Mr. Speaker, on May 13, I wrote the minister of immigration a letter and on May 14, I asked a question in the House with regard to a gentleman in Vancouver named Mr. Iraz Rezaei who runs an immigration consulting firm and who is facing 18 criminal charges for the way he conducts his business. The charges against Mr. Rezaei are eight counts of forgery with passports, six counts of attempted organized illegal entry into Canada, two counts of counselling false refugee claims, one count of threatening and one count of assault.
When I asked the minister the question in the House her answer was the normal one she gives, that she does not talk about specific details of any individual case. This was not a case. This was an individual breaking the law in Canada and who is now using the Internet to expand his business. He is sort of laughing at us with the negative publicity he is getting. He is saying it has actually increased his business.
The minister also wrote me a letter. Amazingly enough, I received it today. It is dated May 25 but it arrived today. Once again the minister says she will not talk about the case because it is a criminal case, that he is innocent until proven guilty and that they are not going to do anything. As the minister knows, if a lawyer were charged with such offences that lawyer would be suspended during the investigation. Yet this man is allowed to continue doing his business. That is because there is no regulatory body.
The minister's letter states: “You are likely aware that there are currently no regulatory bodies or regulations governing immigration consultants and that CIC officials are currently examining the very complex issue of how best to encourage competency and integrity in persons who represent our clients”, the people who come to Canada as immigrants or refugees. She states: “Officials will be presenting options on how to address this very important issue in the near future”.
The near future is not good enough. We have been looking at the near future in this department for years and years. The minister also said: “I am sure you can understand that, due to Canada's privacy legislation and because the case is before the courts, no further comment would be appropriate”.
The privacy legislation in Canada was not brought in to protect criminals, those who violate the laws of Canada. It is right in the act that for the Canadian good ministers can go around the Privacy Act. Certainly with a gentleman like this, with all these charges against him, with what is happening in his business, with the demand of the people in the city of Vancouver and the province of British Columbia, the minister should give us the full details concerning this case.
While negotiations are going on with the provinces on this issue, the minister should tell Canadians that her department will not deal with immigration consultants, period, until the licensing issue is solved. Let us put them right out of business until they have licences and until there is a body that can govern what they do.
Innocent people are coming to Canada. The federal government immigration office is in downtown Vancouver. That is where people get sworn in to become citizens and where they go for interviews. It is a very nice building with all the typical government signage on it, welcome to Canada. Right across the street is this gentleman's business. It has big signs in every language “free immigration consultant”. We all know he is not in business for free.
I know Vancouver like the back of my hand but there are those just coming to Canada, a strange country for them. A new citizen or a refugee may come to this country and be told at the airport to go downtown. He will see this sign across the street that says free help. Looks nice and warm. It has his own language written on the sign. He will tend to walk in there before he goes in to see those big government guys. They are not used to free governments like ours. They are not used to officials who work to the benefit of those who are trying to come here. They get sucked into this man's office. He is there. He sucks them in. He finds out where their money is and he is making lots of money. It is time the minister acted.