By Cheryl Jahn

Changes to international student legislation concerning

Oct 16, 2024 | 3:57 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – Recent legislation introduced by the federal government restricting international students from finding work after graduation could cause harm to the regional economy and unfairly target the College of New Caledonia.

That from the Chambers of Commerce in Quesnel, Vanderhoof, Mackenzie, and Prince George.

“They’re going to be targeting very narrowly the international students who can apply for study permits,” explains Marta Tejero, President of the CNC Faculty Association. “And that’s going to potentially negatively impact programing at colleges. And colleges support the communities, especially here in the north.”

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In fact, there are roughly 300 faculty members at the College of New Caledonia, taking into consideration all it campuses around the North. And Tejero says the impacts of this move could be very detrimental to programming at the college and, by extension, faculty.

“Program suspensions would impact the North negatively since it is a community college that supports the labour market in the North and the federal government has the potential to really impact that.”

“The workforce challenges that rural employers face is that you have economies of scale working in larger centres where you’ve got a bigger population to drawn to fill your vacant position,’ notes Neil Godbout, CEO of the Prince George Chamber of Commerce. “That’s not the case [in rural communities]. And it’s not just Prince George. It’s Vanderhoof. It’s Quesnel. It’s Mackenzie. How are you filling those positions if you don’t have the local labour support and now you can’t even draw on your international students who want to stay in the community and work.”

Immigration has been identified time and again as one solution to the ongoing demands for certain professions in the labour force. Tejero is meeting with her peers this week, and Ottawa’s latest move will likely be top of mind.

“The federal government is targeting, I think, colleges, public post-secondary colleges versus universities, a kind of elitism there that shouldn’t be, shouldn’t be there.”

But Godbout says the concern goes beyond just colleges and universities.

“The optics around the federal government restrictions in international students exist in a global marketplace.”