Letter: International students let down by Canadore and federal government

Editor's note: Mr. Maciuk writes in response to a previous letter Canadore College must take responsibility for student housing crisis.

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To the editor:

Hello, I am writing as a follow-up to the esteemed letter written several days ago by an acquaintance of mine, Laurie Sharpe.

Mrs. Sharpe has been overwhelmed at her leasing office for the past several weeks with an influx of calls, emails, and walk-ins from international students who expected housing from Canadore College. It’s in Mrs. Sharpe's nature to help anyone who needs help, and I feel her frustration with the helplessness this outrageous situation has dumped on her and other members of the community who cannot stand by while international students are being hoodwinked by the Federal Government and Canadore College alike.

It was in the lobby of Mrs. Sharpe’s office where I met Abdule. Abdule is a 27-year-old Ghanaian architect who came to North Bay to study Construction Project Management at Canadore College because, according to him, “Canada has the best education.” Abdule, not having housing upon arriving in North Bay, slept in the only place he knew, the Ontario Northland Bus Station.

The next morning, he made his way to Mrs. Sharpe's office determined to find housing. Regretfully, Mrs. Sharpe could not find Abdule any housing in the units she managed as her units were already full. However, Mrs. Sharpe, her associates, and I were determined to find Abdule housing that didn’t have hard benches and a phone that only accepted quarters.

It was while all of us were making phone calls, sending emails, and texting everyone we knew and didn't know that I took Abdule and showed him around North Bay to buy time so he wasn’t cold in the rain.

It was during this exchange that I asked him questions regarding his experience with immigration, visas, and school applications. I am also attending school this fall, and like Abdule, I am planning to study in a country that isn’t my domicile. During this exchange, I compared both the processes of Canada’s student visa application to the application I had to complete for my visa. This is where I would like to add insight to the impassioned letter Mrs. Sharpe wrote a few days ago that would create solutions to this situation.

1. Other governments require international students to prove they have housing before granting a visa. This housing proof can be in the form of a lease agreement from the university or a private landlord, or in the form of a letter from family or friends who would offer to house the student. This incentivizes the schools to build or find housing for the students instead of just taking their money and wishing them the best of luck.

2. The government requires the student's sponsor (in the case of student visas, this is the school) to assign a member of the faculty to be the “point of contact” for the student. The student could contact this staff member for any issues they may run into.

These are two small administrative steps that would go a long way and would prevent this sort of issue from occurring again on a mass scale.

I took it upon myself to express my concerns to my Member of Parliament. Calling Speaker Rota’s office, I expressed my discontent with how this was handled. I was told that housing was a provincial matter, but I reminded the representative that housing was a provincial matter, but immigration and visas are federal.

The conversation was unfruitful.

It wasn’t until later that night that an acquaintance of ours, a local property manager, Mrs. Bev Beaudette, found housing for Abdule. Abdule is now all settled in and thankfully got into a nice housing arrangement thanks to the help and advocacy of Mrs. Beaudette.

Abdule isn’t the only one going through this issue; Mrs. Beaudette helped a young lady from India a day prior who she found on the side of the road with her luggage, crying in desperation.

Abdule has since asked me for help finding housing arrangements for his fellow students who were expecting housing but were wait-listed. Myself, Mrs. Sharpe, and Mrs. Beaudette aren’t educators, social workers, politicians, bureaucrats, or school administrators, but we’ve taken on the roles that shouldn't have been our duty in the first place as a result of major neglect from both Canadore College and the federal government.

Marshall Maciuk

North Bay

See related: Homeless international students protesting at Canadore College