Thank you, Mr. Chair; and good morning, everyone. Bonjour tout le monde.
My name is John Ryan. I'm here this morning to address the committee in my capacity as chairman of the board and the acting chief executive officer of the Canadian Society of Immigration Consultants. I am here with my fellow CSIC board members, Imran Qayyum, who is the vice-chair of the society; and Rivka Augenfeld, who is a public interest director from Quebec and the secretary of the corporation.
I would like to thank the chair and the committee for being in Toronto today and allowing us the time to speak on the issue of protecting both the integrity of the immigration system and the consumers of immigration consulting services.
I will speak to you from the perspective of a regulator, describing our role and some of the challenges, and yes, even some of the frustrations that we have regarding the investigation of unauthorized, improper, and unscrupulous practices, and the need for enhanced penalties under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.
The Canadian Society of Immigration Consultants is an independent, not-for-profit organization, at arm's length from government, whose members are recognized as authorized representatives. Since April 2004, under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, only authorized representatives have been able to represent for a fee immigration applicants before the minister.
CSIC is recognized by almost all of the provincial governments, except Quebec, with respect to their provincial programs. CSIC is responsible for regulating the activities of 1,277 members, as well as setting education standards and testing for competency.
In the first few years of our existence, we have put in place membership standards, an enforceable code of conduct, a credible complaints and discipline mechanism, an errors and omissions insurance requirement in favour of the consumer, and mandatory professional development education requirements for all members. We work from an established comprehensive strategic plan, a multi-year budgeting plan, and we submit to independent financial audits that are presented to our members on a regular basis.
We carry out regular, extensive, and ongoing communications with members, we publish all decisions following the outcome of our hearings, and each year there is an open election process for CSIC directors.The board of directors is accountable to the members through the annual general meeting and special meetings that have been held and will continue to be held, and members may bring forward duly constituted motions.