RE: Petition COVID 19 PGWP Impact - IMPORTANT NEXT STEPS
We have heard hundreds of international students express their concerns. The next step is to turn the overwhelming support into government action.
To do this we must provide real life examples of how this is impacting individual international students. Presenting this problem with the faces, names and stories of those impacted will be much more powerful than only the petition results itself.
So we ask for your help to move this forward by answering a 5 minutes survey.
We are specifically looking for the stories of students on a one-year PGWP, since they are at the highest risk and would provide the clearest example of being negatively impacted by this crisis.
If you, like so many of us, have invested heavily in studying in Canada with the hope of long term immigration, gaining a COVID 19 related extension from Immigration Refugee Citizenship Canada may be your only way of achieving success. What exactly is your story? We need your voice on this.
Timeline/Advocacy Plan:
April 03: Initiate petition, receive a minimum of 600 signatures - accomplished!
April 17-21: Collect individual expressions of concerns from petition signatories. - (this email, see link, please send responses)
April 22-26: Connect to media to leverage this cause and gain issue attention
April 27: Submit petition results, individual expressions of concern, proposed solution (requesting an amendment to current PGWP program delivery instructions) to Immigration Refugee Citizenship Canada, the Honourable Marco Mendicino (Minister of immigration) and Justin Trudeau (Prime Minister of Canada).
Thank you for considering this request. It is so important for us to support each other during this time, so the government of Canada clearly understands the impact COVID-19 has on our unique situation. Please do take the time to share your personal story with us, so that we can share many together.
Looking forward to hearing from you.
Thanks
Joyce