Canada: College authorities agree to house homeless Indian students amid protests

Indian students protesting in Canada over the housing crisis have finally been given relief by the authorities.

The protests began Tuesday (Sept. 5) at the campus of Canadore College in the town of North Bay in Ontario. However, by Thursday (Sept. 7), the students had reached an agreement with the college authorities, who received assurances that the demands of students seeking affordable accommodation would be taken care of.

The protesting students had been living in tents pitched near the collegegrounds. The new college year in Canada begins in September, and has witnessed an influx of over 3,500 international students. But, given that North Bay is a small-sparsely populated town, students are having a hard time finding affordable accommodation, thanks to inflated rents due to massive inflation.

The Montreal Youth Students' Organization or MYSO, which backed the protesting students, has termed the situation as ‘housing crisis.’

Agreement reached

The college authorities have claimed that all those protesting at the campus will be housed. The media outlet North Bay Today cited a college spokesperson as saying, “All of the Canadore students involved in the demonstrations this week at the Commerce Court Campus are currently being housed.”

It added, “Canadore continues to work with all students to find appropriate accommodation. We will provide a more fulsome update next week.”

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A statement released by MYSO also mentioned the assurances offered by the college administration.

“Accommodation will be arranged for them at affordable rates, full fee will be refunded without any deduction if students wanted to transfer elsewhere and classes would have an online option as rules of Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada or IRCC,” said the statement by MYSO.

Canada considers foreign student cap

The development comes as the Canadian government mulls capping how many foreign students can enter Canada.

Canadian Housing Minister Sean Fraser said, “It was one of the options that we ought to consider.”

The idea was immediately rejected by the universities. Notably, Canada accepted a record number of 800,000 students last year, a 75 per cent increase from five years ago.

The government believes the influx of these students has exacerbated the housing crisis in the country. The housing crisis is especially dire in cities like Toronto, where a six-figure annual income is needed to afford a house.

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