Over the weekend, a large gathering of international students in Brampton, composed almost entirely of Indian males, protested the end of their study permits, demanding 5-year post-graduate work permits to stay in Canada long enough to become permanent residents.

Footage taken by True North’s Harrison Faulkner shows a long line of Indian students holding signs demanding that they get extensions for post-graduate work permits and claiming that they are being exploited by the system, that the government isn’t doing enough for them, and that processing times for post-graduate work permits are too long.

“We want justice,” a man can be heard screaming out of a megaphone.

Canada was, of course, also characterized as racist by the international students demanding the right to stay in Canada indefinitely.

Indian protests are becoming a common occurrence across Canada

Earlier this year, over 100 Indian students, again in Brampton, studying computer science protested their failing grades, claiming they only failed because of a racist professor.

After days of protesting, the faculty of Algoma University eventually capitulated, giving passing grades to most and allowing the rest to take a general competency test instead of having to actually pass the program’s exams.

Meanwhile, there is an ongoing protest in PEI where Indian students and temporary workers facing deportation are demanding study and work permit extensions, hosting a brief hunger strike before making headway.

Now, it looks like Liberal MPs and immigration officials are rallying to their cause and trying to pressure the province into accepting their continued stay.

Statistics about international students

According to the Canadian Bureau for International Education (CBIE), Canada hosted 1,040,985 international students in 2023, representing a 29% increase in the number of international students from the previous year, a 63% increase in the number of international students in Canada in the past 5 years, and a more than 200% increase in the last decade.

In terms of country of origin, 41% (roughly 427,000) of international students in Canada are from India, constituting the largest demographic of international students by far. This is more than the total number of international students in the country in 2015 before the current Liberal government took office. Over half are in Ontario.

For comparison, China, which once constituted a significantly higher proportion of the total international student pool, now only constitutes 10% in terms of country of origin. International students from the USA make up just 1%.

When surveyed, 72.5% of international students say they plan to apply for post-graduate work permits, and 60% say they plan to apply for permanent residency.