers in the province, particularly those whose work permits are set to expire soon.

Speaking to local media, Manpreet Kaur, a volunteer for the Montreal Youth Student Organisation, explained, “We are aware of as many as 300 graduates in PEI, working in retail and service industries, whose work permits will be expiring in the next 1-2 months. Many Indian graduates in PEI want to stay here and be taken seriously. Instead, rules were changed overnight which has deeply impacted them.”

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What are the students’ demands?

The protesting students have outlined three primary demands:

• Grandfathering into the PNP System: Students who were in Canada before the policy change and had legitimate work permits should be permitted to stay under the previous framework.

• Fair PNP Draws without a Points System: The protestors are demanding fairer PNP draws that do not exclude sectors like sales, services, and trucking. The current points system, requiring 65 points, is deemed nearly impossible to achieve for individuals under the age of 25.

• Extension of Work Permits: This would give protestors more time to fulfill the new PR requirements, allowing them to remain in Canada while navigating the new immigration rules.

Students are reportedly planning to hold a 24-7 hunger strike if the rules don’t change by May end.

How has the Canadian government responded?

The policy changes have also raised concerns among employers in PEI, who fear the impact on the province’s workforce. During the Greater Charlottetown Area Chamber of Commerce’s annual meeting, employers questioned PEI premier Dennis King about the potential consequences.

King assured, “We’re monitoring this on a very regular basis, and we’ll make some changes if we need to,” but he remained committed to the plan.

The protesters have presented Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) with over 40 letters from regional employers asking the government to exclude individuals already working in PEI from the new rules. Support has also come from Liberal, Green, and Opposition politicians, who have described the decision as “cruel and unfair.”

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Jenn Redmond, PEI’s minister of workforce, suggested that those with expiring work permits consider training programs in high-priority areas such as nurse aides, transport truck drivers, and construction trades.

“We have to think about those workforces that have those very pressured areas, that we do need to focus those allocations toward,” Redmond told CBC.

Will the demands be met?

The protests in PEI echo past instances where student demonstrations led to government concessions, such as the halting of deportations for students with fraudulent admission letters. However, the current political climate, with a new immigration minister and declining government approval ratings, suggests that the likelihood of government leniency is slim.

Randhir Jaiswal, spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in India, acknowledged the significant number of Indian students in Canada but downplayed the severity of the issue.

“You know we have a large number of students who have gone to Canada to study. The figure is pretty significant. But what you are mentioning is that several students are facing problems that we haven’t come across as of now. Sorry, deportation. I don’t have an update on that. We are not aware of.”

Some experts have highlighted the aggressive recruitment practices by college and university lobbyists, as a source of the chaos in PEI.

Despite a more than 80 per cent decline in the issuance of study permits to Indians in the fourth quarter of last year, a report by Reuters indicates that in 2023, 41 per cent of all international students in Canada were from India.

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The situation in PEI might signal the beginning of wider unrest among international students across Canada, especially as immigration policies tighten. With their work permits expiring and no extensions available, many students face the daunting prospect of returning home or continuing to protest in hopes of policy revisions.

With inputs from agencies