City of Surrey explores international students’ challenges in forum

Editor’s Note: This article mentions details of sexual abuse, harassment, and other abuse that may be distressing to some readers. If you or someone you know needs help, please reach out to HealthLinkBC at 811 or VictimLink BC at 1-800-563-0808. Help is available, please reach out. 

The City of Surrey looked into the challenges of international students in the community at its first ever forum held late last year. 

The forum’s initiation stemmed from focus group discussions on the needs of Newton — the Surrey neighbourhood where Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s Surrey campus is located — which brought up concerns about the well-being of international students. 

Attendees of the forum, which was held on Nov. 27 at the Surrey Arts Centre, included representatives from academic institutions, law enforcement, and community organizations, which heard from the city, an immigration lawyer, and a panel of students who shared their stories about living in Surrey as an international student. 

The event ended with a round-table discussion on recommendations for initiatives, programs, and support for international students based on what they listened to and discussed at the forum. 

Rubina Kang, community safety lead for the City of Surrey, says key themes the city heard include housing instability, employment, mental health, discrimination, social isolation, and safety concerns. 

The safety concerns, in particular, have been around discussions of sexual abuse and exploitation of female international students living in precarious housing, Kang says. While this topic did not come up at the forum, it was brought to the city’s attention during focus groups. 

After learning this, Kang says the city began interviewing anti-violence service providers. One worker indicated that half of her case load is international students, and they have also been told international students are using transition houses, which provide temporary housing for women escaping domestic violence. 

“What they [also] shared with us is there were instances where females were offered lower rental rates in exchange for sexual services,” Kang says. “Oftentimes, the landlord would basically threaten the students.”

She adds that the interior door that often connects the upstairs part of a house to the basement suite would be required to be left unlocked under threat of eviction, so that the landlord could let themselves into the student’s residence.

The issue is further complicated in cases where an international student has been sent to Canada to live with a relative.

“What we were informed is that some of the females were actually being sexually abused by the family member that they were living with, and then they felt trapped because they couldn’t tell their family back home due to various reasons,” Kang says. “And then, because they had a very limited network here, it was hard for them to want to escape that.”

While Kang does not know how prevalent these specific instances are, in May, Statistics Canada released data reporting 61 per cent of international students living in Surrey do not have suitable housing.

Data collected by the city during focus groups also indicated that a substantial number of international students were living in subpar housing conditions. These included mouldy, dirty suites, illegal suites, and living in situations where two or three bedroom basement suites are shared between 10 to 15 strangers. 

Jeremia Kusuma graduated from KPU as an international student two years ago. While he feels he has been lucky over the years with some housing and employment opportunities, the cost of the $3,100 per month apartment he splits with his partner and sister has been taking a toll, all the while he has been without full-time work in his field for a year and half. 

He says he would not recommend international students come to Canada with the way things are right now. 

“The pricing is crazy, and I think it’s really not a good time to come to Canada,” he says. “Finding a job here is a bit challenging as well. So when you come to Canada, just hope that you don’t stress about money a lot.”

Kang says the city is working collaboratively with stakeholders and community organizations that receive provincial funding to address the issues, which includes support for job fairs and tenancy-rights workshops — two ideas that were brought up as necessary initiatives during the panel. Kang adds the city is encouraging students to make use of the mental health services available to them. 

“Students don’t understand that there are services available because these types of services don’t exist in their home country,” Kang says. “Then, there’s the stigma behind it .… It’s also about educating students about what mental health is, like what are the different challenges you could experience, and then what are the different services you could access.” 

Community organizations that provide services to international students include the South Asian Legal Clinic of BC, Options Community Services, DIVERSEcity, PICS, and S.U.C.C.E.S.S. Foundation.