Bill 74 is one of the latest measures presented by the provincial government to reduce the number of temporary immigrants in Quebec.
On Oct. 10, Quebec Immigration Minister Jean-François Roberge of the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) presented Bill 74, “an Act to improve the regulatory scheme governing international students” in Quebec.
The bill was announced in late August as part of a larger effort by the provincial government to reduce the number of temporary immigrants in Quebec. Between the third quarters of 2021 and 2024, the number of non-permanent residents in the province has increased by 125 per cent, from slightly over 260,000 to nearly 590,000.
International students currently make up approximately 22 per cent of the temporary immigrants in Quebec, and the number of international students has increased by 60 per cent over the last three years.
During a press conference on Oct. 10, Roberge said Bill 74 would decrease the number of international students coming to Quebec, although he did not say how important that decrease would be. He explained that the specifics of the cut would be decided jointly with Higher Education Minister Pascale Déry and Education Minister Bernard Drainville, after public consultations.
“It will be an adequate reduction,” said Roberge. “Today, I come with the bill and, at the same time that we study the bill, my colleagues will collect information and do the analysis. It would be really premature to announce numbers today.”
Nonetheless, Roberge is hopeful that precise numbers can be announced this fall or early in 2025 so that the reductions can be made for September 2025. Public consultations on Bill 74 are set to take place on Nov. 5 and Nov. 6, with Concordia University participating on the first day.
Concordia deputy spokesperson Fiona Downey explained via email that the university would reveal its position on the bill during the public consultation process and that it supported international students.
“As we’ve said repeatedly last fall, we believe international students bring tremendous contributions to Quebec’s economy and society and that they are among the best candidates to stay and integrate in the province,” Downey said.
This comes as the university has seen a 15.9 per cent reduction in its international student population compared to the fall of 2023.
Roberge explained that one of the bill’s goals is to protect the French language, which the CAQ government sees as being under threat. However, he specified that the bill does not target any institution, or anglophone institutions in general.
“The government has a duty to promote and ensure the vitality of the French language, of course, and to do everything in its power to reverse the decline that we know now,” he said during the press conference. “But we didn’t target any university and we won’t do so.”
Roberge also said that the government would cut the number of international students based on the region, area of study, governmental priorities, the need for people in certain industries, the language, to maintain programs in place and the size of cohorts of each program and institution.
On Nov. 2, Immigrant Workers Centre in Montreal community organizer Mostafa Henaway participated in a protest supporting undocumented immigrants and their efforts to regularize their situation. The protest intended to raise attention to the precarious situation of many temporary immigrants, including international students.
Henaway said the government should be giving more support to international students.
“I think the system, the way it was, was functioning,” said Henaway. “It’s just allowing people to have their postgraduate work permit and then, after a few years, show that they’re established to apply for permanent residency.”
