Gurpreet Singh now has no possibility aside from leaving Canada. (Photograph: X/@TorontoStar) Greater than 250 rights teams have written to the federal authorities over the way in which border officers dealt with a student protest in Calgary, after a number of individuals on the demonstration, together with Indian nationals, have been served with removal orders. The letter, despatched on September 2 and signed by rights teams together with Amnesty Worldwide, Greenpeace and the Canadian Union of Public Staff, seeks an unbiased overview and requires a pause of the removal orders.
The protest was one in every of 4 held after roughly 1,500 individuals who accomplished non-credit programs at Portage School websites in Alberta misplaced their post-graduation work permits when new eligibility guidelines have been utilized to these programs.
What did police and border officers do?
The demonstration befell on 12 August in Calgary’s Saddle Ridge space. Calgary Police mentioned the occasion stayed calm total, although officers stepped in when some protesters blocked a pavement and put up constructions with out permission. Whereas coping with these bylaw points, officers checked identification and handed particulars to the Canada Border Providers Company (CBSA).
The CBSA later confirmed that 20 individuals had their standing checked, and that 12 have been flagged as presumably inadmissible beneath immigration regulation. All 12 have been instructed to attend a same-day interview at a CBSA workplace. The company mentioned privateness guidelines cease it from naming these affected, however confirmed that anybody with out permission to check or work in Canada can be anticipated to depart.
‘It is not going to work’
One of many letter’s signatories, Bikramjit Singh of the Migrant Rights Community, mentioned the usage of regulation enforcement on the protest was designed to scare individuals into silence. He mentioned migrants would maintain organising and talking out, and that their rights can be defended.
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Amnesty Worldwide Canada’s Julia Sande mentioned the checks made individuals terrified of talking publicly, no matter their immigration historical past, calling it a type of intimidation.
‘We’re doing the exhausting work’
Gurpreet Singh, who attended the protest, mentioned officers gave him and others solely an hour’s discover to succeed in the CBSA workplace, regardless of being partway by way of a 90-day grace interval meant to let refused allow holders type out their standing. He mentioned the interviewing officer questioned him utilizing paperwork belonging to different individuals, and that he ended up with a one-year exclusion order. He has since filed for judicial overview, and instructed LiveWire Calgary, “We’re doing the exhausting work.”
Why do college students say the timing is unfair?
The dispute centres on a change IRCC made to its revealed steerage on 24 June 2026, which set out that graduates of non-credit programmes don’t qualify for a post-graduation work allow. IRCC has mentioned this was a clarification of an current rule somewhat than a brand new one.
Affected college students say they enrolled properly earlier than that replace appeared, and had been instructed by their establishments that the change wouldn’t apply to them. Many completed their courses in 2024, 2025 and early 2026, and stayed in Canada lawfully whereas their purposes have been processed. Refusals then started constructing by way of early July 2026. College students say what has upset them most is the inconsistency: individuals from the identical consumption, on the identical course, have acquired totally different outcomes, with some authorised and others refused or having permits withdrawn.
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Portage School had earlier instructed college students by electronic mail that their eligibility for a post-graduation work allow wouldn’t be affected by the rule change, offered they’d began their course earlier than September 2024.
College students have written to federal immigration officers asking them to overview the timing of the brand new guidelines, and additional authorized challenges could observe as their 90-day window to safe a brand new allow runs out.
