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The biggest economic opportunity in decades for the Cape Breton Regional Municipality (CBRM) is looking us in the face. Actually, that opportunity is here now.

I am referring to the growth of Cape Breton University (CBU) and the significant increase in the number of international students. This is transformative and positive change, but we’ve been caught inadequately prepared as a region.

There are 1,784 new students on campus this year. Total enrollment as of last week was 4,101 students, which is higher than ever. Almost half (1,969) of CBU’s students are internationals students.

The CBU Senate heard last Friday that 848 applications have been received just from India and the countries of Africa for the January 2019 intake. Only a portion of these applicants will be accepted and will meet the visa windows, but there are other potential students in the system, too.

Capacity is now a dominant issue at CBU.

"Total (CBU) enrollment as of last week was 4,101 students, which is higher than ever." — Tom Urbaniak



Not all the challenges are internal. Part of the CBU Senate deliberations focused on ramping up work with communities, off-campus partners and governments to make sure the students have a safe and supportive Cape Breton experience.

If our new students are happily integrated into our communities, some of them will stay in Cape Breton. They will start businesses. They will attract outside investments. They will hire local people.

But at this moment, many students are struggling. I am hearing daily about real human needs arising from overcrowded rental housing, unscrupulous landlords (not the majority) and students who are underprepared for winter or feeling disoriented.

Some organizations and churches are helping students find their way around, though other students have yet to find their footing in Cape Breton.

Some students could simply benefit from more opportunities to practice conversational and colloquial English by being alongside longtime Cape Bretoners. This could be in the context of doing volunteer work; the young newcomers to our region are a burst of positive energy.

Here are some immediate steps:

Despite some recent improvements, the CBRM and the province must still make urgent transit investments. CBU recently subsidized the municipal transit system in order to allow limited Sunday service. It’s almost unprecedented for a university to do this.

Generally speaking, the Nova Scotia government has not been very helpful. To qualify for Nova Scotia public health insurance, a student has to have lived in the province for 12 consecutive months and must not have left the province for 31 consecutive days.

If these same newcomer students were studying in, say, Newfoundland and Labrador they would have access to public health insurance right away. That province sees the potential in these newcomers.

At the same time, there should be better enforcement of the Residential Tenancies Act. Exploitive and discriminatory landlords should be prosecuted and punished.

As citizens, we should do more than look to governments.

Could we link international students to trained and vetted volunteer community navigators? The navigators would show students around and occasionally advocate for them.

“Welcome packages” would be a big plus. Such an initiative could be a collaboration between the university, service clubs, local businesses and faith communities. Newcomer students could receive a bundle with some gift certificates, passes to interesting places on the island, essential and helpful contact information, letters of welcome from local leaders and perhaps some necessities to get them through the early days.

Guided walks, tours and community lunches – anything that brings students and community members together and into conversation – should be part of the mix as well. The “Jane’s Walk” in downtown Glace Bay on Nov. 2 was a testament to this.

CBU is working on a “Volunteer Advantage” program. It will, hopefully, result in a system of recruitment and placement opportunities. Of course, there are examples now of students blending into existing organizations and neighbourhood projects. We can build on these.

Unfortunately, in my respectful opinion, many organizations in our region are not ready for these opportunities.

Each organization needs to take a hard look at itself. If some of your longstanding members are constantly bringing negative energy, gossiping a lot, trapped by their prejudices, shooting down every idea and always complaining about how “we’re dying”, I beg you to politely urge them to retire and thank them for their years of service. That will open the door to energy and optimism.

Our systems are strained. But the opportunities are immense.

Let’s turn CBU’s growth into good news for Cape Breton and good news for the students themselves. It’s the neighbourly thing to do. And it’s the Cape Breton way.

Tom Urbaniak is a professor of political science at Cape Breton University. He can be reached at tom_urbaniak@cbu.ca.









