Citizenship and Immigration committee  That's where I've stated there needs to be procedural fairness processes in place—with fulsome disclosure—so individuals can answer concerns that may have been raised in their application. However this task force conducts its assessment, it will obviously have potentially significant consequences for individuals.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  It's a delicate situation, and I think the integrity of the immigration system is something that, as lawyers, we are very mindful of, as well. Individuals coming into Canada need to comply with the act and regulations when they are seeking admission into this country. If there are other extenuating circumstance, such as duress or fraud—it would depend on the particular facts of the case—those would have to be looked at carefully.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Thank you, Madam Chair, and honourable members for inviting me here today. I'm pleased to see that this committee is working towards supporting students who are innocent victims in a fraudulent scheme, and having discussions about creating systems that will prevent such occurrences in the future.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I would say they should be encouraged, especially since many of the pathways require, for example, a certain level of English, which I have concerns with because I'm not sure if those levels of English are required in any event. However, if that is going to be a criterion at some level, then why not encourage these workers to take on English courses or some other training that will increase their skill sets and benefit Canada even further?

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Fixing that is the golden question. We've been trying that for years. As I said, it would be some sort of front-end approach. What we're trying to do right now is put a lot of money and resources into investigating individuals who we suspect are abusing the system and taking advantage of workers.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Well, we already have the open work permit for vulnerable workers option available, but it takes time. I hear what you're saying. If there were some immediate measure or step that someone could take to get out because the processing in the other vulnerable worker route takes time, it would be helpful—

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I acknowledge that there have been a number of initiatives by the government to address individuals who are struggling to find a pathway. We saw the situation where the marks to get in under the express entry were lowered. The difficulty that we find as counsel is that these initiatives spring up, and we're not given much notice, and then we have clients scrambling and trying to figure out who is going to fit in what scenario.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I understand the conundrum of the government. We see this in some decisions, where comments are made that they've stayed under the radar and they've misused our immigration process. However, many of these people have been giving back, but have been taken advantage of because they are undocumented.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Thank you. I'm a lawyer. My primary area of practice is immigration law. Many of the immigration clients I represent are the most vulnerable in our community. For instance, I have advocated on behalf of out-of-status women, along with other stakeholders, at policy round tables created by this government.