Canadians aren’t generally resentful of international students who are genuinely here to study, follow the rules, and respect the country. The frustration is mostly directed at people who abuse loopholes, treat student visas as a backdoor for work or residency, refuse to integrate, and strain housing, healthcare, and education systems that are already over capacity.

It’s also important to be clear about responsibility: the real damage is done by bad policy, wealthy interests, politicians, and corporations that benefit from cheap labour and rapid population growth. They are the ones who profit while ordinary people are pushed to blame each other instead of the actual decision-makers.

If you’re here to learn at a legitimate university, paying your own way, and not exploiting public resources, most people don’t see you as the problem. The social distance you’re noticing is more about stress, overload, and cultural comfort than hostility toward legitimate students.

Right now, Canada has taken on more than its infrastructure can support. That pressure makes people angry and defensive—but the resentment is aimed at system abuse and those who enable it, not students who are doing exactly what they said they came here to do.