TORONTO — Canada’s immigration minister says tougher fines and reinforced regulations are in store when he tables legislation cracking down on “crooked” immigration consultants this week.
Jason Kenney told CTV’s Question Period on Sunday the package will increase fines and penalties against consultants who “often provide people with counterfeit documents, fraudulent advice, or don’t provide any services in all.
“Tens of thousands of people here and abroad have been victimized by these unscrupulous ‘ghost consultants,’ ” he said. “It’s time that we crack down on them.”
Kenney said the bill will also make it a criminal offence to operate as an unlicensed immigration consultant.
The government hit a snag over its reform of the refugee system last week, leaving it up in the air days after Kenney announced he had reached a deal with the Liberal party’s immigration critic to get the bill through committee.
I support the idea of what the tories are doing. It is very sad to take advantage of people who want to come to Canada in search of a better life. I am always sympathetic to this being an immigrant myself. I hope this law makes for a better immigration system in Canada.
ReplyDeleteThis article is also a good example of how the parliamentary system works. The government proposes legislation through the minister responsible and the House votes on it to become a law and then it usually goes to the senate.
I agree with you Ilija. Being from Bangladesh, a developing country myself, I know numerous people that are willing to pay extreme amounts of money to set foot into this land of opportunities and dreams. It is deeply heart-breaking that almost half of these people fall in the hands of these “crooked” organizations. Let me tell you something. In a developing country like mine, due to severe inequality and imbalance, a few hundred thousand dollars might have no significance to some but to most people, all that money is earned through their hard-work. Moreover, every penny they earn is necessary for them because the prices of food, clothing and other goods are constantly fluctuating and therefore, whatever people earn is close to their hearts! It is cruel for anybody to try to snatch all this hard earned money away only to replace it with counterfeited d worthless documents! It is cruel and brutal t o give anybody fake hope like this as well. I am really glad that our government has recognized this issue and has decided to take it into serious consideration. I am sure that by doing this, people will be more away about walking themselves into traps and scams and like you said Ilija, it will make a better immigration system for Canada. I do feel though that Canada should be in constant contact with their embassies overseas because I recall that when my family and I received our legal landed immigrants papers, we were offered over $200,000 to sell our papers so that it could be used for these scam companies! If the government of Canada keeps a closer look at the immigration process up until they actually land here, then it would make everything much smoother. Although it is understandable that Canada has thousands of new immigrants pouring into the country everyday and it is difficult to monitor all of them, with some dedication and planning, I am sure Canada can fix these problems.
ReplyDeleteBeing born in the Philippines and coming here, I have sympathy to other immigrants. I know so many people who live in other countries who would love to live in Canada, but don't get he opportunity to because of the cost from these "crooked" organizations. People's hard earned money should not be giving to these people! It's about time Canada get's a stricter immigrant laws and track down these "crooked" organizations.
ReplyDeleteI agree that their should be tougher fines and reinforced regulations. It's illegal to provide counterfeit documents and there should defiantly be tough fines for it. Although at the end of the day im sure a lot of immigrants who really want to live in Canada will do anything to get in. So maybe the government should help prevent this from happening, by having a better and faster system for people who want to immigrate to Canada. If it was easier to get into Canada and more people were allowed in, then there would be less need for counterfeit documents and illegal immigrants.
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