KSA hosts community dialogue event to support international students

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Banana bread, lemonade, chips, coffee, and discussions began the community dialogue at Grassroots Café on Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s Surrey campus on May 8. 

Pamphlets with resources for international students including Student Rights and Responsibilities, Career Development Centre, Kwantlen Student Association’s Peer Support, WorkSafeBC, Khalsa Aid, among others were laid out on tables. 

The lineup of guest speakers for the event included Pooja Sekhon, program director at RED FM 93.1 Vancouver, Shannon Mann, a real estate agent from Surrey, Japreet Lehal, a lawyer at Wiebe Wittmann Robertson LLP, Nav Chahal, director of outreach for BC United, and Baljit Kaur Lally, the Metro Vancouver Director for Khalsa Aid Canada. 

The event began at 4:30 pm with an opening speech from KSA Women’s Representative Suhana Gill, International Students Representative Paramvir Singh, and Queer Students Representative Arnav Grover. 

Sekhon began the dialogue talking about the challenges and struggles international students face such as exploitation, wage theft, long working hours, discrimination, and coping with their mental health. 

“It is not easy to come to a new country [and] working and studying [while] dealing with all these things.”

Sekhon said there needs to be more representation for international students in terms of sharing positive stories. She also highlighted the need for umbrella organizations to help students and coordinated efforts from universities and student associations to reduce the negative perception that surrounds international students. 

“Negative perception is the biggest enemy of international students today,” she said. 

Sekhon said she hopes to create segments at RED FM to help international students.  

Students should be their own advocates and that racism exists in the South Asian community against their own people, Mann said. 

“There are a few bad apples that have painted the whole community negatively,” she said. 

While many international students are sold the dream of Canada being the “land of milk and honey,” they often find out this isn’t the case when they come here, Mann said, adding there is a need for conversation about conduct and behavior in the South Asian community. 

Being a realtor in White Rock, Mann said she hears stories about problems international students are causing and facing. 

“There are so many beautiful things about our culture like [the way we] express ourselves in our music and our bhangra, and those are some things that have made us famous around the world,” she said. 

“Even though there’s systems in India that try to erase our language and our culture, it’s alive here.” 

Mann also talked about the stabbings in White Rock that took place last month resulting in the death of 26-year-old Kulwinder Singh Sohi and non-life-threatening injuries for Jatinder Singh. 

“I just think to myself, what were his final moments like? Did he know what was happening? For you to bleed out alone in White Rock for no reason is completely wrong and hopefully that’s the end of it,” she said. 

Baljit Kaur Lally from Khalsa Aid said that as a non-profit organization, they help international students navigate and deal with situations such as exploitation, abuse, immigration, and dealing with private colleges. 

“We’re here to support you and advocate for you, and to talk to our politicians to potentially change policy,” she said. 

Sekhon, Mann, and Lally also said there is a need for orientations for international students before they come to Canada. 

“Our medical system is crumbling, our social services, and unfortunately, international students are the scapegoat,” Lally said. 

She ended her speech by highlighting the importance of education and using it to your highest potential. 

Japreet Lehal said as a lawyer, he witnesses the challenges international students face every day. He emphasized the need for international students to educate themselves on their legal rights. 

He pointed out a few legislations students should be aware of such as the Residential Tenancy Act and Employment Standards Act. Students facing discrimination can also reach out to WorkSafeBC or the Human Rights Tribunal and inform themselves about the Human Rights Code.

“It’s very inspiring, how [international students have] come from [their] countries of origin to start a new life here. All of the people who are living here from before, we’re here to support you,” Lehal said. 

Nav Chahal talked about under the table/cash work, which often jeopardises international students’ chances of getting permits, employment, insurance, and other health services, in his speech.

“We need to come together as a community to solve these problems,” Chahal said. 

“I wish this room was full. I wish this had more international students come in, listen, because this is where the dialogue starts.”

In an interview with The Runner, Gill says she hopes students learned about resources available to them. Gill along with Singh and Grover decided to host the event amid rising cases of racism and oppression as well as to start a discussion about racially motivated crimes. 

“I’m very happy that we could foster an environment where it was very inclusive and happy and people came with different insights and perspectives,” Gill said.