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Citizenship and Immigration committee The college would be self-funded by fees paid by consultants.
May 6th, 2019Committee meeting
Natasha Kim
Citizenship and Immigration committee We envision that the compensation fund, which would be managed by the college, would be funded through the college's resources, perhaps through a levy on members. As well, if there are monetary penalties as a result of disciplinary decisions, for example, those penalties could go into the fund to provide recourse to victims.
May 6th, 2019Committee meeting
Natasha Kim
Citizenship and Immigration committee It would come out of the bylaws as they're established, but the obligation for additional training, if you're appearing before a tribunal, is something that's set out in the statute itself.
May 6th, 2019Committee meeting
Natasha Kim
Citizenship and Immigration committee Madame Chair, there are very detailed transitional provisions set out in the bill so as to try to make sure there is the least disruption possible for both clients and consultants themselves, and so there aren't disciplinary or enforcement issues that fall through the cracks. A lot of that would just transition over in phases, so that there would continue to be oversight over the profession.
May 6th, 2019Committee meeting
Natasha Kim
Citizenship and Immigration committee The legislation doesn't go into that level of detail, but it does require the complaints committee to consider every complaint brought to it. Of course, there are challenges sometimes with the actual investigation if someone's not willing to come forward, but that would be worked out on a case-by-case basis.
May 6th, 2019Committee meeting
Natasha Kim
Citizenship and Immigration committee Certainly, and that's part of what the budget investments are for, to provide more resources to CBSA to pursue criminal investigations, which can result in both imprisonment and fines. As the minister noted, those fines would be doubling.
May 6th, 2019Committee meeting
Natasha Kim
Citizenship and Immigration committee That would be set by bylaws by the college.
May 6th, 2019Committee meeting
Natasha Kim
Citizenship and Immigration committee No, although I understand the ICCRC has been working with the IRB around what it could look like.
May 6th, 2019Committee meeting
Natasha Kim
Citizenship and Immigration committee Under the current framework, under the Canada Not-for-profit Corporations Act, no members of the board of the ICCRC are appointed by the minister. There are public interest directors under their own constitution, but most are elected by the board itself or by the membership. This would be new, where the minister would be appointing those public interest directors to act in the public interest, and they would not be practising consultants.
May 6th, 2019Committee meeting
Natasha Kim
Citizenship and Immigration committee It would be just the public interest directors; there would be elected members as well who would be elected from amongst the membership.
May 6th, 2019Committee meeting
Natasha Kim
Citizenship and Immigration committee Certainly, in relation to consultants and increased robustness around the regulation of the consultant industry, there would be, as the minister laid out, a number of additional recourses and consequences for either unscrupulous or unauthorized practice. As it relates to temporary foreign workers in particular, I would note that there are also other mechanisms in place.
May 6th, 2019Committee meeting
Natasha Kim
Citizenship and Immigration committee I believe the committee will be hearing from them later today, but we have certainly been in regular contact with them. We have talked to them about the proposed changes. The reaction we have received has been fairly positive.
May 6th, 2019Committee meeting
Natasha Kim
Citizenship and Immigration committee In terms of paralegals, in Ontario at least, that issue was resolved in part by bringing them in as members of the law society and governing them through that mechanism. Consultants are another option, but it would have to have been addressed by every province in order for that to be effective as a national solution.
May 6th, 2019Committee meeting
Natasha Kim
Citizenship and Immigration committee What's being proposed here is a regulatory body that would govern immigration and citizenship consultants. In terms of whether they should or shouldn't be filling out forms, I guess I would say that anyone who was acting as an immigration consultant would have to meet the qualifications and the education standards that are set out.
May 6th, 2019Committee meeting
Natasha Kim
Citizenship and Immigration committee Under the status quo, under the existing framework, for example, immigration consultants can't necessarily appear before a court. They can appear before the IRB, an immigration tribunal, but what is new within the proposed legislation would be they would be required to have extra training to be qualified to appear before a tribunal.
May 6th, 2019Committee meeting
Natasha Kim