CIMM - Immigration and Citizenship Consultants - Nov 25, 2020

Key messages

Canada is taking decisive action to protect both the public and licensed consultants in good standing from dishonest actors who are taking advantage of vulnerable people.
Canada is investing $48.3M over four years and $9.8M ongoing to improve the oversight of immigration and citizenship consultants, strengthen compliance and enforcement measures and increase public awareness.
As part of my mandate commitment, we are moving forward with full implementation of the new regime governing immigration and citizenship consultants.
We have established, for the first time, a legislative framework to regulate this profession. We look forward to establishing a new, stronger professional regulator in the form of the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants.

Unlike the current regulator, the College will be a fundamentally different organization. It will have:
- strengthened authorities including strong governance and oversight;
- investigative powers to support complaints and discipline processes;
- power to compel witnesses to appear before the Discipline Committee;
- power to suspend or revoke licenses to practice as part of disciplinary decisions; and
- legislated power to seek court injunctions against unauthorized consultants.
Full implementation of the new regime will take a number of steps, including bringing the College Act into force, the appointment of public interest directors to the College Board by the Government, and the development of supporting regulations.

Our aim is to open the College as soon as possible, and the work is underway, despite challenging circumstances during the pandemic.

Although Budget 2019 announced slightly higher amounts

($51.9M and $10.1 ongoing), these figures were later refined by the Department.

The decision not to have a Government office has been based on the following considerations:
- The cost of such an office is significantly more than a self-regulatory model
- Inconsistent with the norms of professional regulators
- There is a lack of evidence that direct regulation by the Government would provide greater protection
- The perceived conflict of interest is higher as the Government is also making decisions on immigration and citizenship applicants

Through the College Act, the federal government will also gain significant levers for oversight of the new regulator – ministerial power to require the Board to do anything to carry out the purpose of the Act; and the establishment of a code of professional conduct for the consultant profession which will establish strong ethical and professional standards for which licensees will be held accountable in the context of the College’s complaints and discipline regime.
The Act also enables the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship to appoint a majority of Board directors, who will be independent from the Government and not part of the consulting profession.

The client demand for consultants is legitimate and not expected to disappear. Clients continue to use consultants for a variety of factors such as language barriers, lower costs than lawyers and help with paperwork. Deregulating consultants and having them work under lawyers would lead to other risks, including a potential risk for an increase in the number of unlicensed actors operating outside the regulatory regime.

Canada is investing $48.3M over four years and $9.8M ongoing to improve oversight of immigration and citizenship consultants, strengthen compliance and enforcement measures and increase public awareness.
These investments include resources for the Department to improve its ability to conduct investigations and to enable the Department to issue new administrative penalties; as well as more resources for the Canada Border Services Agency to pursue criminal investigations of complex cases related to immigration and citizenship consultants.
New investments will also go towards public education activities and targeted outreach, including to diaspora communities in Canada. Outreach positions are being established internationally to ensure that information is spread within those countries, including the consequences of using an unauthorized representative.
No government funding will go to the College. The College will be entirely funded through licensee fees set by the new College.

The College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants Act (College Act) received Royal Assent in June 2019 as part of the Budget Implementation Act to improve how immigration and citizenship consultants are regulated across Canada.
The establishment of the College Act means that, for the first time, the regulator will be equipped with a statutory framework that provides for the responsibilities and authorities required to govern the profession and hold licensed consultants to high standards of professional and ethical conduct.
In addition to establishing the new College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants, new legislative amendments increased penalties for offences in the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act and the Citizenship Act relating to unauthorized advice and representation, to a maximum of $200,000 in fines or two years imprisonment.
New legislative amendments also provide regulation-making authority for the establishment of a system of administrative penalties – including monetary penalties – aimed at ensuring compliance with the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act and the Citizenship Act by persons providing advice or representation.