Breath of fresh air: East Coast looks to international students to revive region
Gunny Brar has watched Sydney, Nova Scotia, transform since he first arrived at Cape Breton University in 2015.
The school’s small student body of around 4,000 students is now made up of about half international students. Roughly one-quarter, like Brar, are from India.
In his new role as president of the university’s student union, Brar has witnessed firsthand how the slow diversification of the small East Coast city has been accelerated by the flock of young scholars.
The annual campus-led Diwali festival of lights has grown from fewer than 200 attendees to November’s showing of about 2,500.