Minister, advocates say they fear international students will be blamed for housing crisis

Immigration Minister Marc Miller and student advocates across the country say they worry about immigrants and international students being singled out for blame because of the housing crisis.

Immigration Minister Marc Miller and student advocates across the country say they worry about immigrants and international students being singled out for blame because of the housing crisis.

"It's one of my fears," Miller said in a recent interview with CBC News. "I do worry about the stigmatization of particularly people of diversity that come to this country to make it better, and that includes international students."

Miller told CBC Radio's The House last week that Canada is on track to host around 900,000 international students this year. In 2011, that figure was just shy of 240,000.

Housing Minister Sean Fraser last month floated the idea of capping the number of international students Canada brings in.

Miller said Canadians' concerns about the number of international students go beyond housing to questions about the public's confidence in the "integrity" of the immigration system itself.