OTTAWA – The Canadian Bar Association’s Citizenship and Immigration Law Section is urging the Commons Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration to recommend that Bill C-17 amending the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) not be passed by Parliament. Instead, the CBA recommends that the minister should continue to use existing measures in the IRPA to maintain transparency and accountability in the approval of work permits granted to temporary foreign workers.
“As it stands right now, Bill C-17 would give the minister of citizenship and immigration broad and unreviewable powers,” says Alex Stojicevic, of Vancouver, Chair of the CBA’s National Citizenship and Immigration Law Section. “The CBA believes that decisions to give work permits under the IRPA should be based on objective criteria.”
The CBA is also reiterating its concerns about immigration consultants. The government created the Canadian Society of Immigration Consultants (CSIC) to protect the public from unscrupulous practices in 2003. Questions have been raised about the effectiveness of the CSIC.
“The CSIC still does not seem to be fulfilling its mandate to protect the public,” says Stojicevic. “The government created the CSIC and gave its members legitimacy by naming them as authorized representatives under the IRPA. The government is therefore responsible for ensuring that the CSIC is protecting the public.”
The CBA recommends that if the CSIC is not fulfilling its mandate, then its members should no longer be recognized as authorized representatives under the IRPA, and appropriate steps should be taken to regulate consultants.
Alex Stojicevic is presenting the CBA’s views to the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration in Richmond, B.C. on March 31, 2008 at 4 p.m. at the Best Western Richmond Hotel & Convention Centre, Minoru A+B Room, 7551 Westminster Hwy.
CBA submissions on work permits, the IRPA and immigration consultants can be found on the association’s website at:
http://www.cba.org/CBA/submissions/pdf/08-13-eng.pdf
http://www.cba.org/CBA/submissions/pdf/07-36-eng.pdf
http://www.cba.org/CBA/submissions/pdf/05-60-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.
- 30 -
CONTACT: Hannah Bernstein, Canadian Bar Association. Tel: (613) 237-2925, ext. 146; E-mail: hannahb@cba.org.
