This week: How international students drive economic development

Here’s the Atlantic news we’re tracking this week, from wind woes?to a video game inspired by Mi'kmaw?legends:?

Staying power

The flood of international students into Atlantic Canada — the annual intake has more than doubled over the last 10 years — has been blamed for everything from housing shortages to rising rents and pressures on health-care systems. So much so that the federal government has cut the number of student visas available, and nearly doubled the amount?of money applicants must prove they can access to cover their cost of living.?

But a new study from economics professor and immigration expert Ather Akbari at Saint Mary’s University points out that international students are ideal if policymakers want immigration to drive economic development. They’re young, must be fluent in one or both official languages, and they finish their studies with “fully recognized qualifications, locally relevant professional training and a high degree of acculturation.”

The study sought to examine what is drawing international students to the region and, most importantly, what will convince them to stay. It surveyed 3,548 students enrolled at Atlantic Canadian universities and colleges between 2017 and 2023 and found tuition fees, the relatively reasonable cost of living, the institutions’ academic reputations and the value of the resulting credentials were leading factors drawing students in. More than 70 percent were satisfied or highly satisfied with the quality of teaching and technology they found, as well as with their interactions with fellow students and the broader community.?

More encouraging, about 70 percent said they wanted to stay in the province where they studied, with Nova Scotia proving most popular. (The province was ranked among?the top three and top five provinces to work in after graduation by 60 percent and 80 percent of respondents respectively, followed by New Brunswick and then Ontario). And?almost two-thirds of those who had finished school (64 percent) managed to find a job in the province they’d studied in after graduation. Employment and economic opportunities were ranked as the most important factor in the decision to stay, but community and social connections were next, followed by cost of living and quality of life. “In the end, economic reasons dominate, but students also love the community and the lifestyle, and so they want to stay here,” Professor Akbari told PPF Media.?

There is work still to be done, however. Just 35 percent of respondents were satisfied with the help universities provided in finding employment, and only 33 percent were satisfied with the salaries for graduates. More attention needs to be paid, says Prof. Akbari, to matching the incoming students and the programs offered to the region’s labour force needs. Atlantic Canada would do well to promote community colleges more aggressively to solve the skilled trades shortage.?

And in all the worry about rising rents and the housing crunch, policymakers should remember the value international students present. “They?pay very high tuition, they spend money in the economy, they are taxpayers from their very first day here,” he says. “We tend to look at only one side of the story. We should look at the broader picture.”

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The waiting game

The stress on Atlantic Canada’s health-care systems shows few signs of easing up. In New Brunswick, the?Coalition for Seniors New Brunswick?said last week the number of people waiting to get into nursing homes has hit a record high of 1,044, with almost half of those waiting in hospital. “It is shocking,” said Cecile Cassista, Executive Director of the advocacy group. “People don't want to be in the hospital, they don't want to make that their?home, but that's the case because we have a broken system.”

New Brunswick has a particular demographic challenge when it comes to health care —?23 percent?of its population is 65 or over, the second highest proportion in Canada after Newfoundland and Labrador.?

Nova Scotia is having its own struggles with wait lists. The number of people on its?need-a-family-practice?registry hit 160,234 in June, which means almost one in six Nova Scotians don’t have a family doctor. Officials were quick to point out the upward curve is actually getting flatter — the list grew by 1,859 in May, compared to roughly 3,000 a month earlier this year. Still, with a net increase of just 10 new family doctors last year, the province faces a massive challenge to reverse the trend.

It's trying to attract more family physicians by increasing recruitment efforts in Australia, the U.K, and the U.S., and by streamlining the process to get foreign credentials recognized. It’s also accelerating the creation of collaborative care teams, which bring family physicians, nurses, nurse practitioners and even pharmacists and dieticians under one roof. The province believes they will help take the pressure off emergency rooms, and help recruit doctors since so many new physicians train in such settings and want to continue working that way. It announced a new one?in Antigonish?last week, set to open next year, that will have more than 30 health-care professionals and serve over 10,000 patients.

Health apps

Efforts to modernize health-care delivery in Atlantic Canada, meanwhile,?are?showing progress. Nova Scotia is?expanding the services?available on YourHealthNS, the mobile app it launched last September that lets people book?blood tests, X-rays, flu shots and vaccine appointments. The updated app will add access to a range of medical records —?information on hospital visits and stays, medications, lab test results and diagnostic scans like magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT) scans, and X-rays.

A pilot project on the new version of the app found 98 percent of users said they would keep using it, and 60 percent said they were more involved in health-care decisions. Some 30 percent said it let them skip a visit to their family doctor, which will take some pressure off the system. The app will help people “better manage their health and empower them to take control and become a more active participant in the health care they receive,” said Health and Wellness?Minister Michelle Thompson. ?

Newfoundland and Labrador is launching an app as well,?MyHealthNL, that will let people see their lab results and radiology reports, appointment and medication records and other e-health resources. The province also plans to integrate the app with virtual care. As in Nova Scotia,?NL Health Services interim CEO Karen Stone said it “empowers patients and families to become active participants in their own health” by giving them access to information that will help them have “more informed discussions with their health-care providers.”

Wind worries

Some concerns about wind power emerged last week from a somewhat unexpected source. A consortium of industry players in Nova Scotia, including EverWind Fuels, the biggest prospective developer, has sent a letter to premier Tim Houston warning that the province’s roads and bridges can’t handle the demands they are about to face.?

“Nova Scotia’s infrastructure capacity … currently risks constraining the province’s ambitious growth plan,” said the letter, obtained by?allNovaScotia?through an Access to Information request. “Absent targeted investment, these constraints will become a bottleneck that will impede the ability to get renewable projects off the ground on time and on budget.” Nova Scotia hopes to develop 4,000 megawatts of wind power capacity, more than the total current generating capacity of Nova Scotia Power. It has 300 turbines in operation now, with another 175 turbines expected to be installed by late this year or early next.?

The industry group is offering to help the government develop an action plan to address the issue, saying letter was written a “spirit of collaboration and optimism.” A Public Works spokesperson said it is working on an infrastructure assessment along key transportation routes, and that officials had met recently with the consortium.

More concerns about wind, these more predictable, popped up in Newfoundland and Labrador over World Energy GH2’s plan to install more than 300 turbines to fuel Project Nujio’qonik, its massive green hydrogen and ammonia project. Minister of Environment and Climate Change Bernard Davis accepted the company’s environmental assessment plan, but gave interested parties 60 days to appeal.?

A number of concerned citizens have apparently done so, though officials say privacy concerns prevent them from being made public. One local group,?the?Environmental Transparency Committee, had no such qualms. Its appeal listed a number of issues with the project, including threats to health and safety from construction activity and turbine operations, the failure of government to hold public hearings and “multiple deficiencies” in the impact statement.?

“There’s nothing ‘green’ about destroying the land, the waters, our communities and all our relations in order to make ammonia and ship it to foreign countries, wasting energy and creating more greenhouse gas emissions at every stage,” said committee member Marilyn Rowe.

One more thing

Despite such objections, nothing seems to stop the momentum behind wind power; yet another project may be on the way for Newfoundland and Labrador. International renewable energy company?CWP Global Inc. has?signed a deal?with Corner Brook Port Corp. to explore building what it calls a green energy hub. Called Project Gwinya, which means ‘eye’ in Beothuk, would include a 5,000 megawatt wind farm in the Gaffe Topsails area that would power a green hydrogen and potential a green steel operation.?

Steve Delaney, CWP’s business and development manager for hydrogen, touted Corner Brook’s deep-water port that could handle iron ore carriers, and its proximity to both a “world class” wind resource and to Labrador, which “presumably would be the logical supplier of the iron ore we want to process.”?Green steel?uses hot briquetted iron; it’s produced using hydrogen and is considered a promising technology to reduce or even eliminate the use of fossil fuels in steelmaking.?

Mi’kmaw video game

A Cape Breton video game producer is teaming up with a recording studio in Eskasoni First Nation to produce a fantasy adventure video game inspired by Mi’kmaw legends. “Kun'tewiktuk — A Mi'kmaw Adventure” will send?players on series of quests and, its makers hope, help preserve Indigenous language and culture. One version of the game will be completely in the Mi’kmaw language.?

Tom Johnson, the owner of Kji-Wikuom Studios and chair of the Canadian commission of UNESCO's Indigenous Language Committee, hopes the game will help stall or even reverse the decline of the Mi'kmaw?language. “When we have our young Mi’kmaw people playing, or non-Indigenous as well, they'll be able to pick up these words,” he told?Saltwire. “It's all about immersive learning … And maybe this will develop a spark, an interest in the language because we are an oral-based language and the more you hear it, the better the transmission from A to B.”

Much of the work at the recording studio, which involves casting, voice work, translations and sound engineering is being done by young people — another reason for hope that Mi’kmaw culture and heritage will survive, says Johnson.?

Shawn Green, President of Green Robot Studios, says he’s encouraged by the possibilities the culture presents and by the response to the work so far. “As we started looking into Mi’kmaw stories, we were completely blown away at the richness and the wealth of stories and characters and adventures that could be told,” said Green.?Both he and Johnson hope other First Nations will be inspired to adopt this new form of storytelling. “I wouldn't be surprised if Shawn gets more requests from other First Nations to do something like this,” Johnson said.?

This newsletter is sponsored by the Frank McKenna Fund. It is produced by journalists at PPF Media and maintains complete editorial independence.

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