Indians in Canada
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Indians vis-à-vis Chinese, others
2015-18/ 19
From: Nov 8, 2019: The Times of India
See graphic:
Indian migrants to Canada vis-à-vis Filipinos and Chinese, 2015-18/ 19
Languages
Punjabi: 4th language in Canada/ 2022
IP Singh, August 19, 2022: The Times of India
Punjabi has become the fourth most spoken language in Canada, registering a 49% growth in the last five years. According to the census data of 2021 released by Statistics Canada on Wednesday, Mandarin and Punjabi are the most spoken languages in the country after Canada’s two official languages — English and French. Mandarin speakers number at around 5. 3 lakh and Punjabi speakers have been recorded at 5. 2 lakh. But, Punjabi’s growth has been faster as Mandarin speakers grew by 15% from 2016 to 2021, while the growth of Punjabi speakers was 49% during the same period.
The report released by Statistics Canada noted that use of other Indian languages is also growing in Canada. The report noted that while the Canadian population increased by 5. 2% during this period, driven mainly by immigration, the number of Canadians who mostly spoke a South Asian language at home grew faster, “particularly speakers of Malayalam (+129% to 35,000 people), Hindi (+66% to 92,000 people), Punjabi (+49% to 520,000 people) and Gujarati (+43% to 92,000 people). In fact, the growth rate of the number of speakers of these languages was eight times more than that of the entire Canadian population”. The report noted that despite the impact of the Covid pandemic on arrivals to the country, immigration had continued to enrich Canada’s linguistic diversity.
2015: Punjabi is 3rd language in Canada House
The Times of India, Nov 03 2015
Punjabi now third-most spoken language in Canada's parliament
Justin Trudeau, son of a Canadian leader follows his own path to powerCanada politician mistakes Bank of England governor for actorTrudeau's Liberals win Canada election: TV projectionsThree Sikhs sworn in as cabinet ministers in CanadaCanada withdraws from US-led coalition against Isis TORONTO: Four years after Punjabi became Canada's third most common language, it has now attained the same status in the country's new Parliament, after English and French, following the election of 20 Punjabi-speaking candidates to the House of Commons.
Twenty-three Members of Parliament of South Asian-origin were elected to the House of Commons, Parliament of Canada, in the October 19 parliamentary elections.
Three of them, Chandra Arya - born and raised in India, Gary Anandasangaree - a Tamil, and Maryam Monsef - of Afghan origin, do not speak Punjabi, The Hill Times Online reported.
Of the 20 who speak Punjabi, 18 are Liberals and two are Conservatives. Among the newly-elected Punjabi-speaking MPs, 14 are males and six are females. Ontario elected 12, British Columbia four, Alberta three and one is from Quebec.
Prime Minister-designate Justin Trudeau is scheduled to unveil his Cabinet this week and some of these Liberal MPs are expected to be included in the front bench.
"The voice of the Indo-Canadian community will now be very well represented in the Parliament. In the overall aspect of it, the South Asian community won," MP Deepak Obhrai of Conservative Party said.
In an interview with the paper, Navdeep Bains, a Liberal MP, said although 20 Punjabi-speaking MPs have been elected, these MPs represent all constituents regardless of their party affiliation or ethnic origin.
"It speaks to our commitment to diversity and allowing individual [MPs] to play an important role in our political institutions. The main issue to understand is that we have a very clear mandate to execute our platform and we also have a responsibility to represent our constituents, which are very diverse," Bains said.
Iqra Khalid, the Liberal MP who was born in Pakistan, said the diversity of the newly-elected House reflects the true make-up of Canada.
According to Statistics Canada's 2011 National Household Survey, 430,705 Canadians identified Punjabi as their mother tongue, making it the third most common language after English and French.
The 430,705 native Punjabi speakers make up about 1.3 per cent of Canada's population. The 20 Punjabi-speaking MPs represent almost six per cent of the House of Commons.
2021, a PIO defence minister
Oct 27, 2021: The Times of India
TORONTO: Indian-origin Canadian politician Anita Anand was on Tuesday appointed as the country's new defence minister in a cabinet reshuffle by PM Justin Trudeau, over a month after his Liberal Party returned power in the snap polls and amid calls for major military reforms. Anand, a 54-year-old from Oakville, Ontario, is just the second woman to serve as Canada's defence minister. She led the country's efforts to purchase vaccines in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Anand replaces Indian-origin Harjit Sajjan, whose handling of the military sexual misconduct crisis has been under criticism. Sajjan has been appointed as minister of international development agency, a report in National Post newspaper said. According to a report in Global News, Anand has been touted as a strong contender for weeks among defence industry experts who said that moving her into the role would send a powerful signal to survivors and victims of military sexual misconduct that the government is serious about implementing reforms.
Indian-origin Kamal Khera, the 32-year-old MP from Brampton West, took oath as minister for seniors, taking the number of Indo-Canadian ministers in the Trudeau cabinet to three. The sitting Indo-Canadian woman minister Bardish Chagger, who held the ministry of diversity, inclusion and youth of Canada, has been shuffled out. Anand and Khera are among six women ministers in the new cabinet.
Khera, a registered nurse, has been praised for going back to work as a healthcare provider at the peak of the pandemic. A three-time MP since 2015, Khera has also served as a parliamentary secretary to the ministers of health and international trade.
Anita was born in 1967 in Nova Scotia to Indian parents who were both medical professionals. Her mother Saroj D Ram came from Punjab and father S V Anand from Tamil Nadu. Anita, who is on leave as a professor of law at the University of Toronto, was picked up as minister of public service and procurement by PM Trudeau in 2019. Anita assisted the Air India Inquiry Commission with extensive research. The commission investigated the bombing of Air India Kanishka Flight 182 on June 23, 1985, that killed all 329 people on board. Before Anand, Canada's only woman defence minister was former PM Kim Campbell who held the portfolio for six months in 1993. agencies
Students
Number of Indian students, 2004, 2015
Lubna Kably, Canada's new residency points plan to aid Indians, Nov 21 2016 : The Times of India
According to Canadian government statistics published by the Canadian Magazine of Immigration, the number of foreign students in Canada has more than doubled over the past decade from 1.72 lakh in 2004 to 3.56 lakh as at the end of 2015. India was the second largest source country , since 2012. The number of Indian students rose by 630% from just 6,675 in 2004 to 48,914 in 2015, constituting 13.7% of the total foreign student population. Engineering, including IT, business management, pharmacy related courses and hospitality management are generally top choices for Indian students wishing to study in Canada.
Number of Indian and Chinese students, 2017
Lubna Kably, Canada speeds up student visa process for Indians, June 27, 2018: The Times of India
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From: Lubna Kably, Canada speeds up student visa process for Indians, June 27, 2018: The Times of India
HIGHLIGHTS
The number of Indian students opting for studies in Canada is on the rise
The new program cuts down the processing time for study permits (which are student visas) to within 45 days as opposed to within 60 days will be helpful.
Canada has introduced a faster and simpler visa processing mechanism for students from India and three other countries. The number of Indian students opting for studies in Canada is on the rise + and this new program which cuts down the processing time for study permits (which are student visas) to within 45 days as opposed to within 60 days will be helpful.
Students from India, China, Vietnam and Philippines who demonstrate upfront that they have the requisite financial resources and language skills to succeed academically in Canada are eligible to opt for the newly introduced ‘Student Direct Stream’ (SDS) program.
The erstwhile Student Partners Program (SPP) that entailed less visa documentation and quicker processing was more narrow in scope and available only to students applying to 40 odd participating Canadian colleges. On the other hand, the SDS program, introduced in early June, is available to students opting for post-secondary courses (ie: college education) at all designated learning institutes, according to a statement issued by the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), which is the Canadian government’s immigration division.
This announcement almost coincides with the UK’s government decision to exclude Indian students from easier visa norms. Given the growing protectionism in UK and USA, the number of Indian students opting for Canada is steadily growing. Indian students obtained 83,410 study permits during 2017, a rise of 58% over the previous year.
Earlier, including during 2015 and 2016, Chinese students were the largest class of international students to be allotted the study permits. India topped this list in 2017, with its students garnering 26% of the total study permits issued in that year, with China following closely behind. The trend of Indian students being the largest class of international students is is more pronounced during the period January to April 2018, with 29,000 odd Indian students obtaining the study permits as opposed to 16,925 from China. These statistics are based on an analysis done by TOI, of the open data available on the Canadian government’s website (see table).
According to the Canadian Bureau for International Education, a non-profit agency in the educational domain, there were 4.95 lakh international students studying in Canada at the end of 2017, a rise of 20%. In an email reply to TOI, a spokesperson from the IRCC said that top source countries for international students, who were present in Canada as of December 3, 2017, were China (with 1.40 lakh students), India (with 1.24 lakh students) and Republic of Korea (with 23,050 students).
Ontario-based Talha Mohani, immigration law specialist and managing director at Migration Bureau Corp, explains the nitty-gritty of the SDS program “A study permit application is assessed in terms of eligibility and admissibility, which include finance, language and medical. Under the SDS program several of these criteria are to be satisfied upfront. The student must pay the first semester tuition fee, in addition to buying a guaranteed investment certificate of Canadian $ 10,000. A minimum score of 6 for English in the International English Language Testing System is also required. The applicant also has to submit a copy of the upfront medical exam confirmation document. Given that some key criteria are met upfront when the application is made, enables the IRCC to reduce the time required to verify and complete the assessment process.”
“Canadian education and work experience (internship experience counts) are extremely valuable when it comes to job prospects in Canada,” cites a job facilitator. Cynthia Murphy, interim India regional manager at Canadian Immigrant Integration Program, says, “Canadian college students including international students usually complete a work placement (internship) as part of their study course. This enables them to connect with future employers.”
According to IRCC, “The SDS complements the express entry system as these students will be well placed to continue on the path to permanent residence and Canadian citizenship after completing their studies in Canada, if they wish to.”The express entry program for permanent residency in Canada is point based and a Canadian education helps garner extra points. Mohani explains that an applicant can get 15 extra points for a post secondary education program in Canada which is of a one to two year duration and 30 points if it is of a duration of three years or more. While official data is not available on the most popular courses that Indian students opt for, industry watchers say that business management, civil engineering, software engineering, medicine, and hospitality are some of the popular courses.
2018, 2019: 68.3% increase in study permits
Lubna Kably and Yogita Rao, February 18, 2020: The Times of India
From: Lubna Kably and Yogita Rao, February 18, 2020: The Times of India
The number of Indian students to be granted a study permit by Canada’s immigration agency, exceeded one lakh for the second consecutive year. In 2019, Canada approved of a little over than 4 lakh study permits of which 1.39 lakh or 34.5% went to Indian students, followed by Chinese who bagged 21% of the new study permits. In 2018, Canada had granted a total of 3.55 lakh study permits — the newly released figures for 2019 signify an overall increase of 13.8% over the previous year.
An analysis of the past three years shows that while the number of Chinese students to be granted a study permit has shown a miniscule decline, the inflow of students from India is steadily on the rise. The number of Chinese students to be granted study permits in 2019, at 84,710 was slightly lower than the previous year’s figure of 85,165. In contrast the number of Indian students to be granted a study permit has increased by 30.3% to 1.39 lakh, over the previous year’s figure of 1.07 lakh. With just 82,990 permits granted to Indian students in 2017, it reflects a 68.3% increase over two years.
Canada is increasingly attracting more foreign students. This can be attributed to various factors such as uncertainties relating to optional training programmes (OPT) for international students in US — some of these issues were settled via court intervention. Post completion of US studies there are also challenges in obtaining an H-1B visa (the most commonly used work visa) for those at the entry level.
Karan Gupta, a study abroad career counsellor, said, “If a student studies in Canada he or she is more likely to land a wellpaying job and settle down in the country. This is the primary reason for the numbers going up.” He added that the country is perceived to be safe and welcoming of foreigners. “The country also has some world-renowned universities such as the University of Toronto, University of Waterloo and McGill university and students are keen to attend these universities,” said Gupta. With the UK now offering a two-year work permit to students from next year, some students who were considering Canada may now consider UK, he added.
Canada permits students to work part-time and fund their studies and a post-graduation work permit (PGWP) is available for a maximum of up to three years (based on the study course). The Canadian education and work experience, also helps garner higher points under the Express Entry route, if the erstwhile student wishes to obtain permanent residency. To top it all, job opportunities in the technology space are increasing in Canada. “Education is a by-product of the desire to get a livelihood. Students are seeing Canada as an easier option for migration,” said KP Singh, CEO of Institute of Management and Foreign Studies.
Wuhan, As in 2020
MUMBAI: Wuhan was on no one’s radar till only few years back.
The epicentre of corona virus is now host to hundreds of medical aspirants from around the world, including India. It became a magnet, attracting medical aspirants from India after it started offering MBBS in English a year back.
Hundreds queued up outside Wuhan and 45 Chinese institutes which offer medicine in the lingua franca. Data in 2019 shows that 21,000 Indian students signed up at Chinese medical schools, taking the neighbour to the No 1 position for wannabe doctors. Besides the 45 colleges, some Indians are enrolled in 200-odd colleges where they study in English/Chinese languages.
Russia, with 58 institutes enlisted by Medical Council of India, sees a little over 6,000 Indians flying in to pursue MBBS. Yet, as per information from National Board of Examinations, the pass percentage of students, graduated from medical colleges in Russia and China, in Foreign Medical Graduate Exam (FMGE) in 2015-18 is 12.91% and 11.67% respectively.
“Medical aspirants look at all avenues as getting medical admission is very difficult and expensive. Countries like China offer cheaper medical studies and same, if not better, infrastructure as India,” said Karan Gupta, a counsellor who works with students heading abroad.
Average tuition for a Chinese medical university is $2,000-3,000 annually, plus $1,000 for living expenses. In 2015, there were over 13,500 Indian students in China, as India ranked among top 10 nations sending students to Chinese varsities.
China, a large student-sending country, became the third most-favoured nation of international students after US and UK. It also paced up as a host destination and is the fifth ranked choice for Indians leaving shores for education.
“China is selling the medical programme very strongly among Indians. They started teaching in English and their institutes are recognised by WHO,” said another counsellor, Pratibha Jain. With new recruits joining English medium medical course, Gupta and other experts feel students getting back after graduation have a better chance at cracking FMGE and getting a licence to practice in India.
See also
Indians in Canada
