{"id":174530,"date":"2026-08-19T19:47:29","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T19:47:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/174530\/"},"modified":"2026-08-19T19:47:29","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T19:47:29","slug":"migrant-groups-lawyers-sound-alarm-about-immigration-checks-on-protesting-international-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/174530\/","title":{"rendered":"Migrant groups, lawyers sound alarm about immigration checks on protesting international students"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

The Canada Border Services Agency said it was asked by Calgary police to carry out \u2018a status check on four individuals\u2019 at a protest in the city.DARRYL DYCK\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Migrant advocates are calling for an inquiry after immigration checks were carried out last week on international students protesting in Calgary about being denied the right to work in Canada after completing their studies. <\/p>\n

For weeks, international students have been protesting in northeast Calgary about their inability to obtain postgraduation work permits. Similar protests involving Indian students have been held in Edmonton. <\/p>\n

In 2024, the federal government tightened the rules on which international students would qualify for work permits. It tied work permit eligibility for college graduates to certain fields of study in order to meet Canada\u2019s long-term labour market needs.<\/p>\n

Ottawa to start tracking which temporary foreign residents have left Canada after permits run out<\/a><\/p>\n

The Canada Border Services Agency said it was asked by Calgary police on Aug. 12 to carry out \u201ca status check on four individuals\u201d at the international student protest in the city. <\/p>\n

The agency subsequently found that two of those checked \u201cwere not in compliance with their immigration status,\u201d CBSA spokesperson Rebecca Purdy said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Border officers then carried out checks in person at the protest. These included verifying whether any other protesters may not be permitted to live in Canada under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. <\/p>\n

\u201cIn total, 20 individuals had their status verified, with 12 individuals identified as being possibly inadmissible under IRPA,\u201d Ms. Purdy said. \u201cThe individuals were asked to attend the CBSA office later that day for a follow-up interview.\u201d<\/p>\n

The spokesperson said details of those checked could not be provided because of privacy rules. <\/p>\n

\u201cForeign nationals admitted into Canada are not able to work or study unless authorized and are expected to depart Canada at the end of their authorized period of stay,\u201d she added. \u201cWhen the CBSA becomes aware of foreign nationals who may be inadmissible to Canada, CBSA officers will investigate and take appropriate action.\u201d <\/p>\n

Indian students arranged marriages of convenience for spouse work permits to Canada, warned New Delhi migration official<\/a><\/p>\n

Toronto immigration lawyer Ravi Jain questioned whether the border officers were permitted to conduct immigration checks at a protest, comparing their actions to those of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in the United States. <\/p>\n

ICE has been criticized for randomly checking the immigration status of migrants in the U.S. and rounding them up. <\/p>\n

\u201cI have serious concerns that this is ICE-like,\u201d Mr. Jain said in an e-mail on Monday. \u201cUnder our immigration legislation, officers may only \u2018examine\u2019 a person if they are making an immigration application or seeking entry or transit or making a refugee claim. These individuals were doing none of those things and were merely engaging in a protest. The Charter says law enforcement agencies can\u2019t take action without good reason.\u201d<\/p>\n

Syed Hussan, spokesperson for the Migrant Rights Network, called for an investigation into why immigration checks were made on migrant protesters, describing what happened as \u201cdeeply alarming.\u201d <\/p>\n

He said border officers \u201cdemanded identification and began enforcement against migrants exercising their Charter-protected rights to freedom of expression and assembly.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need an immediate investigation into why Calgary Police turned a routine interaction at a protest into an immigration-status check, what information police shared with CBSA, and why CBSA expanded four status checks into an enforcement operation against protesters,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Ottawa seeks to attract grad students from abroad<\/a><\/p>\n

Calgary police spokesperson Chris Epp said in a statement that the demonstration, which began on July 24, \u201chas largely been peaceful in nature, but has resulted in complaints from the community stemming from behaviours such as excessive noise, obstructing businesses, disturbances and public intoxication.\u201d <\/p>\n

He said officers were called to attend on Aug. 12 because some protesters were obstructing parts of the sidewalk and impeding pedestrians. <\/p>\n

\u201cDuring the interaction, officers requested identification from individuals who had set up tents or other structures without a permit on city property. As a result of concerns related to the identification provided, officers contacted the Canada Border Services Agency for verification,\u201d Mr. Epp said. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was determined that no criminal offences occurred. Officers remained on scene to assist the CBSA and Calgary Community Standards for the duration of the event.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: The Canada Border Services Agency said it was asked by Calgary police to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":174531,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[51,361,113],"class_list":["post-174530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-calgary","tag-calgary","tag-pleasemod","tag-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174530","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=174530"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174530\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/174531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=174530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=174530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=174530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}