Immigration Minister Lena Metlege Diab is pushing back against international students protesting mass post-graduation work permit refusals in Alberta, insisting Ottawa never changed the rules.
Roughly 1,000 former international students have demonstrated outside Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) offices in Calgary, with some protesters launching a round-the-clock hunger strike.
Their demand: reconsider work permit refusals they say were unfairly handed down after they spent tens of thousands of dollars studying in Canada.
But Diab says Ottawa didn’t move the goalposts.
“International students add value to our Canadian economy. There’s no doubt about it,” Diab said when asked about the protests.
“On your specific questions on PGWP... there has been no change.”
Diab said non-credit programs were already excluded from the Post-Graduation Work Permit Program and maintained Ottawa has made no changes to its eligibility requirements since November 2024.
“It was always the case that non-credit [programs] are not entitled to this postgraduate work permit,” she said.
