Dear Presidents and Directors General,
I’m writing, today, to you and to your campus communities to share our concerns about the impact of recent federal immigration policy reforms on your communities, to echo your frustration with Ottawa, and to mobilize our sector around what is now at risk.
Yes, your concerns are legitimate. Ottawa’s one-size-fits-all approach to national workforce development ignores the needs of your communities, casts doubt on the quality of our public college system, damages our reputation as a country, threatens the future of public postsecondary education in Canada, and ultimately… hurts Canadians.
Since January, and even more so in recent weeks, we have stressed the need for measured and thoughtful policymaking that will help Canada achieve its goals of a well-managed immigration system while continuing to support the enrollment of international students in programs that meet the needs of local employers. Unfortunately, the post-graduate work permit policy changes as implemented by Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) not only fail to meet this objective, but also deeply harm our ability to do so going forward.
This bad policy – or good policy gone wrong – prevents Canada from leveraging our public colleges and institutes to do what they do best.
Forcing public colleges and institutes to align their programming with national labour market standards represent a misunderstanding of the value we deliver for Canadians and employers across the country. The new eligibility restrictions also make a false distinction between the quality and relevance of college and university bachelor’s degrees approved by their provinces. To make matters worse, rolling out new policy changes without key details and with the wrong tools, makes it impossible for your incoming students to make informed decisions about their studies in Canada.
Colleges and Institutes Canada is your voice in Ottawa. We work with and for you to maximize our collective impact. In this case, we’re asking you to rally your campus communities to raise your voice to Ottawa.
In short, we need your support on the ground.
We need you to mobilize the business leaders that sit on your boards and program advisory committees, go to your community partners and your mayors, your provincial and federal members of Parliament and legislatures, and work with your campus leaders (your students, faculty, and staff) to get our message across.
That Collège communautaire du Nouveau-Brunswick and New Brunswick Community College – not Ottawa – best understand the labour needs of New Brunswick; that Red Deer Polytechnic has the long-established connections with employers in Red Deer – not Ottawa; that Vancouver Community College is best placed to align training with the specific needs of Vancouver businesses; that Confederation College and Cégep de Chicoutimi understand and meet the needs of the regions they serve – not Ottawa.
The collective strength of our network is our strongest asset to mobilize around correcting Ottawa’s misunderstanding of the value colleges and institutes deliver for Canadians. Unified action is critical at a time when your local communities are facing shortages of workers in critical sectors, and in a postsecondary system where colleges and institutes are already struggling to find the resources to best serve these same communities.
There is time to correct the flawed policy.
IRCC must work collaboratively with institutions, provinces and territories to develop a labour alignment framework that meets the needs of your communities and treat identical credentials – whether delivered by a college or university – in an identical manner. Until then, the policy reforms need to be put on hold.
I recently wrote a letter to Canadians encouraging them to help us show Ottawa how damage to Canadian colleges and institutes hurts their future. And to make it clear that the work you and your dedicated staff do matters. A lot.
Colleges and institutes deliver the skilled workers needed to build homes, to staff healthcare clinics and hospitals, and to provide early childhood education among many others. Public action and public reinvestment in our postsecondary education is essential for our collective future.
This isn’t a partisan issue; this is an every-Canadian issue. We need to work together: there’s too much at stake.
Sincerely,
Pari Johnston
President & CEO
Colleges and Institutes Canada