(Ottawa) Companies that employ foreign students will soon be able to offer them more shifts. Immigration Secretary Sean Fraser announced Friday morning that the 20-hour limit that this group of workers can work will be temporarily lifted.

Posted at 10:52 am

Foreign students can currently work off-campus for a maximum of 20 hours during their studies. The lifting of that work-time cap is effective from November 15 through the end of 2023. “That means 500,000 students who are already here have the opportunity to work more if they choose to,” Mr. Fraser said.

This new measure is intended in particular to counteract the current labor shortage and help companies to recover from the pandemic. “We are struggling with a massive labor shortage across the country. Our employers are struggling to find and retain the labor force they need during this period of economic recovery and growth, and immigration has a role to play in meeting that need,” the minister said.

Mr Fraser argued that this could help entrepreneurs, particularly as the holiday season approaches.

The Liberal also pointed out that the workplace is an inclusive place for foreign students. He nuanced that the goal isn’t for students to prioritize work at the expense of their studies, but that it can be a great opportunity to gain work experience.

During his press conference, Mr. Fraser mentioned Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada’s (IRCC) pilot project, which aims to automate the processing of applications for study permit extensions. Those motions already have a high approval rating of 96% this year and 97% last year, but Minister Fraser said Canada “can do better”.

He specified that no renewal requests are automatically rejected and that more complex files are analyzed by agents.

Currently, the pilot is limited to a small group of people, but if successful, it could be expanded to reduce application processing times.

‘I don’t know what else the NFL can do’: Defending the league amid Tua Tagovailoa concussion controversy, Aaron Rodgers insists players need to self-control: ‘Be smart…we need to be about our long-term health think.”

• In London, Rodgers said there wasn’t much more the league could do about concussions after Tagovailoa may have suffered two in four days
• The Packers are the last NFL team to play a game in London and Rodgers will make the trip worthwhile – attending tonight’s USA-England game at Wembley
• He spoke about his love of ‘football’ and a time when he met Steven Gerrard
• Click here for all your latest international sports news from

By Peter Carline

Published: 5:15 PM BST, 7 October 2022 | Updated: 18:04 BST, 7 October 2022

Aaron Rodgers showed his charm while showing his wry humor and support for Manchester City when he faced British media for the first time.

And the 38-year-old Green Bay Packers quarterback, a four-time MVP, also said he’s pleased with the level of protection the NFL provides against concussions – but urged players to self-police.

“I think it’s enough,” he said when asked about the level of protection the NFL offers players. “I just think we need to monitor ourselves too and be smart about it. The players want to be out there. But we have to think about our long-term health.

“I think we all know the difference between being shaken and having a concussion. There is definitely a difference. I’ve had a few on the field and there’s a difference between getting nailed and going to the sidelines, maybe your jaw or neck hurts a bit and you actually have a concussion.

When the Green Bay Packers played London for the first time, Aaron Rodgers spoke to the British press about concussions, met Steven Gerrard and the USWNT at Wembley

“I don’t know what else the NFL can do. I don’t always defend the NFL with every decision they make. Every topic should be up for discussion. When it comes down to it, there are independent folks on the sidelines looking out for those hits. I think you have to keep a closer eye on these special pieces.

“Obviously you looked back at the game with Tua – you go back to last week – you saw him kind of stumble after a goal. I think we all know what was going on there.

“For Tua, I understand the predicament. You want to be out there and keep playing, but we all need to think about our long-term health because we know the effects of CTE are well documented and there’s research on it. I don’t know what else the league can do. We try to pull guys off the field. As I said, there are several people who are looking for specific head injuries. We must monitor ourselves.”

In a wide-ranging press conference, the Green Bay Packers quarterback revealed that he was blown away during a chance meeting with Steven Gerrard at a Beverly Hills clothing store.

Rodgers spoke at length about his love of football and support for Manchester City

After landing this morning, he revealed a chance encounter with Steven Gerrard in LA

“I had a chance encounter with Steven Gerrard when he was playing for the Galaxy. It was one of those rare times in life that I was star struck, and we were like a Beverly Hills shop. I got an outfit for the ESPYs or something and was just stunned.

“I was like, ‘Oh my god.’ I looked around and nobody knows who he is. I think it must have been nice for him to be across the States and have some anonymity because of the fame he has for his career over here.

And Rodgers will also be cheering for the USWNT as they take on the Lionesses at Wembley tonight, despite Green Bay landing earlier today.

“Tonight I’m watching the US national team! Obviously the lionesses are the Eurochamps. So it’s a friendly game, it’s a competition. Yes, I want to get out into the city a bit. We obviously came later in the week. So I’m not sure if I’ll see Manchester City tomorrow.

Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers go into Sunday’s game against the Giants 3-1

Rodgers has backed City after watching Amazon’s All or Nothing about the 2017-18 season and spoke about meeting Pep Guardiola and others when Manchester City played Bayern Munich at Lambeau Field in July.

“I went into the dressing room and met De Bruyne. We swapped a few jerseys together. They have an interesting coaching staff, lots of Spaniards on that staff who were damn funny. Pep was great. It was fun to have something like that at Lambeau. We’ve had some interesting concerts over the years. We don’t get many big acts through our tiny town so it was really cool for all of us to see Bayern Munich and Manchester City play there.

Two teams with winning records play in England for the first time, with the 3-1 Packers receiving a nominal 3-1 win from the New York Giants on Sunday.

The Packers were the last NFL team not to play a regular season game across the pond

Due to the NFL’s expansion to 17 regular-season games, Green Bay gave up a home game to play at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and is the 32nd and final team to play a regular season in England.

“We’re too big a draw in the States. With 17 games, we’re finally coming by,” Rodgers said.

“I’ve always dreamed of seeing a big concert or football match at Wembley so I’ll be there tonight. But the games have always been great – this is the first game between teams with a track record, I think, in London. It is about time we were here.”

• Ex-cop kills 34 with knife and pistol at daycare center
• After the attack, he killed his wife and son and turned the gun on himself
• The police portray the attacker as stressed out by marital and financial worries
• Thai flags fly at half-mast on buildings to mourn the attack

UTHAI SAWAN, Thailand, Oct. 7 (Portal) – Grieving relatives sobbed and clutched toys at a daycare center on Friday, a day after a former police officer killed 34 people, most of them young children, in a knife-and-gun rampage that has Thailand horrified.

Government buildings flew flags at half-mast to mourn the victims – 23 of them children – of the slaughter in Uthai Sawan, a city 500 km (310 miles) northeast of Bangkok, the capital of the largely Buddhist country.

After leaving the daycare center filled with the dead, dying and wounded, the ex-officer went home and shot his wife and son dead before turning his gun on himself.

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Police identified the attacker as Panya Khamrap, 34, a former police sergeant who had been fired on drug charges and was on trial on a drug charge.

It was not clear if Panya was still using drugs. An autopsy report showed he had not used them on the day of the attack, national police chief Damrongsak Kittipraphat said on Friday.

“The reasons are probably unemployment, no money and family problems,” he said, adding that the attacker and his wife had “a long history of issues.”

A witness, Kittisak Polprakan, said he saw the attacker calmly walk out of the daycare center – a pink, one-story building surrounded by lawn and small palm trees – after the massacre “as if he were just going for a normal walk”.

“I don’t know (why he did that) but he was under a lot of pressure,” Panya’s mother told Nation TV, citing her son’s debt and drug use.

Most children, between the ages of two and five, were dismembered while adults were shot dead, police said, after one of the world’s worst child deaths in a massacre by a single killer in recent history.

Police officer Chakkraphat Wichitvaidya told Portal autopsies showed the children had been slashed open with a large knife, sometimes multiple times, and adults shot dead.

Three boys and one girl who survived were being treated in hospital, police said.

“I IMMEDIATELY KNEW”

The aunt of a three-year-old boy who died in the slaughter held a stuffed dog and a toy tractor on her lap as she recounted how she rushed to the scene when the news first broke.

“I came and saw two bodies in front of the school and knew immediately the child was already dead,” said Suwimon Sudfanpitak, 40, who had been looking after her nephew Techin while his parents were working in Bangkok.

A woman prays at Wat Rat Samakee after a mass shooting in Uthai Sawan town, Nong Bua Lam Phu province, Thailand October 7, 2022. Portal/Jorge Silva

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Another of the dead was Kritsana Sola, a chubby two-year-old who loved dinosaurs and soccer and was nicknamed “Captain”. He just got a new haircut and is showing it off proudly, said his aunt Naliwan Duangket, 27.

Late in the afternoon, relatives howled in pain as funerals were to be held at Wat Rat Sammakhi. Some collapsed and had to be laid on straw mats and fanned by medical staff.

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-Ocha met the victims’ families in a sweltering compound full of police and media after laying flowers and observing a minute’s silence outside the center.

The government will do its best to take care of the families and the prime minister has asked everyone “to be strong to face this great loss,” government spokesman Anucha Burapachaisri said.

Late on Friday, King Maha Vajiralongkorn visited the hospital where the injured were taken, according to photos released by the government’s PR office.

Portal graphics

Photos taken at the center by rescuers and provided to Portal showed the tiny bodies of those killed on blankets. Abandoned juice boxes lay scattered on the floor.

“He came up to me and I begged him for mercy, I didn’t know what to do,” one distraught woman told ThaiPBS, fighting back tears.

“He didn’t say anything, he shot at the door while the children were sleeping,” said another woman, distressed.

When the attack began, there were about 24 children at the center, fewer than usual as heavy rain had kept many people away, district official Jidapa Boonsom said.

Hundreds of people expressed their condolences on the Uthai Sawan Child Development Center’s Facebook page under his last post before the massacre, an account of the children’s visit to a Buddhist temple in September.

In a message, the Vatican said Pope Francis was deeply saddened by the “horrific attack,” which he condemned as an “act of unspeakable violence against innocent children.”

The massacre was among the worst involving children killed by one person.

In Norway, Anders Breivik killed 69 people, mostly teenagers, at a summer camp in 2011, while the death toll in other cases in 2012 includes 20 children at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, 16 at Dunblane in Scotland in 1996 and 19 one school in Uvalde, Texas, this year.

Gun laws are strict in Thailand, but gun ownership is high compared to some Southeast Asian countries, and illegal guns are rampant, with many imported by torn neighbors.

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Additional reporting from Orathai Sriring, Panarat Thepgumpanat, Chayut Setboonsarng, Juarwee Kittisilpa in Bangkok and Philip Pullella in Rome Writing from Ed Davies Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore, Clarence Fernandez, Gareth Jones and Frances Kerry

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