Amplifying International student voices
A Chance to Share Your Story
For many international students, the journey to Canada and the post-secondary experience here can present great opportunities and achievements as well as a variety of challenges and hardships. A recent article published in the Globe and Mail highlights how some students experience these difficulties due to lack of supports and the impact this has on their lives.
As your Student Union, we believe it is our responsibility to not only acknowledge the whole student experience but to also actively find ways to help ensure all students have access to the support, resources and protection they deserve. With that in mind, our student leaders wanted to create a space for all international students across Canada to share their experiences with the hopes of advocating for what you need most.
“ I want to represent students and amplify their voices. My goal is to share the stories of international students and advocate for large-scale changes to address the issues presented to them. Through a coordinated effort, we can make a difference.”
- Kyle Budge, SSU President
In Spring 2022, our goal is to host a summit with other post-secondary institutions and municipal leaders within the Halton and Peel regions and bring your stories to the forefront of the conversation. During this meeting, we will discuss your considerations and work together to build a set of goals and actionable strategies that we can all take to address the widespread issues that international students face.
This summit will address a variety of international student concerns and experiences ranging from:
Your employment and recruitment experiences
Financial struggles and concerns
Your transition to Canada and immigration experience
Access to diverse support, mental health resources and safe community spaces
Ethical practices within the recruitment process (Rent pricing, housing environments, etc.)
Life after graduation or concerns you may have about transitioning after post-secondary
Any issues or concerns you are facing as an international student
Although a lot of work has been done to remove barriers, alleviate stress, and provide support to international students at post-secondary institutions across Ontario, we also recognize that a lot more work must be done. This summit will allow us to take these concerns to a higher level of government, perhaps provincial and federal, and work from a top-down approach. Without policy and intervention, wide spread change can be limited. We want to address the wider international student community across the province and country and the summit will provide a space to advocate for your needs on a larger scale. This approach will hopefully enact change at the highest level by creating and amending policies and laws to help support and protect all international students.
To help us do this, we invite all international students in Canada to share your story:
Share Your Story
Below is a set of questions that you may use to help share your experience as an international student in Canada. Feel free to use the open section to share your story or if you’d like to use the questions as inspiration to write out your story, submit as you please.
If you are uncomfortable writing out your experiences but would still like to share, we are happy to find an alternate methods for you to share your feedback. If you have any questions about these or issues answering any of these questions, feel free to reach out to your SSU President, Kyle Budge at: kyle.budge@sheridancollege.ca.