(File photo/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By Julia Lovett-Squires

North West College

North West College encouraging federal leaders to ‘uphold rights of refugees and migrants’

Apr 17, 2025 | 5:00 PM

North West College has added its voice to an open letter to the federal politicians vying to be the next leader of Canada. It calls on them to commit to messaging and platform policies that honour refugees and newcomers.

“It’s certainly an important piece I think given the current environment and all the things happening globally and certainly domestically as well that we do keep in mind the importance and the contributions that individuals play,” said President and CEO Dr. Eli Ahlquist.

The letter, written by the Canadian Council for Refugees (CCR), Amnesty International Canada, and the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers (CARL), calls on leaders Mark Carney of the Liberal Party, Pierre Poilievre of the Conservative Party, Yves-François Blanchet of the Bloc Québécois, Jagmeet Singh of the New Democratic Party and Elizabeth May and Jonathan Pedneault of the Green Party ‘to reject this scapegoating’ and make a commitment to resolve to protect refugees and newcomers.

“This responsibility is particularly important today,” the letter read in part, adding politicians play a key role.

“When we see the rise around the world of xenophobic fear-mongering about people who move in search of a better life for their families, Canada is not immune to these narratives.”

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Last year, the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) implemented a cap on international students coming to study in universities and colleges to help ease socioeconomic pressures and this year the cap was set to 437,000.

“The intent of this call was to obviously bring attention with the election that’s currently going on to the interests of the international individuals of Canada,’ Alquist said.

“That request did kind of come through…a lot to do with the broader community around English as an additional language and that group and looking to support those students which make up a major component of our student body.”

NWC has about 80 international students enrolled year over year and said their numbers have been stable.

“We’ve been very intentional and deliberate in the programs that we’re offering to the international students,” he said.

“These are programs that are in demand and certainly very regional, economic driven. So, we’re looking to support areas of need – these are also program areas that are designated by the federal government as priorities economically.”

The letter boasts hundreds of additional signatories from organizations whose mandates include human rights, health and immigration.

“At a time when our sovereignty is under threat, when Canadians are challenged to rally behind what makes us distinct and binds us together as a nation, we ask you to defend our core values as a welcoming country,” read the letter.

“As people in Canada mobilize from coast to coast to coast to stand up against attacks on our country, refugees and immigrants are already part of this collective response and must be embraced and recognized as such.”

NWC has been welcoming international students for roughly four years and the president and CEO said they haven’t seen a drop off.

“One of the real benefits of that for us as a college is the ability to expand the types of programs,” he said, adding it also provides additional opportunities to domestic students who wish to enroll.

As for the recruitment efforts, Ahlquist said that they don’t focus on any one area of the world.

“As far as our student population goes, we try to ensure that there’s a range of diverse countries, nationalities, cultures that do come to our college,” he said.

“That is again, a deliberate approach to ensure that there is a variety of opinions and perspectives that are brought forward.”

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julia.lovettsquires@pattisonmedia.com

On BlueSky: juleslovett.bsky.social