Thank you, Chair.
I move the following motion that's been put on notice:
That, pursuant to Standing Order 108(2), the committee conduct a study into the widespread Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) fraud committed under the Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) program as reported by the Globe and Mail starting on September 29, 2023 specifically referencing immigration consultants and lawyers whom allegedly fraudulently marketed LMIAs to migrants in values as high as $80,000 in violation of the established regulations; that this study consist of at least two meetings; that for one meeting the committee invite the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship and his department officials to testify for one hour each; that for one meeting the committee invite the Minister of Employment, Workforce Development, and Official Languages and his department officials to testify for one hour each; that the committee report its findings to the House; and that the committee request a comprehensive response from the Government.
I want to briefly refer to the article Marie Woolf wrote on the subject, “Ottawa urged to clamp down further on immigration employment scam”. The article refers to the following, “The federal government told The Globe and Mail it was aware of scams involving LMIA fraud, but had taken steps last year to guard against them with changes to regulations.”
I believe the minister should come to explain why LMIAs are being sold for up to $80,000.
I now have an example of where an LMIA was procured for $1.5 million to a national from the PRC, as far as I know. There's a reference here to a registered immigration consultant from London, Ontario, who says the demand for payment from migrants to get jobs in Canada was still pervasive. It was also being used as a route for settling in Canada.
Here, I have a quote from a +1News article from February 2, 2023. The article is by Yogesh Tulani, and is titled, “'They capitalize on fear'—LMIA Job fraud on the rise as uncertainty with the Immigration system increases”. In it he references another consultant, saying, “I am seeing LMIAs being sold in the markets for anywhere between $20,000 -$30,000 and sometimes even above $50,000 to $100,000.”
I want to refer to another one here, because these numbers are just mind-blowing. I've been tracking this for a little while now. This is from Surjit Singh Flora from Asia Metro, in February 28, 2020. This is now four years ago. There's a reference in it to an LMIA that was sold in Canada's Chinese community for a staggering $1.5 million.
I don't believe there has been much effectiveness by any of the anti-fraud measures that have been introduced. In fact, I have a recent example from a Facebook page that I found. It was referred to me by immigration consultants. On one of them here it says, with exclamation marks, “FOOD COUNTER ATTENDANT pre approved Manitoba, Food service supervisor pre approved Manitoba, Cook pre approved Saskatoon For Visitor Visa only.” It says later on, “market price”. The only thing this could refer to are the words, “please DM.” There are 171 comments. It goes on and on like this. There are countless comments being made.
There's a serious amount of LMIA fraud. I would like the ministers to come in to explain themselves. The media is reporting on it. I have consultant after consultant sending examples of this type of fraud being committed against people from other countries coming to Canada. They're the ones being defrauded. They're the ones being targeted by these fraudulent employers. In some places it's a legal employer, but they're using fraudulent means and then billing back $50 to $100, and it's $1.5 million in one case. They're billing that back to the immigrants who are coming to the country to, in many cases, typically work here under the table.
I would like the ministers to come in with officials to explain themselves.
Thank you, Chair.