First of all, I have to apologize for being late. Thanks for the invitation. I live in Mississauga, and as everybody knows, the weather is bad.
Anyway, we're mainly talking about consultants right now. I have personally been in this profession for the last 32 years. I have gone through all kinds of situations in the profession. Eventually CSIC was created, and I had the pleasure of serving the minister as a member of the advisory committee regulating the consultants. So I know all of the background to what we have gone through.
CSIC, as I just said, has gone through a lot of challenges and turbulent times. In any new organization, as we all know, especially in a professional body, you are governed by certain rules, ethics, and the whole bit. In my view, CSIC has just come out of its infancy; they are growing and becoming mature. Guaranteed, everything may not be satisfactory, but I think there is an effort on the part of the management to keep CSIC on the right track; we know that a lot of people are watching us. The idea is to keep the consumer in a safe situation while we practise our profession.
Some of you know that when CSIC was created, our association, the International Association of Immigration Practitioners, went to court against CSIC on reasons of principle. Somehow it was resolved amicably with respect from both sides. Ever since, we have supported CSIC and their recent achievements wholeheartedly, including the new institute they have set up, which is going to give courses and continuing education for those already practising.
The main problem we have in our profession is the ghost consultant. Some speakers may already have spoken about this. I know that in the last four or five years, since the regulation of the consultants was done, the business has gone down. A lot of people are complaining, including me. One of the main reasons being talked about is the ghost consultants.
We suggest that the minister, or CSIC, should be given the mandate. Our Australian counterparts and the licensing body in the U.K. have the mechanisms to nail down any unauthorized consultants who practise. I think we have to come up with some kind of arrangement here in Canada. Either the minister should take this responsibility or CSIC should be mandated to do this part of the work, because we are the people who are certified; we are the people who pay money to CSIC. At the same time, although CSIC is there for the protection of the consumer, we also have to be protected to practise our livelihood. It's our suggestion that some arrangement should be made so that our profession is protected.
As I said, I do commend the work done by CSIC management. At the same time, it's a new body. If there are some drawbacks, they can be overcome. I serve on the CSIC membership affairs committee as a co-chair, and we always encourage members of CSIC to come forward with constructive suggestions so that we can all get united and make a go of it. If everybody gets united in a positive direction, I'm sure that CSIC will emerge as a body that we can be proud of in a very short time to come.
These are our suggestions. Thank you very much.