Diplomatic spat with India raises fears of racist attacks, tuition losses at Waterloo Region schools

[kevinUsa]

Conestoga College has at least 9,000 Indian students, says president John Tibbits.

 

Jeff Outhit / Waterloo Region Record

WATERLOO REGION — The sudden diplomatic spat between India and Canada carries new risks, says international relations expert Veronica Kitchen.

 

“The immediate concern is the potential for racist attacks of various kinds against Indians, or anybody who might be mistaken or might look like an Indian in public,” she said.

 

There are more than 11,000 Indian students attending schools in this region, plus 55,400 residents who identify as South Asian by race.

[kevinUsa]

Foreign students reached 57% of enrolment at Conesoga College in 2022.They pay 2 to 4 times the tuition of domestic students. India is the top country of origin.

2012-2013

2014-2015

2016-2017

2018-2019

2020-2021

0

5,000

10,000

15,000

20,000

International students

Domestic students

Shows full-time headcount in the fall.

Chart: Jeff OuthitSource: Ontario Data CatalogueGet the dataCreated with Datawrapper

Kitchen points to racist attacks during the COVID-19 pandemic against people deemed to be Chinese, after China was cited as the origin of the pandemic.

 

Indian students could also see their Canadian studies disrupted if visa restrictions are imposed on them. Alternatively, Indians might stop seeing Canada as a good place to study and choose not to come, threatening millions in future tuition fees collected on local campuses.

 

“Canada could be affected by Indians who want to travel to Canada and choose not to, because of the warnings that the Indian government is giving against travel to to Canada,” said Kitchen, a political scientist at the University of Waterloo.

 

ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW

 

 

The diplomatic spat erupted this week after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said there’s evidence the Indian government is behind the killing in B.C. of a Canadian man who advocated for a separate Sikh homeland in India.

 

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India has denied involvement, has warned students that Canada may not be safe for them, and has paused issuing new visas for Canadians wishing to travel to India. Both countries have expelled diplomats.

 

“Each side is taking symbolic actions against the other in order to express their displeasure. We see this all the time in diplomacy,” Kitchen said. “It has unfortunate effects for actual people.”

 

There are at least 9,000 Indian students enrolled at Conestoga College. “We have some concern,” college president John Tibbits said. “We certainly anticipate something could happen, but we don’t know what. ... It’s unfortunate that this happened.”

 

It’s estimated the University of Waterloo has enrolled more than 2,000 Indian students. “The university is watching this issue closely and offering support to our current group of international students who may be concerned about what this means for them,” UW spokesperson Rebecca Elming said in a statement.

 

Universities and colleges prize Indian students because like other international students they pay tuition fees two to six times higher than fees charged to Canadians. Indians are drawn to Canadian studies partly by the prospect of a path to permanent residency, offered by the Canadian government.

 

There were 319,000 Indians with student visas in Canada last year, eight times more than in 2014 according to federal data. Some used ApplyBoard, a successful tech firm in this region that helps international students apply for post-secondary studies.

 

The firm “is disheartened at the rising tensions between the Canadian and Indian governments. Thousands of Indian students come to Canada every year, many here in Waterloo Region, and to see their dreams of furthering their education and careers get impacted is concerning,” the company said in a statement.

 

Kitchen and Tibbits can’t see how it is in Canada’s interest to stop Indian students from studying here, partly because of the large South Asian diaspora that has settled here.

 

“There would be a lot of pushback from Indian families,” Tibbits said. “I can’t see (the government) shutting it down. I think it’d be too much political pushback.”

 

“For the moment, Indian students are welcome in Canada through regular visa protocols,” Kitchen said. “And because of the numbers of people in that community, and because of the strength of the diaspora, I struggle to imagine a situation where it would be in Canada’s interest to reduce the number of Indian students or the number of visas being granted because of this spat.”

 

Conestoga is aiming to diversify its international enrolment, aware it is vulnerable if most of its foreign students come from one place, Tibbits said. The college could adapt to a significant drop in Indian students but “we just wouldn’t be able to grow the way we have,” he said.

 

Conestoga College is a leader in international enrolment on campuses. India is the top country of origin for foreign students at Conestoga.

International enrolment 2021-2022Growth in foreign students 2015-2022

University of Toronto

25,761

12,138

Seneca College

12,818

8,923

Conestoga College

12,808

12,045

Centennial College

10,686

5,843

York University

9,318

4,402

University of Waterloo

8,925

3,423

University of Ottawa

8,915

4,785

Lambton College

8,892

6,108

St. Clair College

6,621

6,074

McMaster University

6,367

3,945

Shows top 10 post-secondary schools by international enrolment .

Chart: Jeff OuthitSource: Ontario Data CatalogueGet the dataCreated with Datawrapper

Tibbits met this week with a consul from the Indian High Commission who came to the Conestoga campus on a visit that was set up earlier. The consul met also with Indian students to discuss their Canadian education.

 

This is not the first time a diplomatic dispute has affected international students in Canada.

 

In 2018 Saudi Arabia reacted to a Canadian government statement by cancelling scholarships and ordering home up to 800 medical residents it had placed here for medical training.

 

Canadian universities scrambled to retain Saudi students. The Saudis eventually relented, but Canada is no longer a popular destination for Saudi students.

 

Just 735 Saudis had student visas in Canada last year, down from 5,075 in 2018 and a high of just over 14,000 Saudi students in 2011. The decade-long decline suggests multiple factors in play.

 

Kitchen points out that other countries still send students to Canada despite diplomatic tensions. “We still have Iranian students, Russian students, Chinese students, like lots of countries with whom Canada has had poor diplomatic relations, either for the short term or the long term,” she said.

 

ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW

Jeff Outhit

Jeff Outhit is a Kitchener-based general assignment reporter for the Waterloo Region Record.

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Cress

5 HRS AGO

Why minimize this? It's not 11,000 18 year olds. It's 11,000 FAMILIES. Most of the international students are bringing husbands, wives and children with them.

Its no wonder why we have a crush on rental housing when we've added 10% of the city's population overnight.

 

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[8pm]

Oh

[Tryad]

India should be blamed for putting its citizens abroad at risk by engaging in illegal behaviour outside of its territories.

 

[shaktimaan]

Canada like a good manger gave India a chance to come clean and accept. Just like a typical Indian at work, they doubled down and started bullying 

now face the consequences lol

[Tryad]

Just now, shaktimaan said:

Canada like a good manger gave India a chance to come clean and accept. Just like a typical Indian at work, they doubled down and started bullying 

now face the consequences lol

Canada was in touch with India for weeks on this, with Canadian intelligence officials traveling to India multiple times.. and Trudeau said that even in G20, he brought this up with Modi and sought cooperation in the investigation.

Indian side is pretending like Trudeau woke up one fine day, and decided to finally get Sikh votes and started to blame India. These guys are delusional.

[Tryad]

@kevinUsa inni years db lo unnav. sarigga copy paste cheyyatam kooda raadhu.

malli tekku em takkuv ledhu.

[pakeer_saab]

10 minutes ago, Tryad said:

India should be blamed for putting its citizens abroad at risk by engaging in illegal behaviour outside of its territories.

 

MOOSKO RA HOOKA

INDIA KNOWS HOW TO PROTECT ITS INTERESTS

[Tryad]

1 minute ago, pakeer_saab said:

MOOSKO RA HOOKA

INDIA KNOWS HOW TO PROTECT ITS INTERESTS

by killing foreign citizens in foreign land? ask it to keep doing it. one day all the goodwill will run out, just like India's demographic dividend is fast running out.

enjoy being Indian. lmao.

[pakeer_saab]

Just now, Tryad said:

by killing foreign citizens in foreign land? ask it to keep doing it. one day all the goodwill will run out, just like India's demographic dividend is fast running out.

enjoy being Indian. lmao.

goodwill aa bokka, there is goodwill between countries

its only self-interests that matter

entire drama is orchestration of America using their satellite state.

[shaktimaan]

ninnati daaka morigina kukkalu ippudu self defense lo paddayi

love it

[Tryad]

3 minutes ago, pakeer_saab said:

goodwill aa bokka, there is goodwill between countries

its only self-interests that matter

entire drama is orchestration of America using their satellite state.

yeah killing citizens of a country in illegal operations is the highest expression of self-interest..

ekkadnundi osthaar ra meerantha.

[Tryad]

2 minutes ago, shaktimaan said:

ninnati daaka morigina kukkalu ippudu self defense lo paddayi

love it

ye kukkal ni antunnav? db kukkal ni pattinchukoku..

manam thread lo ki vasthey avey paari pothaay. hehe..

[pakeer_saab]

1 minute ago, Tryad said:

yeah killing citizens of a country in illegal operations is the highest expression of self-interest..

ekkadnundi osthaar ra meerantha.

proof edira fooka

one can say anything and cant get away just like that

[shaktimaan]

1 minute ago, Tryad said:

ye kukkal ni antunnav? db kukkal ni pattinchukoku..

manam thread lo ki vasthey avey paari pothaay. hehe..

diversion ki material cooking ani talku