Indian students in Canada’s Prince Edward Island, protesting against recent immigration policy changes that could lead to their deportation, plan to resume their protests and “hold a big blackout” on June 19. The students were earlier on a hunger strike since May 24 but called it off on June 1.

“We are organising another big blackout and we want all our people to join us on June 19. All the communities, islanders, please come out of your homes. It’s a great day and we want to send the right message in the right way because there’s another draw on June 20,” protest leader Rupinder Pal Singh said in the podcast.

The June 19 demonstration aims to show the impact of the policy changes.

“Let’s show them the real numbers and real faces so that they know how many people have been affected. If we can gather around 1,000 people on that day, they will realise their mistake and understand that this is the right time to set things right,” Singh said.

The decision comes ahead of the nomination draw for the Provincial Nomination Program (PNP) on June 20.

The Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) is for workers who have the skills, education, and work experience to contribute to the economy of a specific province or territory, who want to stay in that province or territory, and become permanent residents of Canada.

Indian students have been protesting in Pei since May 9

The Indian students Protest against deportation in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island starting May 9Several members began a hunger strike a week earlier, on May 24, on the front lawn of the George Coles Building, where the PEI Legislature is located.

As a result of the hunger strike, Their health condition was deteriorating and some even started fainting,

Changes to provincial immigration policy have made it more difficult for individuals employed in the sales and service sectors to obtain a nomination for permanent residence by the province, even for those already employed on the Island.

Most of the protesters are recent graduates from Canadian universities or colleges.

As international students, they were granted open work permits for three years and chose to work in Prince Edward Island because of its reputation as having a relatively straightforward path to permanent residence, the first step toward Canadian citizenship.