CIMM#114: Recent Reforms to the International Student Program

Thank you.

The clear purpose of the study is the recent reforms to the international student program. However, every member has a right to ask questions on whichever topic they wish. I cannot stop them, as long as it isn't out of order. It is up to the officials. I want to make it very clear that this study is focused on students, and I agree with you that it's focused in particular on the recent reforms to the international student program.

With that in mind, I'm going to stop the watch and reset it.

I'll go to MP Kwan for six minutes. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to the witnesses for their appearance here today.

My first question is for IRCC officials.

With respect to the fraudulent letter numbers you just shared with us, do you have any indication that particular individuals or organizations are issuing these fraudulent letters? Is there any pattern or trend emerging?

I think it's important to have that analysis.

Once that analysis is complete, will you share that information with the committee? When do you expect the first round of analysis to be completed?

All right.

Aside from looking at patterns of potential violators—the groups and organizations taking advantage of students with these fraudulent letters of acceptance—will you be including in the analysis what types of institutions are being utilized for these fraudulent letters? In other words, is it private institutions versus public institutions, colleges versus universities and so on? Will that be part of the analysis?

Maybe I can reframe that.

Obviously, as these are fraudulent letters of acceptance, they wouldn't be issued by the institutions. However, regarding the list of institutions being used for the purpose of these fraudulent letters, I would be interested in obtaining information to determine what percentage are private institutions and public institutions, how many of them are colleges, how many of them are universities and so on. That will tell us very specific information that I think is important when trying to tackle fraudulent activities.

I will make the further request to make sure you share this information with the committee. I'll argue that this information should not be kept secret. It should be public and transparent—shared with all Canadians—so that we're aware of what the landscape is and of how international students are being taken advantage of.

With respect to that analysis, will there be information and data on what countries are being targeted?

Yes, that's correct. That will also tell us a lot about which student bodies are being taken advantage of or facing fraudulent activities.

All that said, I think this analysis is critical. Having collected this much information, you'll be able to do your preliminary analysis. That should be done as soon as possible, and that information should be shared with the committee. It will be critical, for the purpose of this study, for us to receive that information before we write the final report.

I will leave that there and hope we can get the information.

On the flip side of that, I'd be interested to know how many of the applications that have come through your screening process at this point indicate valid letters of acceptance.

I'm sorry. What was the percentage for no response?

Okay.

I assume that this analysis is being done with the data points that we mentioned earlier. If you can confirm that and also share that information with the committee when it's available, that would be great.

Thank you.

I want to move on to the conversations the ministry had with institutions. There was some indication that there was a discussion with institutions. I'm particularly interested in public education institutions, colleges and universities.

I wonder if you can share with the committee what the comments were on the government's plan for changes and in what areas they flagged deep concerns.