Protect immigrants

For decades, experts have been condemning the profusion of unscrupulous and often unlicensed immigration consultants who dupe both their clients and the system, charging fees of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of dollars in the process.

The problem was supposed to have been resolved in 2004 when the federal government invested $1.2 million to create the Canadian Society of Immigration Consultants. As the Star’s Nicholas Keung reports, the self-regulatory body should have brought professionalism to a business with a sleazy reputation.

Instead there were complaints about mismanagement and poor governance. So in 2011, that body was replaced by the Immigration Consultants of Canada Regulatory Council. That too has been a failure. Would-be immigrants continue to be ripped off, and their status put in jeopardy, by unlicensed or crooked immigration consultants. And the regulator itself has been beset by turmoil, with five board members resigning in recent months and another being “removed.”

Now a parliamentary committee has tabled a report recommending the government scrap the council and take on the job of policing Canada’s 4,000 licensed immigration consultants itself. That would ensure, it says, individuals coming to Canada “do not fall victim to the abuses of unscrupulous consultants, and that the integrity of our immigration system is not diminished.”

The committee is right. It sensibly proposes to create a new government body to ensure only lawyers, certain notaries and registered consultants are allowed to practise; that they do so only within the rules; and that they receive a higher standard of training. This would be a significant improvement over the current approach.

Still, some critics, such as the Canadian Bar Association, argue that the committee’s proposals don’t go far enough. They contend that the profession of immigration consulting is beyond redemption and that it’s time for the government to restrict the practice to lawyers and, in Quebec, notaries.

At a time of increasing immigration intake, removing the 4,000 licensed consultants from the system may be imprudent. But if the new regime doesn’t quickly succeed in cleaning up the profession, Ottawa will have little choice but to consider the Bar Association’s suggestion.

In any case, there is no question the government needs to act urgently to rein in corrupt immigration consultants. Sticking with the status quo of self-regulation is clearly not an option.

Immigrating to a new country is already a challenging and fraught endeavour for many. The government has failed for too long to protect prospective newcomers from those who would exploit them.

A new report recommends the government directly regulate the problematic immigration consulting industry. But that may be too little too late