On Nov. 5, McGill President and Vice-Chancellor Deep Saini, accompanied by the heads of other major Quebec universities and CEGEPs, spoke at a public consultation at the National Assembly of Quebec regarding the province’s proposed Bill 74. If passed, the bill would allow the provincial government to put a cap on the number of international students that can be admitted to Quebec universities and CEGEPs.
McGill, alongside Université de Montréal, Université de Sherbrooke, and Université Laval, called to be exempted from the proposed cap. They argued it would hurt Quebec’s competitiveness as a centre for research, and restrict universities’ autonomy by granting the government control over the number of international students admitted, and the programs they could enroll in.
In the past decade, the number of international students in Quebec has risen from 50,000 to nearly 120,000, which the government says has contributed to a strain on public services and real estate. In response, the Quebec government proposed Bill 74, titled ‘An Act mainly to improve the regulatory scheme governing international students.’
The bill would amend the Québec Immigration Act, allowing the government to enforce a cap on the number of international students admitted to higher education institutions. The bill would also allow the government to determine the number of international students at any given institution, and even accept students based on their program and mandate certain courses.
The National Assembly of Quebec held a public consultation regarding the bill on Nov. 5, in which Saini and other university leaders argued that certain universities ought to be exempted from the cap.
“At McGill, the percentage and actual number of international students has remained more or less constant over the past 10 years,” Saini said at the consultation. “We’re not responsible for the huge increase [in the number] of international students here in Quebec.”*
In a joint statement presented at the consultation, the universities argued that placing a cap on the number of international students accepted would stifle research output and jeopardize institutions’ ability to retain student talent.
“In its current form, Bill 74 jeopardizes our universities’ ability to attract highly talented international students, further reducing our capacity to attract high-calibre professors and researchers,” the statement read. “The autonomy of universities enables them to be the place where disciplines and discoveries emerge, with measurable long-term benefits [….] The introduction of a bill whose regulations could limit or constrain universities threatens this autonomy, which has proved highly beneficial to Quebec in the past.”*
The universities acknowledged that some higher-education institutions may have accepted more international students than their communities could absorb. However, they urged the government to pass more nuanced legislation to prevent harming research institutions through a generalized cap.
“The problem is there are some bad actors in our system,” Saini said in the consultation. “The government has all the tools that it can possibly need to solve that problem. We just have to be surgical. We don’t give medicine that will have a whole bunch of side effects.”*
Jennifer Elrick, Associate Professor of Sociology at McGill and Chair of Multiculturalism in the department, told The Tribune that she believes that Quebec’s attempt to regulate international student numbers is a logical extension of the control the government already has over permanent economic immigration.
“[Temporary immigration] numbers have been going up against the backdrop of domestic policy areas like housing, and healthcare infrastructure, all sort of being retooled and starved for funding since the 90s,” Elrick said. “No one really had their eye on what it meant to be bringing in more people while neglecting healthcare, education, infrastructure, and other areas of society.”
However, Elrick does not believe that international students are the primary source of strain on Quebec’s public services and housing market.
“Tinkering with immigration levels, be they international students, temporary foreign workers, [or] permanent residents, is not going to solve deeply-rooted and complicated domestic policy issues like housing, education, climate change, [or] the economy,” she said.
*These quotes were translated from French.
