CANADIAN ASSOCIATION OF PROFESSIONAL IMMIGRATION CONSULTANTS
The Chair (Mr. Bas Balkissoon): The Canadian Association of Professional Immigration Consultants, Mr. Phil Mooney. Please state your name for the record. You have 10 minutes. If there's any time left at the end of your presentation, we'll have questions.
Mr. Phil Mooney: Thank you, Mr. Chair and committee members. We appreciate the opportunity to speak to you today.
My name is Phil Mooney. I'm the president of the Canadian Association of Professional Immigration Consultants. I'm also a member of the Canada Border Services Advisory Committee, the Citizenship and Immigration Canada immigration practitioner advisory group, and the HRSDC immigration practitioners advisory group. I am a certified Canadian immigration practitioner located in Burlington, Ontario.
My colleague today, Mr. Nir Rozenberg, is also a certified Canadian immigration consultant who operates a caregiver recruiting agency in Markham.
First let me say that we support the intent of this bill and commend the Ontario government and the Minister of Labour for taking this initiative.
CAPIC members, as certified Canadian immigration consultants, assist caregivers by obtaining work permits so they can come to Canada, and by advising them of their rights under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act both before and after they arrive in Canada.
Just like attorneys, we are regulated. We maintain client accounts for funds deposited with us, which are audited by the regulator. We carry insurance for errors and omissions, we have a criminal compensation fund and we operate under a rigorous code of conduct.
Today we'd like to use our deep understanding of the immigration system to help put this whole issue into perspective.
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It's sometimes useful to look back and see how we arrived at this point. Only then can we understand how best to move forward.
Today, you will hear that the process of bringing a caregiver to Canada requires many, many steps when done right. Many honest employers and agencies must have been doing it right as more than 6,500 caregivers gained permanent resident status in the 12 months prior to September this year. Given processing times, these are individuals who first came to Canada in 2005-06.
In general, the vast majority of caregivers are chosen carefully by employers who follow the rules and who are assisted by agencies who work with the employer to ensure that the caregiver meets their needs. This past year, 10,511 live-in caregivers entered Canada to work-approximately 55% of those in Ontario. What is a little troubling is that about 20,000 labour market opinions were issued at the same time.
Normally the system works well, but when done by those who would manipulate it, only two steps are required to be real and verifiable. There must be a real labour market opinion and a real work permit. The labour market opinion, or LMO, is entered into the HRSDC computer system and accessed by CIC. The bad guys cannot access the computer system. The work permit is a government-issued document based on a well-established process common to all temporary foreign workers and their applications.
But nothing else has to be real. In the world of those who would abuse the system, there does not have to be a real employer or a real qualified caregiver. Both can be faked and, until the start of 2009, it was very easy to do.
Before 2009, to get an LMO for a caregiver, no advertising was required. The paperwork was limited and easily assembled. Nor was there any follow-up to validate that the job was real. Stories abound about individuals being asked to sign a bogus LMO application and supply a few papers in return for cash.
The work permit application process was somewhat tougher but, in general, the LMO was respected. Until 2005, the process was relatively quick, especially since applicants could apply anywhere in the immigration system.
Then, in the spring of 2005, CIC changed the system by enacting delayed provisions of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. Applicants were required to file in their home countries or where they were working at the time. A huge backlog developed in the Philippines, which created a demand in Canada for those who could supply caregivers quickly. Enter the bad guys.
Soon, a pipeline was established that saw the unscrupulous recruiters and agents supplying the employers with caregivers immediately, even though the names on the work permit did not match the names on the LMO and the LMOs were mostly or completely fraudulent. Some of the employers and even some of the caregivers willingly participated in the fraud.
Those were the salad days for the abusers, taking in easy money without any fear of getting caught. There was a never-ending stream of caregivers in the pipeline on the way to Canada and a strong demand for their services with no monitoring after the fact and a very vulnerable worker population motivated to not make waves. Rules about work permit renewals or portability were ignored and the new LMOs were easily obtained.
After many complaints and more and more extreme examples of abuse, things started to change late last year and have continued into 2009. HRSDC required that all employers get a Revenue Canada tax number. Then, they insisted on an advertising requirement that included the Service Canada job bank and another source. Finally, employers had to include an attestation from a recognized professional as to their own identity.
Further changes are on the way. Visa posts are now calling employers in Canada to ensure that caregivers have shown up and were really working where it said they were working. Most importantly, the CBSA is calling employers when the caregiver gets to Canada, and if there is no confirmation of the employment are refusing entry and putting the caregivers back on the plane. This is happening in substantial numbers now.
Even Air Canada is asking for a letter from the employer or they don't let the caregiver on the plane because they're responsible for the cost of flying them back. As a result, from hundreds of caregivers every month being "released upon arrival," which is a particularly onerous term, with no job and crushed dreams, the numbers have been reduced to a mere handful. Of course, this has now transferred the problem back to their home countries, but at least they are not easy prey for the vultures who circle the airport departure areas.
As a result, in a few short months since this bill was first proposed, the situation has changed completely. This is all to the dismay of the bad agents in Canada and abroad. Inland, their source of victims is drying up. Overseas, they're facing complaints from caregivers who were forced to return to their home countries, and who are demanding refunds and going after these agencies with the support of their families.
More help is coming with planned changes to the monitoring of LMOs by HRSDC and changes to the overall temporary foreign worker program, which have already been gazetted.
Bill 210, by adding employment standards compliance to these efforts, will be very helpful. However, the bill needs a few simple amendments, or the result will be, in effect, to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
The bill seeks to ensure that caregivers do not pay the cost of recruiting. This is a very good idea, and in line with what other provinces have already implemented, particularly in BC and Alberta. But like the Manitoba legislation, this bill goes further and states that recruiters cannot also charge for voluntary professional development services or for immigration services. For many of these honest, ethical businesses, provision of these services is their lifeblood as they compete with the bad agents. It differentiates them from the "body shops." By providing high-quality voluntary services like CPR training and menu preparation to caregivers who wish them, for a fee, they can compete with the bad agents who charge employers nothing for recruiting and charge extortionate fees to the caregiver.
What are the bad guys going to do after Bill 210 becomes law? I suspect that they'll just figure out a way to get around it.
If Bill 210 does not change, the costs to employers to bring in a caregiver will double or triple. This will make them very easy targets for bad agents offering them caregivers for small or no recruiting fees. Many will give up altogether and try to find other, less expensive methods of daycare.
Bad agents will respond to the possible decline in revenues by marketing individuals with no skills who have paid even more extortionate fees to them, and by supplying questionable documents for references and educational backgrounds. Bad agents will ensure that when HRSDC or CBSA or even CIC calls, someone will be there to answer the phone with the right answers. Bad agents will just pay more to get phony employers to file for LMOs.
As with all such programs, the fight won't be over; the fight will continue. But to win the fight, we must all work together. If Bill 210 is not amended, the government loses their most important ally in the fight against the bad agents, an ally who not only understands the industry but is also prepared to take the fight overseas, where governments typically can't go. These allies offer a direct and ethical alternative to the bad agents inside Ontario and in all the source countries. These allies are the reputable recruiting agencies and the regulated professionals who work with them or for them.
The Chair (Mr. Bas Balkissoon): You have one minute left.
Mr. Phil Mooney: Thank you.
How difficult are the changes we need to make? Not difficult at all. The government simply has to issue a list of prescribed voluntary services for which recruiters can charge caregivers. If there is not time to do so now, the government can simply delay this section from coming into force while it consults with stakeholders on this issue.
Why have they not already been included? In our opinion, it's because of a fear that ethical caregiver agencies, lawyers and certified Canadian immigration consultants will bundle recruiting fees into their prices for professional development or immigration services. We believe that fear to be unsubstantiated. We can provide appropriate checks and balances that will ensure it does not happen.
Visa officers have unfettered discretion to refuse a work permit if they believe that the applicant is being taken advantage of. Let them make the decision by supplying them with all the relevant facts.
We also encourage the government to consider the setting up of some sort of recruiter registration and possibly licensing, as they have in other provinces. We understand there are cost considerations, but we believe this method-
The Chair (Mr. Bas Balkissoon): Thank you very much. I have to move on to the next deputant.
Mr. Phil Mooney: Thank you
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