International students are being sexually exploited and sex trafficked while studying in Canada, the mayor of Brampton, Ont. said on Wednesday.
Speaking at a press conference, Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown said sexual exploitation and sex trafficking happen “in plain sight.”
“Today, the City of Brampton is saying very clearly, we want to zone in on this cancer within our society and our country to combat human trafficking,” Brown said.
The announcement marks the first time the issue has been formally acknowledged by any level of government despite student advocacy groups and local social services providers souding the alarm for the last few years.
Young, vulnerable international students, especially women, who live in Brampton are falling prey to exploitative landlords, employers, and romantic partners, who force them to engage in sexual acts, front-line service providers told Brampton city councillors.
The perpetrators often lure students in by offering lucrative employment opportunities or discounted rent before tricking or coercing them into the sex trade. Once the plot has been revealed to the student, they often face threats of deportation if they refuse or speak out.
A motion laying out plans to combat this problem was unanimously adopted by Brampton city council on Wednesday.
Brampton city councillor Rowena Santos, who put forward the motion, was unequivocal about the need for federal and provincial governments to step up to help the city address the human trafficking of international students in Peel region.
“Brampton cannot do this alone. We are only reacting to this inherited problem, and it’s time for those with the jurisdiction to do something meaningful,” Santos said.
The federal government sets the number of study permits granted per year, while provincial governments accredit the post-secondary institutions drawing in foreign students. Universities and colleges have come to rely on exorbitant tuition fees paid by international students to stay afloat in the wake of spending cuts.
Recent reporting uncovered the link between the push to bring in larger numbers of international students and the rise of the shady recruiting businesses that bring students to Canada under false pretences.
The federal government has come under fire in recent months for allowing the number of international students to balloon while municipalities shoulder the burden of providing housing and social services to students.
“If we are going to be this country that welcomes international students, that also comes with the responsibility to make sure they are not exploited and taken advantage of,” Brown said.
By the end of 2023, there were more than one million international students in Canada, according to data from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). More than 500,000 of those were in Ontario. Brown said Brampton is home to tens of thousands of these students, the majority of which come from India.
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In response to pressure from municipalities, including Brampton, the Liberal government has slashed the number of international student permits the government will grant for 2025 and 2026. In September, Immigration Minister Marc Miller said the new changes will result in “approximately 300,000 fewer study permits” over the next three years.
Santos said that while that change is welcome, that does not solve problems students already in Canada are facing.
Dr. Sukhjeevan Chattha, a dentist and local advocate for international students in Brampton, shared a story of a 21-year-old woman from Punjab, India, who came to Canada to study only to be exploited by an employer who forced her into the sex trade against her will.
The student, identified by Chattha under the pseudonym “Jassi,” came to Canada under the guise that if she worked at a clothing manufacturing company in Toronto, her tuition would be covered. Chattha said as Jassi approached her second year of schooling, her employer threatened to stop paying her tuition fees and send her back to India unless she had sex with men.
Fearing returning to India empty-handed, Jassi was forced into sleeping with Indian locals, who Chattha identified as “mostly truck drivers.”
In 2021, Jassi got in touch with the Kaur Movement Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to addressing domestic violence and sexual assault in South Asian communities.
The organization helped Jassi escape the employer who trafficked her, and she is currently finishing up schooling, Chattha said.
Gurpreet Malhotra said students are also coerced into the sex trade by landlords or romantic partners who take advantage of newcomer students. Malhotra is the CEO of Indus Community Services, a not-for-profit that provides social services to the South Asian community in Ontario.
“Community members have noticed ads being placed in public places promising reduced rent in exchange for sexual favours,” Malhotra said.
A Statistics Canada study released earlier this year found Brampton had the highest proportion of international students living in unsuitable homes amongst all cities in Canada in 2021. The city recently launched a rental licensing program in response to the problem.
Aside from the large population of international students in Brampton, another factor contributing to the problem is the city’s proximity to major 400 highways and Pearson International Airport, said Bob Hackenbrook, Detective Sergeant of the Vice Unit for Peel Regional Police.
The scale of the sexual exploitation affecting international students in Brampton is hard to define due to a lack of formal reporting.
Hackenbrook, who leads Peel Regional Police’s specialized human trafficking unit, said out of 127 investigations conducted by the force in 2023, only one case was found to have victims who were international students, and the police received the tip from Crime Stoppers.
Hackenbrook said local social service providers are getting the calls from victims of sex trafficking, rather than the police.
“We have not received many calls for assistance in this regard, and that has to change,” Hackenbrook said. “It’s obvious from talking to our community partners that it is there, it is happening, so I would implore people to contact regional police.”
The fear of deportation, cultural stigma, and shame often prevent students from contacting police, said Santos.
Hackenbrook said Peel Regional Police will give victims of sexual exploitation or sex trafficking the ability to decide what happens with their cases and that investigators will “take it slow” when investigating the matter.
Alternatively, they can contact groups like nCourage, which provides services to survivors of sex trafficking.
“The people who have profited from inviting international students to Canada, and Brampton in particular, have the responsibility to educate, house and protect these young people and keep them safe from harm,” Malhotra said, adding that Indus provides services to international students despite federal rules prohibiting them from doing so.
International students contribute greatly to Canada’s economy. In 2022 alone, international students spent around $37.3 billion on tuition, accommodation, and discretionary items, according to Statistics Canada.
Brampton wants to partner with federal and provincial governments to create a “support hub” that will provide international students with anti-human trafficking services and assistance finding housing, mental health counselling and other social supports.
The city plans to ask the federal government to change certain policies, such as removing the “sex work” as a condition to deportation and to increase the number of hours students are allowed to work per week.
Santos singled out a 2022 decision by the federal government to decrease the number of hours international students can work off-campus per week from 40 to 24, saying the policy change “pushes international students into unsafe, illegal employment, putting them at greater risk of exploitation.”
The federal government had temporarily raised the number of hours those with study permits could work during the pandemic to address labour shortages during the pandemic.
IRCC did not respond to Global News’ questions by publication.
The province of Ontario has a role to play, too, Santos said, especially around educating foreign students about their rights before they come to Canada.
“No one should have to worry about sexual assault, harassment, and any other forms of violence on or off campus. That’s why we are taking decisive action through the Anti-Human Trafficking Strategy, to decrease instances of sexual violence and human trafficking,” a spokesperson for Ontario’s ministry of colleges and universities said in an emailed statement.
In 2020, Ontario announced it would invest $307 million on the new strategy, which does not specifically address the sexual exploitation of international students.
— If you have information about international students falling prey to sex trafficking and exploitation while studying in Canada, please contact krista.hessey@globalnews.ca