Refugees and Ontarios Post-Secondary System: Ten Years Later

Canada represents one of the top resettlement countries in the world, with upwards of 14 500 refugees and protected persons expected to have their claims accepted in 2013. A significant proportion of these claims will include youth, meaning our colleges and universities must be prepared to support and encourage the participation of refugees within our post-secondary education system. When I discovered that World Refugee Day was approaching a few weeks ago, I thought this would be a great opportunity to look into the barriers to access that exist for refugees and protected persons in Ontario. In my eight months at OUSA, Id heard virtually nothing about the status of refugees within Ontarios post-secondary education system, and frankly, Id braced myself for the worst. I was pleasantly surprised. Significant barriers still exist for refugees hoping to access PSE in Ontario and Canada, but both institutions and the provincial and federal governments have been relatively proactive in ensuring that refugees and protected persons are provided the opportunity to pursue higher education. Access to education should not merely begin at the post-secondary level for refugees, but should include primary and secondary education as well. Thankfully, both Ontario and Canada are extremely supportive of this ideal. Canadas Immigration and Refugee Protection Act and Ontarios Education Act affirm that any child under 18 claiming refugee status or who has no status in Canada, has access to pre-school, primary and secondary education in Ontario and across the country. This reflects Canadas international commitment to education as a right, and is in accordance with the United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child, requiring all signed nations to make primary and secondary education available to all children. At the post-secondary level, the Ontario Operating Funds Distribution Manual for the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities details a number of requirements for universities in accessing whether a student qualifies for domestic or international tuition rates. Under these guidelines, individuals who have been determined to be a protected person, including Convention refugees and persons in need of protection, are eligible for domestic tuition rates when applying to PSE. By qualifying for domestic tuition rates, refugees pursuing PSE in Ontario avoid paying significantly higher international tuition rates, which in 2010 were over 240% more than domestic rates.

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Similarly, refugees are treated as domestic students when evaluated for financial assistance in Ontario. In the early 2000s, OUSA actively campaigned to ensure that refugees were eligible for publically funded student loan programs. In 2003, the Canada Student Financial Assistance Act was amended to ensure that refugees were eligible for this financial assistance. The following year, protected persons and Convention refugees with Protected Persons Status Documents (PPSD) became eligible for OSAP in the province of Ontario, just as any other resident applying to PSE would be. Refugees who have had their claims accepted are also eligible to apply for a health card and receive free medical coverage under the Ontario Health Insurance Program (OHIP). This differs vastly from international students and non-domestic students studying in Ontario, as those without health insurance are required to obtain University Health Insurance Plan (UHIP) coverage. UHIP costs approximately $60.00 a month and further increases for individuals with dependents. Refugees awaiting the status of their claim or who are appealing a refused claim are eligible for temporary urgent and essential health and medical coverage under the Interim Federal Health Plan (IFHP). Ontarios colleges and universities also participate in a number of programs that are designed to encourage and support refugees studying in Ontario. Of Ontarios 20 publically funded universities, 18 participate in the World University Service of Canada (WUSC)s Student Refugee Program. Student and institution contributions to the Program sponsor student refugees to come study in Canada, cover their tuition and living expenses for sponsored students, and provide oncampus supports for these individuals. In writing this blog, Ive been quite heartened to see what has been done to encourage PSE access for refugees and protected persons. Despite the aforementioned successes, the systems we have in place for supporting refugees and protected person pursuing a degree is not perfect and more can be done to improve their access to a college or university education. Refugees represent a particularly vulnerable segment of our population and many have lived experiences with racial or religious persecution, violence or war. Seeking asylum in Canada, many have had to migrate here quite quickly and have come with limited finances and resources. Removed from familial, cultural and religious support structures, on-campus and community student services are often critical to a refugees academic success when pursuing a degree.

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Although undoubtedly more affordable that international tuition, domestic tuition rates can represent a significant barrier for refugees. Refugees are eligible for OSAP, but student loans can be a huge financial burden and may serve as deterrent to attending college or university. Ontario has some of the highest tuition rates in the country and, unfortunately, non-repayable financial assistance is not always as readily available to refugees than it is to other domestic students. The nature of their migration to Canada often means that refugees may only have limited documentation regarding their prior education or community work, barring them from many grants, scholarships, or bursaries that have such academic and extra-curricular requirements. Although some organizations such as Maytree, an organization committed to combatting poverty and inequality in Canada, and institutions like Red River College in Winnipeg have scholarships designed specifically for refugees, relatively little refugee-specific financial assistance exists in Ontario and Canada. To improve access rates for refugee youth in Ontario, the government and institutions must recognize that high tuition constitutes a significant barrier and that more nonrepayable financial assistance must be made available to groups demonstrating high financial need, including refugees and protected persons. Maytree has noted that a number of Canadian colleges and universities have billing processes that have unintentionally treated refugees and protected persons as they would international students, as both groups have social insurance numbers beginning with the number nine. Maytree reports that there have been instances of refugees receiving tuition billing statements with the higher international rates something that can be quite confusing to students trying to navigate Ontarios PSE system and could wrongly deter them from pursuing their studies due to misunderstandings regarding cost. Although weve been moving along a positive trajectory for improving PSE access for refugees, this progress can be very tenuous and has certainly been threatened in the recent past. In 2012, refugee access to healthcare was called into question and was catapulted into the medias spotlight with Bill C-31, An Act to Reform the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. Amid proposed changes to the process and expediency of processing refugee claims, the Federal Government proposed significant cuts to IFHP funding. Canadians expressed serious concerns over the proposed cuts, as they would further limit access to healthcare for a population that often demonstrates the most healthcare need due to a prior lack of access to health care and physical and mental harm resulting from war, torture and persecution. Reduced IFHP coverage would mean that any PSE students covered by IFHP would have their health coverage further limited, and could therefore experience negative consequences for their academic success stemming from

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poor physical and mental health supports. After significant media attention and much public debate, the Federal Government opted to withdraw its proposed cuts to IFHP from Bill C-31. Its been a decade since the Federal Government amended the Canada Student Financial Assistance Act to extend student loans to refugees and protected persons in Canada and I believe we should be proud of the progress that has been made to improve access to higher education for one of Canadas most vulnerable populations. However, discussion of what barriers remain for refugee youth in receiving a post-secondary degree or diploma appears to have fallen out of vogue this represents a topic rarely examined by the media or in our sectors research. On World Refugee Day, I think its important for us to ask ourselves why this is, and what could be done to ensure that this population becomes a priority for the higher education sector once again. Brandon Sloan OUSA Director of Communications

345-26 Soho Street | Toronto, Ontario M5T 1Z7 | t. 416.341.9948 f. 416.341.0358