Evidence of meeting #72 for Citizenship and Immigration in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was education.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Association of Professional Immigration Consultants
Madam Chair, would you like me to speak more loudly?
Is that better?
I’m not sure what’s going on, but I can no longer hear you.
Bloc
Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe Bloc Lac-Saint-Jean, QC
Actually, that’s because no one is answering you, Mr. Jade.
Can someone please answer Mr. Jade?
Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Association of Professional Immigration Consultants
Very well, that’s fine.
The Clerk of the Committee Mr. Keelan Buck
The technical team is just looking to increase the volume now.
We'll have to give it another try. There's a lot going on behind the scene. We'll give it another try and adjust accordingly.
Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Association of Professional Immigration Consultants
Would you like me to speak in English to make things easier for everybody?
Bloc
Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe Bloc Lac-Saint-Jean, QC
No, I do not think that is advisable, my dear friend.
Liberal
Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Association of Professional Immigration Consultants
All right.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Salma Zahid
Mr. Jade, can you please say a few sentences so that we can check the sound level?
Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Association of Professional Immigration Consultants
Yes, Madam Chair.
As I was saying, people or young students who come to Canada often receive support from a parent or guardian, who accompanies them. It’s a bit sensitive. I don’t know the average age of the group we’re talking about right now, but, in general, undergraduates are young…
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Salma Zahid
Is the sound okay for the interpreters? Okay.
Mr. Brunelle-Duceppe, you can go back to where we had stopped the clock.
Bloc
Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe Bloc Lac-Saint-Jean, QC
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Mr. Jade, as you can see, there are two official languages in Canada, English and interpretation. It’s fantastic.
You said that people were already experiencing undue pressure, even when they weren’t in a difficult situation. When the government threatened all these people with deportation, it inevitably created additional pressure on their already fragile mental health.
Isn’t the government responsible for exacerbating these students’ mental health problems? If so, wouldn’t you agree that it’s the government’s responsibility to provide mental health resources to help these young people on this disastrous journey?
Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Association of Professional Immigration Consultants
It’s really about determining which of them are actually party to the fraud and which of them didn’t know the documents were fraudulent.
The government should absolutely not neglect to offer mental health support. On the other hand, we don’t know whether or not all these people were aware that they had a fraudulent document.
Bloc
Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe Bloc Lac-Saint-Jean, QC
You’re an expert when it comes to immigration consultants. After all, you represent the Canadian association that represents all these people.
Some witnesses suggested to the Committee that a framework should be created to require schools to deal with recognized agencies when working outside Canada.
Would you support such a framework or obligations for schools working with students abroad?
Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Association of Professional Immigration Consultants
That’s our position, in fact, and we mentioned it to the minister and in our brief, which will be submitted to your committee. That point will be made.
We’re arguing that the College of Immigration Consultants created all these criteria. In addition, the College suggests that anyone working in this field must be an RISIA, which stands for regulated international student immigration advisor, or an immigration consultant. These are people who obtained a permit from the College and work in public or private educational establishments. These people are the only ones who can really…
Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Association of Professional Immigration Consultants
… submit the student applications.
Bloc
Liberal
NDP
Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC
Thank you very much, Madam Chair, and thank you to the witnesses for their presentation.
My question is to Ms. Boyden, who is the ADM from Ontario, from the Ministry of Colleges and Universities.
Could you advise the committee what the regulatory process is for private colleges in Ontario?
Assistant Deputy Minister, Ministry of Colleges and Universities, Government of Ontario
Madam Chair, I'm hoping I can ask for a little clarity around the member's question. In terms of regulatory process, there's extensive legislation and regulation that exists related to registered private career colleges. Is there a specific component?
NDP
Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC
Okay, maybe more specifically, if there were a complaint about a particular private college, who investigates that and could you explain to the committee how that would be dealt with?
Assistant Deputy Minister, Ministry of Colleges and Universities, Government of Ontario
If a concern was reported to the Superintendent of Private Career Colleges, there is an enforcement and inspection team that's responsible for working with our private career colleges. There's a whole range of different activities that can happen. We have a scaling enforcement model that begins with education and supporting our private career colleges proactively to ensure compliance with our regulations with our Private Career Colleges Act, and, as a result of that, through progressive enforcement we work to educate the operators and can scale that up through escalating compliance action if required.