A coalition of nearly 300 labour and community organisations is urgently calling on the federal and Alberta governments to halt the removal of 10 international students who were allegedly singled out for immigration enforcement during a demonstration in Calgary. The Migrant Rights Network, representing a broad alliance of transnational groups, argues that targeting newcomers for exercising their right to protest violates Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
A Demonstration Turns Into a Deportation Threat
The controversy centres on a protest held on Aug. 12 in Calgary, which was organised by recent graduates of Portage College. The public institution, based in northeastern Alberta, delivers programmes through partner campuses in both Calgary and Edmonton. According to the network, roughly 1,500 graduates completed courses that they believed made them eligible for post-graduation work permits. However, over the summer, those permits were refused after the federal government updated the eligibility criteria on its official website.
Affected students took to the streets in mid-July, staging weeks of demonstrations in both Edmonton and Calgary. The August gathering, however, took a dramatic turn when local police were summoned following a complaint that demonstrators were blocking a pavement.
A spokesperson for the Calgary police confirmed via email that officers attended the scene and requested identification from the demonstrators. Although the protesters had not committed any crimes, the police contacted the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) with concerns about their immigration status.
CBSA officers arrived to determine if the demonstrators were non-compliant under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. The agency interviewed 12 individuals, ultimately issuing exclusion orders to 10 of them by the end of the day. An exclusion order compels the individual to leave Canada and bars their return for a minimum of one year. In a statement, the border agency stressed that those facing removal are afforded due process, including the right to appeal and request judicial reviews.
Conflicting Narratives on Work Permit Rules
The federal government maintains that no actual changes were made to the eligibility criteria for the post-graduation work permit programme. A spokesperson for Immigration Minister Lena Metlege Diab clarified in an email that the government simply updated its web page in June to better explain existing requirements.
Advocates fiercely dispute this framing. Syed Hussan, a spokesman for the Migrant Rights Network, insisted the students were promised the work permits and then unfairly denied them. He noted that even those whose study permits had expired were still within a 90-day window to renew their documentation.
“On the immigration side, this is the wrong decision,” Hussan stated.
The human toll of this bureaucratic tug-of-war is stark. Gurpreet Singh, a 29-year-old protester, is now grappling with whether to fight his exclusion order or simply return to India. In December 2024, Singh graduated with a certificate in osteopathic therapy—a discipline involving hands-on joint manipulation to alleviate pain and stiffness. Because he was denied a postgraduate work permit, he has been forced to quit his job.
“I’m not asking for any kind of mercy or anything,” Singh said in an interview. “I’m just asking [for] what we were told before coming to Canada.”
Charter Rights Under Fire
In a public letter dispatched this week, the Migrant Rights Network—backed by prominent groups such as Amnesty International, CUPE Ontario, and Climate Justice Saskatoon—argued that targeting individuals at a peaceful protest infringes upon their Charter-protected right to free speech.
“Migrants across the country are being told that joining the next protest, picket line or public meeting could put their ability to remain in Canada at risk,” the letter warned.
Hussan emphasised that the broader danger lies in the suppression of constitutional freedoms.
“But what’s most dangerous is that freedom of expression is a Charter protected right. And that Charter-protected right was attacked.”
The letter explicitly calls for the post-graduation work permits to be granted, demands an investigation into the actions of police and border officials on Aug. 12, and insists on clear rules preventing the targeting of migrants at peaceful assemblies. CBSA responded to the letter by stating, “We fully agree that the freedom of peaceful assembly is a Charter-protected right. We are aware of and reviewing the letter issued today by civil society organizations.”
A Hard Line from Provincial Authorities
While advocates push for leniency and clarity, the Alberta government remains unyielding.
Alberta Immigration Minister Joseph Schow issued a blunt statement reinforcing the province’s stance.
“Anyone who comes to Canada on a temporary status needs to return home once their permit is expired,” Schow said. “That is the position of our government, and it’s not going to change.”
The standoff shows no signs of abating. The Migrant Rights Network has announced that further demonstrations are scheduled for Sept. 20, with protests planned across major Canadian cities including Toronto, Vancouver, and Ottawa.
Why it Matters
This incident highlights a deeply troubling intersection of immigration enforcement and constitutional rights in Canada. When border agents are called to a peaceful protest over a pavement obstruction, it creates a profound chilling effect that threatens the democratic freedoms of some of the country’s most vulnerable residents. For the thousands of international students who invest heavily in Canadian education based on specific programme promises, the retroactive denial of work permits represents a catastrophic breach of trust. How the federal and provincial governments handle this backlash will set a critical precedent for whether migrants in Canada can safely exercise their right to protest without fear of immediate deportation.