Citizenship and Immigration Committee on June 19th, 2023

[Brad Redekopp, Conservative, Saskatoon West, SK]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, witnesses, for coming here today and sharing some of your stories. Certainly this is an issue we've talked a lot about at committee. It's great to actually have you here to answer some questions. It's taken an emotional toll, obviously, on you guys and on your families, as you described.

The protest held in Mississauga really brought this issue to light. I was pleased to visit with you guys there. I'm told I was the first politician of any level to come there. That was great, but the courage and bravery you guys showed there for your entire community and other students is the reason, really, we're here today.

What encouraged you to begin speaking publicly on your situation?

Maybe we could start with Balbir.

[Balbir Singh]

Thank you so much, sir. You came to the protest site. Thank you for that.

Actually, we have been suffering from this situation for the last two years. We visited so many MPs' offices and other places. We didn't go public. We chose a peaceful protest to come out publicly and to share our stories with other people and the media about how we are suffering right now and the kinds of situations we have been facing over the last two years, what our real story is and how we got defrauded by those agents.

That's why we came out publicly and chose a peaceful protest.

[Brad Redekopp, Conservative, Saskatoon West, SK]

Are you saying that you went to MPs' offices and you didn't get a favourable result? Is that what you're saying?

[Balbir Singh]

Yes, we got a response there, but it might have taken some time. That's why we chose to do this thing, a peaceful protest, to make this thing public so the public could know about this thing too.

[Brad Redekopp, Conservative, Saskatoon West, SK]

Lovepreet, do you think that if this protest had never happened, if you had just waited and said nothing, the government would have brought in the measures that it did bring in finally?

[Lovepreet Singh]

I doubt it. This protest played a very important role, because we just wanted to convey the message to people, to the government, about how we feel. We are being punished for a crime we never committed. Some people are saying we should be deported and that should be our punishment. I just want to make one thing clear here. We have already been punished for the last two years, or maybe three years for some students. They have high levels of depression and anxiety. A recent study has shown that 50% of the students have had suicidal thoughts too. This is the way, the peaceful protest. We just wanted to convey our pain and how we are feeling to the public and to the government.

[Brad Redekopp, Conservative, Saskatoon West, SK]

Thanks for that.

Because of your voice, I guess we've gotten to the bottom of this issue, especially with respect to this specific consultant who affected you guys, but recently it was revealed that this is actually a much wider problem, with potentially multiple consultants, as you mentioned, and also consultants in other countries.

Lovepreet, do you have any idea how many students may be suffering from this scam? How many students may have fake documents, from what you know?

[Lovepreet Singh]

To be very honest, we don't know the real number, but we can say that many organizations have done surveys. Some have gotten around 50. In the protest, only 18 to 20 students came and helped us.

[Brad Redekopp, Conservative, Saskatoon West, SK]

Do you think in India, for example, there are only 80 people who have been affected by this?

Do you think there are more than that?

[Lovepreet Singh]

No. It's not like that. These are just the people who are coming forward and raising their voices against the injustice of the problem. This is a big problem. Some students out there are suffering in silence. They are afraid of coming openly to the media. I don't know why that is.

[Brad Redekopp, Conservative, Saskatoon West, SK]

Would you say there are another 10 students, 100 students, 1,000 students?

What would be your guess, if you had to guess?

[Lovepreet Singh]

It's hard to guess a number.

[Brad Redekopp, Conservative, Saskatoon West, SK]

Balbir, when you first came to Canada, did you have to change schools?

That is one of the stories we've heard.

Did you go to a school and then find that the acceptance letter wasn't real? What was your experience?

[Balbir Singh]

I graduated from Langara College. I never went to Fanshawe College, for various reasons. I got my offer letter.

I can provide a written submission of my whole story that will present it much better.

[Brad Redekopp, Conservative, Saskatoon West, SK]

The question that I'm really getting at is this. When students like you had to change schools—I know that's a story that some of you have—did you have to have to update IRCC with that revised new school?

[Balbir Singh]

We needed to change our DLI numbers. We changed our DLI numbers on the IRCC official website.

[Brad Redekopp, Conservative, Saskatoon West, SK]

Did IRCC come back to you, acknowledge that, and say, “Okay, we understand and we acknowledge it”?

[Balbir Singh]

Please, it was a long time ago. Maybe we cannot confirm that. We have some proof that shows that we changed our DLI numbers.

[Brad Redekopp, Conservative, Saskatoon West, SK]

Was it common, then, for IRCC to respond back to that. Do you know?

Lovepreet, do you know?

[Lovepreet Singh]

To be very honest, I don't know this procedure. In my case, I never had a chance to do that.

The main point here is to understand that the agency men placed the students in such a smart way that the students had to go to another school. That's the whole point here.

Another thing here that is important is that colleges in Canada are still dealing with the consultants who carried out this fraud. They were dealing, they are dealing, and they're going to deal. If those consultants still have connections with colleges here, this scam is not finished.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

I'm sorry for interrupting, Mr. Singh; the time is up for Mr. Redekopp.

We will now proceed to Mr. Dhaliwal for six minutes.

Mr. Dhaliwal, you can please begin.

[Sukh Dhaliwal, Liberal, Surrey—Newton, BC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Madam Chair, I want to thank the panel members for coming and presenting.

Madam Chair, Lovepreet Singh has said that ghost consultants are threatening them.

It has come to my knowledge that some of these students know the whereabouts of these consultants. They know where they are and what their names are.

Without naming any individual right now, would you be willing to provide IRCC and CBSA with the names, the whereabouts and information about these agents and consultants who were involved in this fraud?

[Lovepreet Singh]

We have to understand one thing. I can provide you with only the name. The agents—without saying any particular name in this committee—have major political connections back home. What they do is close their previous business and open a new one. For them, this is a piece of cake. They can be anywhere in this country or any country in the world.

[Sukh Dhaliwal, Liberal, Surrey—Newton, BC]

If you can answer with the name, that's what I wanted to come out. Basically, what you're telling me and the committee members is that you fellows know their names, their new businesses and where they live.

Some of the students, it may not be you.... Why don't you encourage those students to come and tell the CBSA who those people are and where they live, so that in the future no other student will be a victim the way you are?

[Lovepreet Singh]

That's a very good question, sir. This is what we've been trying to do for the last 17 days, in the protest.