For Immediate Release
July 11, 2007
OTTAWA—The Canadian Society of Immigration Consultants (CSIC) is not meeting its mandate to protect the public from unscrupulous immigration consultants, and the federal government is duty-bound to conduct a broad assessment of the regulation of such consultants, says the CBA.
A recent investigative series in the Toronto Star suggests that the regulatory scheme for immigration consultants, instituted in 2003, continues to fail the public.
In a letter to Citizenship and Immigration Minister Diane Finley, CBA President J. Parker MacCarthy, Q.C. called on the government to conduct a broad assessment of whether CSIC is meeting its mandate for the regulation of consultants.
“The federal government gave the imprimatur of legitimacy to CSIC through recognition of its members as ‘authorized representatives’ of those subject to the immigration or refugee process in Canada,” wrote Mr. MacCarthy. “You cannot now disavow any responsibility for ensuring CSIC is performing its duty of protecting the public.
“Four years into CSIC’s mandate, the CBA is not aware of any discipline hearings heard to date by the organization,” Mr. MacCarthy wrote. “If CSIC is not adequately performing this duty, then the government should no longer recognize CSIC members as authorized representatives and explore alternative public protection measures.”
In his letter, Mr. MacCarthy emphasized an inherent flaw in the law: any consultant, whether a CSIC member or not, may legally provide immigration advice for a fee. Even though only lawyers and CSIC members may be listed as authorized representatives in an application or proceeding, this does not prevent consultants from providing immigration advice and filling out the paperwork for a client without signing it. It is this flaw, says the CBA, that allows “ghost consultants” to carry out unregulated consultancy.
A copy of the CBA’s letter to Minister Finley is available on the CBA website at:
http://www.cba.org/CBA/submissions/pdf/07-36-eng.pdf.
The Canadian Bar Association is dedicated to improvement in the law and the administration of justice. Some 37,000 lawyers, law teachers, and law students from across Canada are members.
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CONTACT: Emily Porter, Canadian Bar Association, Tel: (613) 237-2925, 1-800-267-8860 ext. 155; E-mail: emilyp@cba.org.
