Citizenship and Immigration committee  Allow me to respond. As was indicated in the response to Mr. St-Cyr, the contribution loan amount of $500,000—there was a grant and a loan—was dependent on CSIC reaching a minimum membership number of 3,000 members, at which point the $500,000 became repayable under the contribution agreement.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Let me be clear. With regard to the minister's power, our concern is only that this bill gives the minister the power to change the regulator without referring to anyone.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  We're quite happy with the proposed structure--that we be a Canada part II corporation--and particularly with the amendments to the Canada part II legislation, which will now allow further rights to members. We think this will be very workable. We are already working on new bylaws for the part II corporations, which would come into effect in 2011, as we all know, and we hope they will effectively increase members' ability to participate in the society.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  That's an excellent question. Part of the mandate given by government to CSIC at its creation was the protection of the consumer, the protection of the public, not the protection of the integrity of the immigration system, which is the responsibility of the department. Our mandate and our focus is the protection of the public through the accreditation, education, and regulation of our members.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Ms. Chow, thank you. Yes, indeed, we have increased our staff, because we have added significant new functions within CSIC. We've added a compliance function, which is providing audits of members, allowing us to review, before there is a complaint or disciplinary action against a member, the practices of members to ensure they're in keeping with the code of professional conduct and the bylaws of the society.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  There certainly is. Obviously, CMI provides services to its fellows. If I may, I am going to defer to Mr. Qayyum to answer in regard to those services and the activities that CMI was carrying out. A considerable portion of the funds expended by CMI is for direct services to members.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  If I might say, Monsieur St-Cyr, the Government of Quebec is the regulator of immigration consultants in Quebec. CSIC is taking on the role, if you like, of an administrative arm on behalf of the Government of Quebec in terms of registration, testing, and imposition of language standards.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  It's about $220.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Yes. So our fees come in, in total.... As you may be aware, the current Law Society of Upper Canada errors and omissions insurance will run in the neighbourhood of $3,500 for a lawyer to practise in Ontario. So we believe that our fees are competitive, given the size of CSIC. Obviously it's been raised by this committee that the size of the membership of CSIC does obviously impact on fees.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Indeed, there have been criticisms. I don't think those criticisms are justified. CSIC has accountability to its board of directors. All six consultant members of the board of directors are now elected. There's one appointed at the present time, but that position will come up for election this year.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Would you like me to perhaps address the issue of fees, Mr. Trudeau?

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I think that's a point that's been made in several complaints brought by individuals to this committee. CSIC is a regulator. We're not a member advocate organization. Our interests are in pursuing the public mandate through maintaining our programs and maintaining the regulation and control of our membership.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  At the present time it's about $2,700, plus errors and omissions insurance.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  That's an excellent question, Monsieur St-Cyr. As one example, we had 130 individuals write the examination for membership in September. More than 100 passed, so the rate of growth has been exceeding our expectations. To go back to your original question, CSIC has been tracking about 1,600 to 1,700 ghost agents.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  May I add to that, Mr. Chair? Basically, CSIC requires both compulsory and voluntary continuing professional development from its members in a two-year cycle. CMI is one of the providers of voluntary CPD. CSIC itself provides the compulsory CPD requirements. I would note that in terms of educational criteria for entry to the profession, CSIC has a number of educational partners, including Bow Valley College, the University of British Columbia, Seneca, and other educational institutions, that have been educational partners in providing basic education for entry to the profession.