Questions surrounding international students have been swirling around Conestoga College since the federal government announced in January it would be capping the amount of study permits given to post-secondary institutions.
President of Conestoga College John Tibbits said in an interview with CambridgeToday back in February that thousands of international students were left in limbo after the federal government's announcement and unsure if they would be allowed to stay in the country.
But director of communication for the college, Brenda Bereczki, has now confirmed that any student who applied for a permit before Jan, 22 will be processed without any restraint by a cap.
"The latest IRCC announcement stated that "current study permit holders will not be affected," and "study permit renewals will not be impacted," she said in an email.
This would allow the nearly 30,000 international students admitted to the college last year to continue learning and living in Canada without fear of being sent back home.
The college is still unsure what September will bring in terms of its final numbers under the cap.
Cambridge MP Bryan May notes that Conestoga is not the problem it's been made out to be when it comes to international students and should not be lumped in with private colleges.
"I think it's important to differentiate what is happening at Conestoga and what the real issue is in these private colleges or the triOS' of the world if you will," May said.
"These public-private partnerships have been ballooning under under the Ford government."
There has been a battle between the provincial and federal governments on how this cap came about and how to allot each college their share of study permits.
Marc Miller, the federal minister of immigration, refugees and citizenship noted back in January that the federal government would reduce the number of study permits to approximately 360,000 across Canada.
May noted that it would be up to the provinces to decide how to allocate the permits to colleges and universities.
Jill Dunlop, Ontario's minister of colleges and universities, called the federal government a "disappointment" during a Feb. 21 question period in relation to its decision to slash study permits.
The federal government did not consult with the provinces or post-secondary institutions when implementing the cap, she said.
May thinks this is another lie from the province and calls out minister Dunlop for potentially profiting off private college institutions.
"I mean, minister Dunlop's got to be careful, because she's posting fairly high prices for fundraisers, benefiting financially from these institutions that are these puppy-mill-style diploma or diploma factories," May said.
"Us stepping in is a reaction to their complete neglect of this issue."
Dunlop also noted that schools will be given priority based on guaranteed student housing for international students, labour force demands and each institution's impact on the local economy.
It's estimated Conestoga has around 900 housing units available for students across all of its eight campuses.
According to Liz Tuomi, press secretary for Dunlop, the work to decide how many permits Conestoga will receive is still ongoing and declined to comment on the situation.
