OTTAWA – Immigration Minister Jason Kenney has introduced a bill to change the rules surrounding those who offer immigration advice, in order to counter the sweeping problem of "crooked consultants" who bilk unsuspecting immigrants of thousands of dollars and often go unpunished.
The government wants to close numerous "loopholes" and ultimately make the crimes of so-called "ghost consultants" punishable by up to two years in jail and/or a fine of $50,000.
The proposed legislation would amend the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act so that fees could only be charged by authorized consultants, lawyers and notaries. It also would widen the scope of when it becomes a crime for an unauthorized consultant to provide advice for a fee to include the time before an application is submitted.
"The unfortunate reality is that many consultants are working dishonestly or even illegally, to profit from people’s dream of coming here," said Kenney.
In addition to intruding the bill in Parliament, the government intends to open a public selection process to institute a new governing body to regulate immigration consultants and to enhance government oversight.
The Canadian Society of Immigration Consultants, a private corporation established in 2004, is the current regulatory body. The CSIC has been criticized for being ineffective in regulating its own members as well as going after crooked consultants.
However, the society would still be eligible to re-apply for the position as part of the new selection process.
Nigel Thomson, chair of the CSIC, said the group praises the legislation and the opportunity to re-apply under the new rules.
"CSIC welcomes the opportunity to set the record straight and is confident that the minister will see that the CSIC of 2010 is nothing like the CSIC of 2006," Thomson said in a release.
The Cracking Down on Crooked Crime Act would also allow the Citizenship and Immigration Department to disclose information to those responsible for governing or investigating unethical conduct, which is not currently allowed.
NDP immigration critic Olivia Chow called the bill a step "in the right direction," but cautioned that enacting legislation is not enough.
"What we need to see is to make sure that there are resources to enforce the law, because the law wouldn’t be worth the paper it’s written on unless the immigration officers are detecting, overseas and in Canada, that crooked consultants are involved."
She said there should be a "co-operative approach" among local police, provincial police, the RCMP and the Canada Border Services Agency, to enforce the law.
"Ghost" consultants operate inside Canada and abroad and frequently charge prospective immigrants thousands of dollars to fill out applications, which are often falsified and, in some cases, are not even submitted.
They earned the "ghost" label because they go unseen by immigration officials and their names do not appear on paperwork submitted to the government.
One couple, Ricardo Miranda and Irma Luque, came to Montreal from Chile in 1986. They paid $8,000 to a man named Luigi who claimed to be a consultant.
Ten years later, Miranda discovered he did not have Canadian citizenship because the forms were all "fake." He and his wife both worked two restaurant jobs to pay the consultant.
"He didn’t do nothing," said Miranda. The couple, who now live in Toronto with their son Cristian, received permanent residency on the grounds of humanitarian compassion two years ago. They believe the man who scammed them continues to do the same to others.
Some immigration consultants are currently beyond the reach of the law because the activities of immigration representatives are only regulated at the point of a submission of an application or at the beginning of a proceeding.
Unlike lawyers and certified immigration consultants, unlicensed consultants don’t have to adhere to education and ethical standards imposed respectively by provincial law societies or the CSIC. Many operate abroad, making it difficult for authorities here to put them out of business.
While the scope of the problem remains largely anecdotal, Kenney referenced hundreds of cases where immigrants to Canada have shared their stories with the media.
Canada admitted about 250,000 new permanent residents last year.
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