It may seem like odd timing, but a group of Japanese students will be coming to Greater Sudbury next month to study at local high schools.
This is amid the global COVID-19 pandemic and a situation where local coronavirus levels have risen to the point that local elementary and secondary schools have been closed for the past two weeks, with students studying online instead.
A company called MLI Homestay International recently sent local media a notice saying it needs Sudbury families to billet international students who will be studying at Sudbury Catholic District School Board high schools for the next year.
According to its website dedicated to recruiting international students, the Sudbury Catholic District charges international secondary school students $13,000 in tuition per year. The board says international students pay a standard tuition rate that is regulated by the province.
(Other local school boards also have websites to recruit international students, including the Rainbow District School Board and Conseil scolaire catholique Nouvelon, which show similar fee structures).
Cheryl Lee, partner/managing director with MLI International, said the 15 students coming to town next month are from Japan, and will be arriving in Greater Sudbury on April 19 (another student from China recently arrived in the city).
They will be attending Marymount Academy, St. Benedict Catholic Secondary School and St. Charles College.
Lee, whose company recruits and supports international students for school boards across Canada, said the students will only arrive in Sudbury after their required 14-day quarantine period is complete, and after receiving three negative COVID test results.
The notice put out by MLI International said to date, these protocols have had a 100-per-cent success rate in ensuring students are not bringing COVID into their new host families.
Asked if it’s wise for international students to be coming to Greater Sudbury in the middle of a pandemic — at a time when local COVID rates are surging — Lee said the kids who are still coming are very much aware of their safety responsibility.
She said they’ve already lived through a year of COVID in their own countries. In the case of Japan, mask-wearing is much more common than it is in North America even in normal times, so these students have grown up with such precautions.
Responding to the irony that these students may be travelling all the way to Canada just to study online, Lee said they wouldn’t be able to take Sudbury Catholic classes from their home country because of the time change, and they would get the same cultural experience.
Even though the students are aware they won’t necessarily be able to have as full of a Canadian experience as they might otherwise have had, they’re keen to start their time here.
“In most situations, they’ve been kind of waiting for their opportunity to do their year abroad for as much as six months,” Lee said.
“They’ve been delayed. With high school kids, there’s only a certain window in their years of school that they can be away to complete all their credit courses to graduate.”
Lee said there is a much smaller group of international students attending Canadian schools across the country this year due to the COVID-19 situation. Sudbury Catholic, for example, usually hosts about 50 international students per year, but right now it’s “in the teens.”
“It’s very few compared to normal because our border was completely shut, and students couldn’t get study permits because the local visitor access centres were closed around the world,” Lee said.
“Those have been reopening since September, and the rules by the federal government have now created a model where we can invite international minors into our communities through a readiness plan.”
The fact that international students are still being brought into Greater Sudbury in the middle of a pandemic has prompted some concern from parents.
“I’m so disgusted I’m shaking!!” said a message sent to Sudbury.com by a parent whose child attends a Sudbury Catholic board school.
“My kids haven’t been to school even prior to lockdown, since an outbreak was posted on the news. My business is suffering yet another lockdown, I still can’t go out and see or have my friends and family over as to not go over the limits they’ve imposed on social gathering, BUT a Sudbury school is promoting travel, to have strangers come to their house and go to our schools?! What the actual hell!”
We requested an interview with the Sudbury Catholic board about its international student program, but were instead provided with a written information attributed to its director of education, Joanne Bénard.
“Since 2015, the Sudbury Catholic District School Board has welcomed over 160 students (108 secondary students and 56 elementary students) to the International Education program,” the statement said.
“Students have travelled from various countries including Cameroon, China, Czech Republic, Germany, Japan, Mexico, Spain and Vietnam.
“MLI Homestay is currently looking for host families for students arriving from Japan in April who will be studying with the board for 10-12 months.
“During the 2020-2021 school year, all boards who are accepting international students were required to submit detailed plans to the Ministry of Education and the Government of Canada in order to provide in person teaching.
“The Sudbury Catholic District School Board was one of the first 12 boards in the province to gain approval to accept International students to study.”
The school board reiterated the aforementioned safety precautions for international students entering Canada, including the quarantine period and several COVID tests.
Sudbury Catholic said its international students, like all other students in the board, will be required to follow and adhere to proper health and safety protocols when attending in-person learning.
The board also said that international students are aware of the current remote learning environment that is taking place within the City of Greater Sudbury.
They have been advised of what this will entail and what the structure of the school day will look like. Many international students have previously participated in online learning as well as virtual pre-arrival preparation, the board said.
“International students have been planning extensively in advance of coming to Canada to study and are looking forward to safely experiencing Canadian culture with our schools and their host families,” said the written statement.
As for potential billets, the board said hosting an international student “is an amazing opportunity to develop cultural awareness, make a difference in someone’s life and to make lasting connections."
Billets are paid an honorarium of $675 per month to take care of the students’ basic needs.
If you’d like to open your home to one of the Japanese students who will be arriving next month, you’re asked to contact Cheryl Lee at 778-899-9667, email her at [email protected] or go online to apply at www.mlihomestay.com.
