08/17/2026
๐คSilence of Canadian Mainstream Media, while India based Media digs deeper ๐ฃ ThePrint
๐ฐ ๐ช๐ต๐ผ ๐๐ฎ๐ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ฟ๐๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐๐ฒ ๐๐๐๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐โ
Separately from the eligibility dispute, questions have emerged about who was running these programmes in the first place.
Portage College is based in Lac La Biche, a rural Alberta town of about 8,000 people, roughly 553 kilometres from Calgary. Yet Kanwar Sumit Singh Sierah, a Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultant, says the college enrolled more than 4,000 international students in its diploma programmes.
โ๐ช๐ต๐ผ ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ป๐ธ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐๐น๐ฑ ๐ต๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ผ๐บ๐บ๐ผ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐บ ๐ถ๐ป ๐๐๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฎ ๐๐บ๐ฎ๐น๐น ๐ฟ๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐น ๐๐น๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐ฎ ๐๐ผ๐๐ป?โ hewrote on X. โSo what did they do instead? Theypartnered with a private college located in Calgary, CIOT Calgary, that was recently acquired by unauthorized immigration agents from India in 2022.โ
Sierah alleges CIOT was acquired by the Jalandhar-based Global Education Network (GEN) Group, operating through Pyramid eServices, around the same period Alberta was changing its rules on private colleges.
โThe federal government allowed this private-public partnership program and worthless diplomas to be issued by diploma mills located in plazas with a price of three-year work permits,โ he wrote in another X post. โThis federal policy paved way for over 100+ Private Career Colleges to be taken over by various unscrupulous immigration agents across Canada and profit from mass exploitation of International Students Program.โ
Juno News, a Canadian digital outlet, has reported that CIOT โ the Calgary college that partnered with Portage to deliver diploma programmes to hundreds of Indian students โ has two directors linked to Pyramid eServices, the Punjabi student-recruitment firm Sierah named. ๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฝ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ถ๐ฑ ๐ฃ๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐บ๐ถ๐ฑ ๐ฒ๐ฆ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ ๐บ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ธ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฃ๐ผ๐ฟ๐๐ฎ๐ด๐ฒ ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ด๐ฟ๐ฎ๐บ๐บ๐ฒ๐ ๐ถ๐ป ๐๐ป๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฎ, ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ผ๐ป๐ฒ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐บ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ป๐โ๐ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐, ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐๐ป๐ผ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ฆ๐ถ๐ป๐ด๐ต ๐๐ฒ๐ฑ๐ถ, ๐๐ฎ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ฑ๐๐ฟ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฎ ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฏ ๐ฝ๐ผ๐น๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฒ ๐ถ๐ป๐๐ฒ๐๐๐ถ๐ด๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐ถ๐ป๐๐ผ ๐ฎ๐น๐น๐ฒ๐ด๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐๐๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ป๐-๐ถ๐บ๐บ๐ถ๐ด๐ฟ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐ณ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐๐ฑ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐น๐ฎ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ป๐ฎ๐บ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ถ๐ป ๐ฎ ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฒ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐ถ๐ป๐๐ผ๐น๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐บ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ป๐.
Scrutiny of that connection has grown since some graduates of the Portage-linked programmes reportedly had already-approved PGWPs cancelled by the federal government. Sierah said he received a legal notice from CIOT Calgaryโs owner after posting about the matter on X.
For the 1,500-odd students, responsibility for what went wrong now sits somewhere between an immigration system that IRCC says only clarified its own rules, and recruiters and colleges who told them something more definite than the rules actually promised.
CBSA was called to verify four people at the Calgary protest site. By the time officers were done, 20 Indian students had been checked and 12 flagged as 'possibly inadmissible'.
