Appalled at the living conditions of international students, Councillor Mark Harris plans to write to John Tibbits, president of Conestoga College regarding the lack of housing offered for international students attending Doon Campus in Kitchener
Waterloo Councillor was shocked after he learned about inhumane living conditions of an international student living with 13 other people.
Michael Harris, Councillor of Kitchener has expressed his displeasure in his tweets on X
“Tonight I spoke with a Conestoga College student who recently arrived from India to study at the college. He was taking a break from carrying a chair from a long distance to a house a few doors down from mine. He told me that’s about all he had room for as he lives with 13 others“
The councillor spotted a student from India carrying a chair with unusual number of parcels. Upon finding this strange, Harris struck a conversation with the student, who was a student at the Conestoga College. Harris offered him help and learned from the student that he was living with 13 other people. This struck Harris hard.
The Councillor
said that although he is aware of the rising number of international students in the region but this revelation really shook him to the core.
This led him to issue tweets so that the community as a whole could get involve in solving this problem.
Conestoga College is one of most prominent educational institution and the college has seen a large influx of international students in the past couple of years. This influx has put pressure on the infrastructure. A report, funded by Ontario’s Big City Mayors, found international enrollment has increased across the province since 2014. Conestoga College, in particular, reported 1,579 per cent growth.
Harris is himself a graduate and a donor to Conestoga College and has noted that the Conestoga College is lacking housing infrastructure for meeting the housing and accommodation needs of the students. The rising number of students are being forced to accommodate in the housing that was built in 2000’s.
The 30,000 international students are put up in housing facility that is meant for only 1000 students.
Last month, Immigration Minister Marc Miller announced that a cap for two years, on the intake of international students is all set to be put into action.
“In order to maintain a sustainable level of temporary residence in Canada, as well to ensure that there is no further growth in the number of international students in Canada for 2024, we are setting a national application intake cap for a period of two years for 2024,” Immigration Minister Marc Miller said when the move was announced.
The Conestoga college president Tibbits, responded by calling on the federal government to slow its move to curb the intake of international students into Canada.
“We agree that changes need to be made, especially in relation to private colleges, but the federal government’s decision should have been phased in over time and done in consultation,” the letter Tibbits issued on Friday said. “Instead, Canada’s reputation as a destination for post-secondary education is threatened.”
Parikshit Baugh