Juno News - Pyramid firm caught playing both sides of Canada student scheme

00:00:00.000 Juno News has uncovered a connection between an Alberta college, an Indian student recruitment

00:00:04.960 company, and a director who was previously arrested during an immigration fraud investigation.

00:00:10.820 And now, some of the international students recruited through these programs are having

00:00:14.600 their previously approved work permits cancelled. So, how exactly did this all happen? It starts

00:00:19.720 with the Canadian Institute of Osteopathic Therapy, or CAOT, a private college in Calgary.

00:00:25.880 In 2024, CAOT entered a formal partnership with Portage College and Alberta Public College.

00:00:33.260 Under that partnership, students could enroll in Portage-branded diploma programs including

00:00:37.820 business management and administrative professional programs while primarily taking their classes at

00:00:43.020 CAOT's Calgary campus. The programs attracted hundreds of Indian students and the programs

00:00:48.640 weren't just being marketed here in Canada. They were being marketed to prospective students in

00:00:54.140 india by a company called pyramid e-services here's where juno news found something that

00:00:59.820 was particularly interesting alberta corporate records show that two ciot directors jantinder

00:01:06.140 singh betty and van hoover singh betty were also tied to pyramid e-services so the people involved

00:01:13.180 in running the canadian college were also connected to the company that was recruiting students for

00:01:18.300 the programs in india the pyramid wasn't simply recruiting students for canadian schools either

00:01:23.420 the company advertises education opportunities abroad and has promoted things like canadian

00:01:28.380 work permits and pathways to permanent residency to prospective indian students that raises an

00:01:34.060 obvious question what exactly were prospective students being told about these programs and

00:01:39.900 their ability to stay in canada after graduating that question becomes even more important when

00:01:45.340 you look at pyramid history in may 2013 indian police raided several student immigration centers

00:01:52.140 as part of an investigation into allegations that agents were forging bank documents and

00:01:57.660 student certificates for overseas applications. Indian media reported that Vanhoevenar Singh

00:02:03.380 Betty, who was connected to Pyramid eServices, was arrested during that investigation. Police

00:02:09.620 reportedly seized cash, computers, files, and passports. Then in 2017, Pyramid eServices was

00:02:16.980 named in another case. Indian media reported allegations that the company was cheating

00:02:22.700 students and their parents by promising to send them abroad to professional colleges. Juno News

00:02:28.080 has not established that Beattie was convicted in that case. But these allegations and the company's

00:02:33.180 history are certainly relevant when examining a company involved in recruiting international

00:02:37.700 students into Canadian programs. Some students who completed the CAOT Portage programs had already

00:02:43.660 received post-graduation work permits and those permits can allow eligible international graduates

00:02:49.420 to work in canada after completing their studies but some graduates have now had those previously

00:02:54.940 approved permits cancelled by the federal government that means students who came to

00:02:59.260 canada paid tuition and completed their programs are now facing the possibility that they can't

00:03:04.060 stay and work in canada as they expected in cancellation letters immigration refugees and

00:03:08.860 citizenship canada said the eligibility rules for these programs had not actually changed

00:03:15.260 the department said a change to its website in june 2026 simply clarified requirements that

00:03:21.340 had already existed for the students affected however that distinction doesn't change the

00:03:25.820 fact that permits they had already been approved for are now being cancelled portage college has

00:03:31.020 confirmed that some graduates were affected and directed students to ircc and licensed

00:03:36.300 immigration professionals, emphasizing that immigration decisions aren't made by the federal

00:03:41.280 government. But there are still major questions about the recruitment process itself. What were

00:03:46.820 students told when these programs were being marketed in India? Were they told they would be

00:03:51.900 eligible for work permits after graduating? And how much did the Canadian institutions know about

00:03:57.900 the company recruiting students on their behalf? Juno News reached out to both CIOT and Portage

00:04:03.780 college but neither responded to our request for comments if you'd like to read more you can visit

00:04:08.980 junonews.com

Juno News - August 12, 2026

Pyramid firm caught playing both sides of Canada student scheme

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