Cracking Down on Crooked Consultants

Speaking notes


Speaking notes for The Honourable Jason Kenney, P.C., M.P.

Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism

Cracking Down on Crooked Consultants

Ottawa, Ontario, June 8, 2010



As Delivered



Good morning. I’m pleased to be here joined this morning by the Miranda family, Ricardo, Irma and Christian, who immigrated to Canada some 14 years ago from Chile and who paid an immigration consultant $5,000 U.S., someone who pretended to be a registered member of the Law Society but who in fact was a crooked consultant who took their money, provided nothing in return, told them they needed his advice in order to immigrate to Canada and get status here.



They, like thousands of other honest hardworking Canadian families were exploited by crooked consultants. And today through the introduction of Bill C-35, An Act to Crack Down on Crooked Consultants, we will provide protection to do everything we can within the law to prevent the crooked consultants from exploiting would-be immigrants in the future.



Canada has relied on immigration for over two-thirds of our population growth over the past five years. Last year, Canada brought in over half a million newcomers, including permanent residents, students and temporary foreign workers. And they’ve chosen to come to Canada because they are attracted by our prosperity and our freedom. But because so many people want to come to Canada – and, in fact, Gallup Poll International estimates some 40 million people hope to immigrate to this country – because they hope to come to Canada, we develop long lineups, and the immigration procedures can seem complex, so many prospective immigrants seek the services of a consultant for help in navigating the process.



While most immigration consultants working in Canada are acting professionally and ethically, the unfortunate reality is that many consultants are acting dishonestly or even illegally to profit from people’s dream of coming here. We call these profiteers crooked consultants. We all know that people anxious to immigrate to Canada can fall victim to concealed advisors who frequently charge significant fees, promise would-be immigrants high-paying jobs or fast-tracked visas, and often sell them counterfeit travel documents which are used to deceive Canadian immigration officials. These prospective immigrants often find out too late that they’ve been deceived.



The media has done an excellent job shining light on many of these injustices. Just the other day I heard a story about a case involving a crooked consultant whose license had been revoked but who had continued to practise, promising an applicant help with the Immigrant Investor Program. This consultant evidently provided no service and filed no paperwork and refused to refund the $70,000 fee they had taken.



In another case recently reported on in the media, some $90,000 was paid to a consultant for assistance in bringing family members to Canada to work as labourers. As is so often the case, the applicant lost his money.



And, of course, there were the investigations on crooked immigration and citizenship consultants conducted by Radio‑Canada’s Enquête.



And there have been many reports of crooked immigration consultants coaching people to make bogus refugee claims, one of the reasons for our broken asylum system to which the government is responding through our Balanced Refugee Reform Act.



Investigations are going on throughout Canada. Thousands of people are suspected of having defrauded the government – over 1,800 in Montreal alone – with the help of crooked consultants. Cases like this are common, they are unfortunate, but they should never be considered inevitable.



And this is just a compilation of some media reports and transcripts in the past couple of years detailing specific acts of fraud and exploitation by immigration consultants. This represents probably a small portion of those Canadians who have been hurt by these bottom feeders in the immigration industry.



That’s why I’m here to announce that I have introduced Bill C-35, the Cracking Down on Crooked Consultants Act, which would protect newcomers by addressing those who provide false advice as unregistered immigration consultants. The Cracking Down on Crooked Consultants Act would strengthen the rules governing those who charge a fee for immigration advice. It would close loopholes currently exploited by crooked consultants, and it would improve the way in which immigration consultants are regulated.



The bill would make it a crime for unauthorized individuals to provide immigration advice for a fee, and this criminal offence has teeth. It will impose serious penalties: up to two years in jail or a $50,000 fine, or both. It would amend the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act so that only lawyers, notaries, and authorized consultants who are members in good standing of a governing body authorized by the Minister may provide advice or representation – or offer to do so – at any stage of a proceeding or application. This closes a major loophole that was being exploited by crooked consultants.



Under current legislation, some immigration consultants are beyond the reach of the Immigration Act. The Act regulates the activities of consultants from the time an application is submitted but not prior to proceedings. The proposed legislative changes would ensure that all advice supplied for a fee would have to be provided by an authorized immigration consultant. After all, anyone who provides immigration advice for a fee is acting as a professional and so they should be members in good standing of an authorized regulatory body.



The bill allows Citizenship and Immigration Canada to disclose information relating to the ethical or professional conduct of an immigration representative to those responsible for governing or investigating that conduct. The proposed legislation is in line with the recommendations of a parliamentary committee report that was based on consultations with stakeholders and other members of the public. This report reflected the numerous and detailed concerns regarding the regulation of immigration consultants.



I have personally had similar concerns expressed to me on this specific issue and it is apparent that a new approach to the regulation of immigration consultants is needed.



The proposed legislation implements unanimous recommendations of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Immigration which were arrived at following extensive consultations. And I’d like to acknowledge the good work of all of those on the committee, particularly Olivia Chow, who has been a tireless champion of victims of ghost immigration consultants.



The proposed legislation implements those recommendations. According to the committee, complaints were heard from a number of consultants across the country, many of whom have expressed great dissatisfaction with the way that the Canadian Society of Immigration Consultants, or CSIC, is currently governed. That’s why I’m taking immediate steps to address this problem, a problem that poses a significant threat to the immigration system and has created a lack of public confidence in the regulation of consultants.



A Notice of Intent will be published shortly in the Canada Gazette announcing CIC’s intention to launch a competitive public selection process to identify a governing body for recognition as the regulator of immigration consultants under the existing Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations.



The Notice of Intent will request comments from the public on the proposed selection process. A transparent selection process will then identify the body best able to effectively regulate consultants in support of Canada’s public confidence in the immigration system.



That’s why the Cracking Down on Crooked Consultants Act would also give the Minister the authority to designate a body to govern immigration consultants and establish measures that would enhance the government’s oversight of the designated regulator. The bill will also make the regulator more accountable, forcing it to share information with the government, which will ensure that it is accountable to its members and acting in the public interest.



The regulatory body must regulate effectively and must be held accountable for ensuring their membership provides services in a professional and ethical manner and that real sanctions are taken if their members do otherwise.



Many people who dream of immigrating to Canada are victimized by crooked consultants like the Miranda family. Of course, Canadian law cannot be enforced in foreign countries, although we do insist that anyone representing an applicant to one of our offices abroad be a licensed member of the regulatory agency. But more must be done with the problem of exploitation overseas.



That is why as part of the crackdown we are announcing today, Canada will implement a strategy to strongly encourage the governments of foreign countries that are the major source of immigration to Canada to follow our lead and to implement and enforce meaningful regulation of immigration consultants.



We started this process last year in my visit to India. I’m please to see an increase in the number of charges laid and convictions secured against fraudsters in the immigration field, but much more can be done there and in other countries and we will be pursuing that in a determined fashion.



Additionally, there are non-legislative improvements tied to this announcement. Efforts to raise awareness of the risks of engaging crooked consultants will continue. We have put warnings and public awareness notices in 17 languages on our websites in all of our offices and missions abroad. We’ve issued public awareness advertisements and we continue to try to make people aware they don’t need to use a consultant. If they do, it should be someone who is licensed and practising in good standing.



We are also looking at continued improvements to service, including web-based tools and videos that help to simplify the immigration process for people, and we are making more and more of our processes for application available online, again making it possible for people to cut out the middle man if they want to.



There are also improvements such as increasing efforts to inform the public of the risks associated with fraudulent consultants and to simplify the immigration process.



But the problem of fraud is much larger and also encompasses consultants who help people gain Canadian citizenship fraudulently. The problem is not only in immigration; it is in citizenship as well.



That’s why this Government also intends to take action on citizenship consultants, to improve measures to address fraud and protect the value of Canadian citizenship. It is quite clear that fraud remains a widespread threat to the integrity of our citizenship and immigration programs and costs us all.



So the government is committed to tackling immigration fraud, cracking down on crooked consultants. That was a commitment reiterated in the Speech from the Throne. And it’s been by listening to victims through our consultations that we’ve learned to take these measures. I’d like to thank all members of the public, all victims of crooked consultants who have come forward and told their stories. I’d like to thank all parties involved in the Standing Committee for their thoughtful work on this issue.



I am convinced that these efforts will protect families in the future – like the Mirandas, as I said before – who were exploited.