New Delhi/Ottawa – Serious questions about the integrity of Canada’s international student program persist, one year after an investigation by India’s Enforcement Directorate (ED) alleged potential links between numerous Canadian post-secondary institutions and a sophisticated human trafficking scheme. The probe, which came to light in late May 2024, suggested that the scheme aimed to illegally ferry Indian students across the Canada-U.S. border.
The Indian investigation, which has not yet been tested in court and has not publicly named the Canadian institutions allegedly involved, sent ripples through Canada’s immigration and education sectors. Experts at the time warned that if the allegations proved true, they would expose “staggering” vulnerabilities in the Canadian immigration system.
“If the allegations are true, it reveals shocking gaps in our integrity protocols.… This is deeply, deeply concerning and problematic,” Raj Sharma, a Calgary-based immigration lawyer, told CBC News Network in May 2024. Sharma added that the claims suggested “wide-scale human smuggling.”
The ED’s investigation in India was reportedly initiated after the tragic deaths of the Patel family, who froze to death in January 2022 while attempting to cross from Manitoba into Minnesota during severe winter weather. In a news release around May 28, 2024, the Indian agency stated it had uncovered evidence of human trafficking involving two “entities” in Mumbai.
According to the ED, these entities referred approximately 25,000 and over 10,000 students respectively to various colleges outside India each year. The directorate alleged that arrangements were made for Indian nationals to be admitted to Canadian colleges and universities and to apply for student visas. However, once in Canada, many students allegedly did not attend the colleges. Instead, they were moved illegally across the border into the U.S., with the fees paid to Canadian schools purportedly remitted back to the individuals’ accounts.
The ED’s 2024 statement indicated that around 112 Canadian colleges had entered into agreements with one entity, and more than 150 with another.
“. . . we continue to call on the federal government to enact more stringent border control measures to protect Ontario, our institutions, and all of Canada.” – Ontario Ministry of Colleges and Universities
In response to the allegations last year, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) confirmed it had reached out to Indian authorities. “The RCMP has reached out to our counterparts in India via our International Policing Liaison Officers to seek additional information regarding their investigations,” spokesperson Camille Boily-Lavoie stated in an email to CBC News at the time.
Colleges and Institutes Canada, a national advocacy body, said in 2024 that it lacked details on the specific colleges reportedly implicated.
The Ontario Ministry of Colleges and Universities also commented last year, with spokesperson Dayna Smockum telling CBC News: “The Ministry of Colleges and Universities has no role in this process [of issuing study permits]. As our government has repeatedly done, we continue to call on the federal government to enact more stringent border control measures to protect Ontario, our institutions, and all of Canada.”
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) stated in 2024 that it had been focusing on strengthening the integrity of the international student program since 2023. Measures cited included an enrolment cap at Designated Learning Institutions (DLIs), requiring DLIs to verify all letters of acceptance, introducing consequences for non-compliant institutions, and increasing minimum financial requirements for study permit applicants. These efforts are understood to be ongoing as Canada continues to grapple with challenges in its international student system.
Kelly Sundberg, a former Canada Border Services Agency officer and a professor of criminology at Mount Royal University, described the system in May 2024 as lacking oversight and “being exploited” by transnational criminals. “This type of fraud, of gaming our immigration system has been going on for quite some time actually,” he said, calling the potential volume of those involved “staggering.” Sundberg noted that while he would be “absolutely astonished” if legitimate colleges were knowingly engaged in such criminal enterprises, he was “not surprised at all that we see people both in Canada, the United States and overseas that have co-ordinated to take advantage of our wide-open system.”
![Ken Zaifman: "[Canadian Educational institutions] were addicted to international students to fund their programs." Photo: Gary Solilak/CBC.](https://604news.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Ken-Zaifman-Gary-Solilak-CBC-1024x576.webp)
Winnipeg-based immigration lawyer Ken Zaifman suggested last year that educational institutions bear responsibility. “And it did not. They were addicted to international students to fund their programs,” he stated. Zaifman argued that colleges should have been aware of problems with international student recruitment but continued appointing overseas agents without sufficient control. “The numbers were so significant and no one really wanted to do anything about it,” he remarked. “Some universities were a little more diligent, but not all. They were appointing agents and they were attracting students, and it never occurred to them that maybe the movement of these students was not genuine.”
Adding to this perspective, Robert Huish, an associate professor in international development studies at Dalhousie University, speculated in 2024 that many implicated schools might be “fly-by-night” private colleges. “Some of these private colleges that were facilitating this trade really aren’t colleges. They’re an abandoned office that have an outdated copy of Microsoft Word, and that’s the whole curriculum,” Huish said. “The big emphasis here is not so much the legitimate colleges and legitimate universities across the country, but it’s these fly-by-night things that are opening up over gas stations.”
One year on, the specific allegations by India’s Enforcement Directorate continue to cast a shadow, underscoring the complex challenges Canada faces in managing its international student program and safeguarding its immigration system against exploitation. While Canadian authorities have been implementing broader reforms, the full details and outcomes of the Indian investigation, particularly concerning the Canadian institutions involved, have yet to be publicly clarified.
Related: Human traffickers responsible for deaths of Indian family convicted in the US.
