Law Times

www.lawtimesnews.com Page 12 March 10, 2008 / Law TiMes Concerns over regulation of immigration consultants M onths after it sent a let- ter to the government detailing its concerns over the regulation of immigration consultants, the Canadian Bar As- sociation says, while its position remains the same, it is giving the government and the Canadian Society of Immigration Consul- tants time to adapt and meet their objectives. Last summer, in a letter to the minister of Citizenship and Immi- gration, past CBA president Parker MacCarthy noted the association continued to be concerned that "the Canadian Society of Immi- gration Consultants (CSIC) is not meeting its mandate to protect the public from unscrupulous immi- gration consultants." The association sent a simi- lar letter to the department in 2005, outlining it was "increas- ingly concerned that CSIC may be unable to live up to its public protection mandate." CSIC was created in 2004 after a government advisory committee found there were no set standards for the levels of education and quality of services, nor for profes- sional accountability, in the immi- gration-consultant industry; no formal complaints process was in place; and some consultants were unscrupulous, says the society. CSIC is an independent organiza- tion whose members charge a fee for their services. It currently regu- lates over 1000 consultants, who are certified through an accredita- tion process, are subject to a man- datory professional-development program and a code of conduct, and are required to carry errors and omissions insurance. Jean-Philippe Brunet, past chairman of the CBA's citizenship and immigration section, tells Law Times the reason the letter was sent in summer 2007 was the associa- tion was of the opinion the CSIC had no teeth. First of all, certain things that were promised to be put into place were not. There was also the issue of some individuals acting as "ghost consultants" or un- regulated consultants. In its 2007 letter, the CBA notes: "These concerns are height- ened by an inherent flaw in the law, namely that any consultant, whether CSIC members or not, may legally provide immigration advice for a fee." The letter also followed an in- vestigation by the Toronto Star into the regulation of immigration con- sultants, which the CBA says "sug- gests that CSIC members are also implicated in this 'ghost' immigra- tion practice." Following the Star's investigation last summer, CSIC said in a press release it was launch- ing a formal investigation into the professional conduct of four of its members. At the time, CSIC chairman John Ryan said, "We have made great strides since we were cre- ated three years ago, but we are not the police." Calling on the government, as well as CIC, Canadian Border Ser- vices Agency, and the RCMP, to increase their efforts to prosecute fraudulent immigration consul- tants, he added, "The requirements for accreditation are stringent and are having a strong impact on our profession. Now we must come at this issue differently and, most im- portantly, together." Ryan tells Law Times the or- ganization has been on a strategic plan rollout for the last four years, which has taken place on an incre- mental basis. The hearing model is fully up and running, he says, and "delivering on its consumer protec- tion mandate," having heard sev- eral cases, and the compensation fund is expected to be in place by early next year. There is a need to enforce against unscrupulous agents and ghost agents, he notes, but under the model developed, the enforce- ment power for unauthorized representatives was retained by the government of Canada, while CSIC's role is to control the activi- ties of its members. "We have to be clear that it's not CSIC's role to enforce against anyone other than our members," he says. "We are an agency that's tasked with the protection of the public but we're one in a mosaic under this regulation," he says. "The CBA . . . remains [in] the position that we have been for a long time now and we've expressed very serious concerns last year that we still have," says Brunet. Brunet says, since last year, CSIC has been trying to move forward with finalization of the various tests required to assess the consultants that want to register in their organization, but the prob- lem still remains that it isn't com- pleted. Things are still status quo, he notes. There are incredibly competent and terrific consultants, says Bru- net, who the CBA doesn't have a problem with — it is concerned with the ones who aren't. "We're not in an adversarial mode against [the organization]," he says. "We want to make sure that the clients we're representing worldwide are properly represent- ed," he says. The CBA continues to have a dialogue with the government on this issue. "I must say, the govern- ment's been very open about it. They do really want it to work. We do have, and we continue to have, a great collaboration with the government, and that's why we've expressed our concern," he says. "We're not mad against the government. They really defi- nitely tried to more or less meet all interested parties halfway, and unfortunately, again, based upon our submission of last year, we've clearly expressed the fact that, 'Look, we're very concerned. It doesn't seem to be going in the direction that you guys have planned for.'" "Very little is done . . . I don't mean that they're standing still, but it's not enough. We're not far enough at the moment to protect these immigrants or future immi- grants," he says. The government did not com- ment by press time. The only thing the CBA can do, as one of the interested par- ties but not "full-blown actors" in the situation, is to continue to inform the public via con- cerns directed to the depart- ment, says Brunet. "Surely, if it doesn't get any better, we will have to reiter- ate . . . our position. But at the same time, we respect the government and we need to let them and CSIC time to re- act, to adapt, and to hopefully meet the objectives that they have set numerous years ago," he says. FOCUS NO OTHER RESOURCE OFFERS THIS EXPERTISE North American Relocation Law Benjamin A. 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Prices subject to change without notice, and to applicable taxes. For a 30-day, no-risk evaluation call: 1 800 263 2037 or 1 800 263 3269 www.canadalawbook.ca LT0310 Kranc.B. NARL 6.0 3/5/08 2:02 PM Page 1 Jean-Philippe Brunet says, 'We want to make sure that the cli- ents we're representing world- wide are properly represented.' BY HELEN BURNETT Law Times LT *Page 1-16.indd 12 7/18/08 12:49:46 PM

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