Sean Fraser Defends Immigration Record While Ottawa Puts Intake Limits on International Students

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Minister Sean Fraser rises during question period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on May 12, 2022. The Canadian Press/ Patrick Doyle

Housing Minister Sean Fraser defended the decisions he made during his time as immigration minister as current Immigration Minister Marc Miller announced new intake limits to Canada’s International Student Program.

“When I had the opportunity to be in that position, of course, we built the population growth models into our decisions,” Mr. Fraser told reporters on Jan. 22, the second day of a three-day cabinet retreat in Montreal.

Affordability and housing issues are among the focal points of the retreat, with an increasing emphasis on understanding the impact of unprecedented levels of immigration on these areas.

Mr. Fraser said that during his tenure the government became aware of “significant growth” in the International Student Program and gave the provinces time to adjust, since the issue is under their jurisdiction.

Between the fall of 2018 and the spring of 2023, the number of international students in Canada surged from 359,657 to 542,430, according to an October 2023 Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada response to an Inquiry of Ministry. This marked a rise of just over 50 percent in four-and-a-half years.

“When it became clear that we weren’t going to find a solution that way, we started to develop the trusted institutions model and started exploring the possibility of a cap,” Mr. Fraser said.

Mr. Miller had announced earlier on the same day that the government would implement a temporary two-year cap on the issuance of new student visas.

Mr. Miller stated that the restriction on new student visas would be in place for the current and the following year. For 2024, the cap is set at 364,000 new visas, a decrease of 35 percent from the nearly 560,000 visas issued last year. The cap for 2025 will be determined after reviewing the situation later this year, according to Mr. Miller.

‘Time to Rein It In’

Mr. Fraser acknowledged the negative effects the increase in international students has had and spoke on the impact he expects the newly announced measures might have on housing woes.

“We do see that there’s certain pockets of the country that have seen significant increase in population growth as a result of institutions taking on more students than they could handle,” Mr. Fraser said.

“I anticipate, as you see, in some of those communities, fewer students that may come to Canada. As a result, you may see some pressure alleviated.”

Echoing some of Mr. Miller’s recent remarks, Mr. Fraser acknowledged some school closures might occur and said he believes it could be for the best.

“There are some schools that, frankly, have come to exist to profit off the backs of vulnerable international students under the false promise of permanent residency that should never have been made,” said Mr. Fraser.

“I expect that some of those schools may end up closing. And I think that may be a good thing, because it wasn’t doing a service to the students who came here, it wasn’t doing a service to the communities in which they were located.”

In response to a reporter asking what would happen after the two-year temporary measures were over, Mr. Miller focused on the need to take action now.

“Well, look, we’ve got two years to actually get the ship in order. It’s a bit of a mess, and it’s time to rein it in,” he said.

Though the government has “put a lot of thought” into these measures, Mr. Miller said, he acknowledged they are pretty much “blind.”

“We’re playing with taps that we’re turning on and turning off and allocating between provinces. So did we get it right? We'll see,” he said.