Citizenship and Immigration Committee on Oct. 27th, 2010

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

Yes, sir.

[John Rafferty, NDP, Thunder Bay—Rainy River, ON]

I have a quick question about the minister. As you see it now, should there be more power or less in the minister's hands in this department? Do you have an opinion on that?

[Dave Dyson]

I don't have an opinion.

[Fanny Levy]

If I could go back to your previous question, one model that has worked for Manitoba is having agreements with other countries. One example is our memorandum of understanding with the Philippines. The province will work only with those recruiters in the Philippines who are licensed by that government to find these workers. That has been very helpful for us.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

You have time for another brief question, if you wish.

[John Rafferty, NDP, Thunder Bay—Rainy River, ON]

I did want to ask a question about lawyers. It seems that lawyers are exempt from just about everything, and I know they're not, but they seem to be able to practise immigration law even if they're not immigration lawyers.

If you are a lawyer and not particularly skilled in immigration law, I guess you can you still do it, can you? Any of you could answer and make a comment.

[Fanny Levy]

I have no comment.

[Dave Dyson]

That's my understanding of how it works.

[Cobus (Jacobus) Kriek]

My understanding is that a lawyer can practice criminal law for 40 years and then, in year 41, decide to practise immigration law. That's my understanding.

[John Rafferty, NDP, Thunder Bay—Rainy River, ON]

Is that a problem?

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

There you have it, sir. Now you're over the time.

Ms. Grewal.

[Nina Grewal, Conservative, Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

My questions are for Ms. Levy and Mr. Dyson in Manitoba.

First, I will express my gratitude to these officials and Mr. Kriek for agreeing to testify before our committee to share their insights on this very important issue.

To begin, could you please explain how this bill might support initiatives within your own province to address the issue of unscrupulous immigration representatives?

[Fanny Levy]

First of all, it gives workers overseas the confidence to come to work in this province, because they know they will be protected. Also, it educates employers. It works with employers to help them comply with the legislation. So far, we have received great support.

[Dave Dyson]

I'm not sure if your question was about our legislation or about the bill.

[Nina Grewal, Conservative, Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC]

It was about the bill. How will it help?

[Fanny Levy]

We have seen great results with the provincial legislation, so we are sure that it will be supported as well.

[Dave Dyson]

My experience is that there's not any one agency that's able to resolve this issue. We work very closely with Canada Border Security, inland security, the RCMP, our local police, Service Canada, CIC, and CSIC. I think any agency that has more authority, more enforcement powers, is another step in the right direction.

[Nina Grewal, Conservative, Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC]

The Province of Manitoba addresses the Immigration Consultants Act and regulations, so what prompted your province to take such action? Could you please explain?

[Dave Dyson]

It really resulted from foreign workers showing up on our doorsteps. We heard stories about how they paid some unbelievable amount of money for a job, or how they came here for a job but there was no job, and there might not even have been a business by that name. We heard stories of indentured servitude, and I could even be so bold as to say slavery.

It really started in probably 2004 and 2005, when we first started experiencing labour shortages, and it grew. Most of those people were coming to us as the labour standards people and, quite frankly, I didn't understand the problem. It was our previous minister who asked us to do some work on it and that resulted in this legislation.

[Nina Grewal, Conservative, Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC]

Ms. Levy, do you want to comment on this?

[Fanny Levy]

I'll echo Mr. Dyson. Not only have we seen great support, but we've also seen less complaints coming forward. People are complying with the legislation and workers are also receiving support for the next step of the process, which is to become permanent residents. So not only are employers educated, but so are workers in terms of what their rights and obligations are, and there is a path that they can follow now.

[Nina Grewal, Conservative, Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC]

Mr. Chair, I would like to pass the rest of my time on to Mr. Dykstra.

[Rick Dykstra, Conservative, St. Catharines, ON]

How much time is left, Mr. Chair, just so I know?

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

You have about two and a half minutes.

[Rick Dykstra, Conservative, St. Catharines, ON]

One of the aspects in the bill that I wanted to get the Manitoba folks' perspective on is the whole aspect of the bill granting the minister the regulatory authority to “provide for measures respecting any transitional issues raised by the exercise of...[the] power to designate”.

One of the things that we're obviously doing here is that the minister is going to designate the authority or body that will regulate the industry. They'll report to him or her and obviously give him or her the opportunity to ensure that the regulatory body is in fact implementing the strategy that it is setting out. I just wanted to get your perspective on that aspect of the bill in terms of the minister's authority.