It is my pleasure to launch this website.
The stories and other information presented here are a result of research I conducted about the Canadian Experience Class (CEC) immigration stream in Canada from early winter 2011 until late April 2012.
My focus was on international students, a major portion of candidates who are targeted by the CEC. The objective was to explore how the program has been working for the students since it was enacted in 2008.
Overall, this was an interesting project to undertake. I discovered thought-provoking insights such as the challenge of an ageing population in Canada and how the country is working to address it, opportunities that international students may consider pursuing as Canada seeks skilled workers trained here, and the dynamic global competition for both students and skilled workers.
Through normal journalistic research methods like interviews and analysis of information, I tried to understand what the CEC really means for Canada and for international students here themselves. It was nice to learn that the program isn’t only going to help Canada build its next labour force from the pool of talented foreign students that are trained here, but also benefit from the dollars they pay as they pursue both school and immigration. In turn, the students can also benefit by fully taking advantage of the policy, especially by becoming aware of its rules to avoid last minute disappointments.
It is also clear that the Canadian government might want to assess how the program is working and increase its help to international students who may critically need it as they pursue the highly advertised immigration to Canada through the CEC. From what I understood through this research, the government needs to see what it can do to avoid a situation where students would be drawn to Canada on the promise of wonderful immigration policies, only to be left without help when they are already here and trying to obtain permanent resident status.
While some of the issues raised by this project may not be deeply explained because of different limitations such as the focus of the research and limited resources, they could definitely inspire more in-depth research into the issues surrounding the CEC. For example, its long term effect on other immigration streams, its impact on domestic education delivery in Canada, and its real role in attracting international students to Canada could be deeply explored.
I would like to thank all the people who accepted to talk to me during the course of this research, shared information, looked at my work for comments, or just encouraged me to carry on with this project. My special thanks to Carleton journalism professors: my adviser on this project, Allan Thompson, for his useful comments, Catherine McKercher for encouraging me to take on this topic, Christopher Waddell for his comments on how to write for an online audience, and Roger Martin for his IT support. Without their help, I wouldn’t have made it.
I would also like to thank all my friends and family, my wonderful classmates at Carleton, and all those who supported me in different ways throughout the last two years.
Finally, I would like to deeply thank Carleton University for partially supporting my education over the last seven years through the Rwanda Initiative.
Many thanks.
Eugene Kwibuka.