This study examines women entrepreneurship among immigrants in Brandon, Manitoba, Canada from a gender and development theoretical perspective. Every community has its uniqueness and challenges. Understanding the nature and character of a landscape is crucial for developing it effectively. This concept is same when it comes to rural immigration as well. In that sense exploring Brandon and its pressing need for economic growth is essential, especially with an increasing number of immigrants choosing Brandon as their home from 2007 onwards. However, Brandon being new to immigration and being one of the emerging rural cities has its challenges and needs in terms of providing suitable employment opportunities. The immigrants coming under different migration categories bring unique skill sets that can be utilized to for rural economic revitalization. In this context, the study takes a focused approach, centering on women immigrants. It explores how their distinct skill sets and entrepreneurial aspirations can play a fundamental role in starting businesses in Brandon, thereby contributing significantly to the overall economic development of the region. This study is structured into four main components: Firstly, this study focuses on identifying the challenges and needs of immigrant women who are entrepreneurial-oriented. Secondly, it explores the opportunities available in Brandon either to start up their businesses individually or as a group collectively. Thirdly the study will explore an ideal economic model for long-term sustainability. Finally, this study also will look into educational accreditation obstacles that hinder women from pursuing entrepreneurship and how it can be addressed.

Having recently transitioned from a teaching role in universities to a position in international engagement and education within the Ontario community college system, I bring a unique perspective to the 2024 CASID Conference's themes of colonialism, decolonization, and migration.

This paper critically analyzes the ethical dynamics of international student mobility from the Global South, focusing on the implications for Ontario institutions that claim to practice ethical internationalization. International student mobility has become a pathway for talent transfer from developing to developed countries, inadvertently reinforcing global inequality and brain drain.

Drawing on Stein et al.’s (2019) international development ethics frameworks, and the “Brampton Charter for Improving the International Student Experience,” this paper argues that amid the benefits, internationalization also carries ethical burdens. Specifically, Ontario’s growing financial dependence on international student tuition revenue to subsidize public funds, coupled with the resulting brain drain from developing countries, fundamentally contradicts principles of ethical internationalization and the equity-based sustainable development principles embedded in the UN SDGs that Ontario colleges have endorsed and pledged commitment to.

This paper argues that community colleges must consciously evaluate how certain internationalization policies and practices undermine their institutional responsibilities as public bodies to promote collaborative global partnerships over self-interest, particularly in light of the perpetuation of socioeconomic inequities.

This paper's critical engagement with the ethical dimensions of internationalization practices in Ontario's community colleges, aims to thoughtfully contribute to ongoing discussions and advocacy efforts for more socially-conscious, equitable, and globally-responsible internationalization policies – policies centered on true partnership rather than exploitation.

International development has been criticized for having unequal power dynamics threaded through it, particularly those which stem from racist ideologies that have underscored development since its foundations. While racist ideas such as the “backward” or “tragic” south, in conjunction with notions of white saviourism contribute to these unequal power dynamics, the explorations of racism in development have largely revolved around understandings of the relationships between those carrying out development initiatives and the communities of the development sites. However, the rise of South-South cooperation and diasporic development have highlighted a need to understand racism from within the development sector itself. What are the experiences of racialized diasporic individuals and groups as they seek to engage in development initiatives from Turtle Island/Canada? Using in-depth interviews, this paper explores the nuances of “engaging in development” for racialized communities living in the Global North, such the second-generation of the Tamil diaspora in Canada. The development experiences of this group highlight the ways in which racialization and identity are salient development work, as well the colonial power dynamics that are negotiated by those engaged in diasporic development.

In Canada, immigration is envisioned as a way to support economic development, especially in the context of the labor force shortage ‘crisis’. International students are often considered “ideal candidates” for permanent residency (Desai Trilokekar & El Masri, 2019) and Canadian policies aimed at their recruitment and retention as skilled immigrants has been conceptualized as "edugration" (Brunner, 2022). However, many international students come from ‘developing’ countries, such as Mexico or Vietnam, that are themselves seeing major brain drain and lacking skilled labor force. This paper compares Mexican and Vietnamese international students’ and graduates’ migration decision-making while navigating the Canadian ‘edugration’ system. While this system offers a linear pathway to permanent residency for international students, this pathway has a delimited temporal framework; we argue that this does not always align with the temporality of international students’ and graduates’ plans and aspirations. We draw from 21 interviews conducted with 15 Mexican students and 6 graduates as well as 24 interviews with 10 Vietnamese students and 11 graduates. Our findings highlight participants' migration strategies for transnational social mobility, from childhood to post-graduation (including during the covid ‘crisis’). These strategies evolve uniquely over time, influenced by the region of origin and shaped by the dynamic socio-economic environments in both Mexico and Vietnam. Rather than embracing the homogenizing edugration time frame, this paper shows that there is a need to emphasize international students’ and graduates’ own temporality to foster a nuanced and critical understanding of their migration pathways and their compatibility with Canada’s immigration goals.