Mr. Chair, members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you.
My name is Robert Kewley. I spent 26 years serving our country in the RCMP, including about 10 years investigating immigration fraud and other related cases. I was the director of complaints and discipline for ICCRC, in charge of the investigations and intake team from 2011 to 2015. In 2015, I took over the investigational team.
It is so easy for people to get off track in their thinking about unregulated or ghost consultants. Unfortunately, in my opinion, regulated consultants get tarnished in the public eye and with authorities, because all anyone hears is the word “consultant”. Before 2004, when the first regulator was set up, these consultants were on every street corner. There was no such thing as a ghost consultant. Once the Canadian Society of Immigration Consultants was formed, these consultants had to go underground.
In 2011 the government changed IRPA so that unless a consultant was a member of the new regulator, or a lawyer, it was against the law to provide services, advise individuals, or process immigration cases for a fee. With the appointment of the new regulator and this change to IRPA, we took the next step in the fight against ghost consultants. The new regulator became for consumers a contact point for complaints against ghost consultants. The ICCRC accepted the complaints and forwarded them to CBSA. The truth is that by having a regulator and this change to IRPA, we began to address the problem of ghost consultants.
We know that some ghost consultants saw the light and went the extra mile to finally become regulated member consultants. I think the increase in ICCRC membership confirms this. Having a regulator is crucial. On the issue of how the complaints and discipline process works at ICCRC, I believe you have already received this information, but I can go into specific details during questions. I can say now that the ICCRC complaints and discipline department does an excellent job overall regarding complaints about members. They do what they can about ghost consultants, but the problem is very clear. We have not gone far enough to have the impact that we all want on ghost consultants.
In 2011 CBSA was given the task of taking over ghost consultants and the problems on their own. CBSA is a professional, well-organized, dedicated group of individuals. I take my hat off to them in every regard. When I was in the RCMP dealing with immigration cases, we would wait until we had at least 10 complaints against an individual or consultant, and then the matter was reviewed. It didn't guarantee that the case would go any further than that. A decision had to be made as to whether prosecution in the case could be successful. The main focus was to deal with the major cases that would have had an impact in terms of deterrence and numbers of victims.
As an investigator, I've had the honour of co-operating with CBSA for a number of years. Communication is crucial, but credibility is also very important. There are areas where improvements can be made. ICCRC having ex-RCMP officers as investigators builds the credibility part. For the communication part, I believe more can be done, including regular cross-country meetings with the ICCRC investigating team and the local CBSA offices. We have found that our shared knowledge and experiences working as investigators with proven track records can help significantly. However, CBSA cannot be seen as a complete resolution here, as they must focus on high-level cases.
In my opinion, we should think about the next step toward a complete solution in battling ghost consultants. If, for example, ICCRC were given powers via statute to deal with these ghost consultants, then these investigators would bring to the table the evidence required to bring these villains to justice and finally make a serious impact in the battle to protect consumers.
There are solutions, but they require unique authority available under statute. I believe we also need investigators with credibility and experience who are respected by CBSA, to ensure co-operation in the fight to deal with the ghost consultants.
I believe that the average annual number of ghost consultant complaints would require two to three investigators dedicated to these complaints. From my experience, it involves a lot of work—interviews, preparation of briefs—so that we meet the standards, so that these cases can move forward through the judicial system, which is crucial. I think that tools such as cease and desist letters are a must, and prosecution of all offenders, not just the worst ones, is essential to get the job done.
I want to thank you for taking the time to listen to me today. Thank you very much.