When Ekta Kumar moved from India to Nova Scotia to pursue her master’s last year, she says she got lucky thanks to a local connection and found a family to move in with.
“I thought maybe I should just enhance my skills, just kind of go abroad and find out how education works in different countries,” Kumar says in an interview. “That’s what brought me here to Canada. And of course, I did want my family to have a better future.”
But her husband and their daughter needed their own space. Eventually, they secured an apartment in Halifax. She knows that’s not an easy process for many.
“I have seen the people who are coming into my university or other universities trying to find an accommodation maybe six months or seven months in advance, just trying to reach everybody through social media (to see) if they have any accommodation available.”
Cap consideration
When federal Housing Minister and Nova Scotia MP Sean Fraser floated the idea of capping the number of international students coming to Canada, Kumar was on board.
“There are there are too many of us now,” she says.
Still, Kumar says she’s not “blaming international students” for the challenges in the housing market.
Moncef Lakouas, past president of the New Brunswick Multicultural Council (NBMC), agrees.
“International students are not the main cause of the housing crisis,” he says.
Lakouas says those coming from abroad to study generate billions of dollars for Canada yearly.
“We welcome other immigrants, we welcome refugees, we also have natural growth, population growth from within,” he says.
“All of those contribute to the fact that Canada is booming, which is great news.”
He says housing is the main issue that students raise with the NBMC, and that building new housing is the key.
“We have to consider investing in the conditions to continue sustaining the prosperity for the next little while versus just putting in a cap, which might hurt a lot of a lot of universities and colleges, but also a lot of businesses who are desperately, over the nation, looking for talent.
“We have to be extremely cautious and mindful because one rumour could internationally affect our ability to attract international students,” he says, “(who) are creating a huge contribution, a positive contribution to our country.”
By the numbers
Last year, Canada welcomed more than 800,000 international students. This year, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada estimates it will receive more than 900,000 applications for study permits.
It’s a number that, with the exception of the COVID-19 impact, has grown significantly over the years, federal data shows.
“You don’t want to bring people here and not be able to give them a place to live,” says Margaret Murphy, associate vice-president of external affairs at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax.
Murphy says SMU is “aware of the housing crisis” and is trying to provide more options.
“We have a request for pre-qualifications right out there in the market now, and we’re looking for a partner to come in and supply maybe 800 to 900 more units.
“That will benefit both our Canadian students, as well as our international students.”
Many local schools don’t have numbers for this coming academic year, but according to the Association of Atlantic Universities, international students made up 30 per cent of total full-time enrolment numbers last year.
ISANS response
The CEO of Immigrant Services Association of Nova Scotia (ISANS) says her organization is advocating for a national housing strategy to address the demands.
“For us, it’s really not an issue of a cap,” Jennifer Watts says. “It’s really about looking at this in terms of how we can really effectively welcome, support and retain international students in our communities.”
She says recent challenges in the housing market have been “a bit of a wakeup call.”
“It’s unfortunate it’s taken us until this time to really understand the impact of the housing crisis on international students,” Watts says.
She says all levels of government, universities and settlement agencies need to collaborate and work toward solutions.
“This is an incredible pool of talent,” she says. “They bring us incredible energy, skills and experience.”
Meanwhile, Kumar says a better process to match international students’ skillsets required for work in Canada would also help.
“It’s going to help not only the people who are coming here, it’s also going to help the economy,” she says.
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