Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to take part in the debate on Motion M-29 presented February 27, 1996 by the member for Scarborough Centre, which reads as follows:
That, in the opinion of this House, the government should work and consult with the provinces to develop legislation which would set guidelines and licensing regulations to govern the business of immigration consultants.
I would like to congratulate the hon. member on this initiative, which gives us an opportunity to look at a serious problem in the field of immigration, the absence of regulations governing the business of immigration consultants.
I am in agreement with my colleague's general objective. I am not, however, in agreement with the wording as it stands, and for that reason I will propose an amendment later on.
The Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration, of which I am a vice-chairman, held consultations on this topic and tabled a report in this House in December, 1995.
Immigration consultants are people who are not members of a Bar, but who, for a fee, advise or represent people on immigration matters. They are not subject to any criterion of competence in the performance of their duties. They have no code of ethics, no malpractice insurance, no compensation fund for victims of fraud, no complaint mechanism, no disciplinary procedure for unethical behaviour or incompetence, and no education or experience requirements.
It must be pointed out that not all immigration consultants are incompetent or unscrupulous. Many of them are reliable, trustworthy individuals who serve their clients well. They provide valuable assistance to immigrants and refugees. They represent people before immigration tribunals, either at inquiries before adjudicators or at hearings before the Immigration and Refugee Board.
I am in favour of this motion's objective. We must recognize that there are significant problems related to the practice of immigra-
tion consultants and that some of them abuse the precarious situation in which their clients find themselves.
Their immigrant clientele must be protected. A number of measures are possible to ensure this. The standing committee, moreover, has recommended that these measures be adopted by the government. For example: increase the quality and quantity of information available to immigrants on the immigration process; publicize free services available to immigrants; warn immigrants against certain practices; publish a scale of reasonable rates for basic services; provide information abroad in the local language; advise applicants in their own language that their case will not be processed more quickly because they have used the services of a consultant; advise immigrants who have used the services of consultants known to be unscrupulous to refuse these people access to Canadian offices abroad.
Until now, the only section in the Immigration Act dealing with consultants is section 30, which reads as follows: "Every person with respect to whom an inquiry is to be held shall be informed that that person has the right to obtain the services of a barrister, solicitor or other counsel and to be represented by counsel at the inquiry and shall be given a reasonable opportunity, if that person so desires and at his own expense, to obtain counsel".
We wonder whether this section would not make it possible to question the validity of a regulation limiting access to counsel of one's choice. Under paragraph 114(1)(v) of this legislation, which accords the government regulatory power, the majority report of the committee proposes giving professional bodies the authority to regulate immigration consultants appearing as counsel before federal immigration tribunals.
I should point out that the establishment of a professional body for all of Canada under the legal provisions mentioned is not in keeping with provincial jurisdiction over the management of professions. This is why we prepared a dissenting report in 1995 and why today we are submitting an amendment to Motion No. M-29.
We consider that Quebec has proven itself in the area of professional bodies and is capable of determining the relevance of establishing an association of immigration consultants. The professions are governed in Quebec by the Code des professions and by 22 other laws of all sorts. The Quebec professions board has for 20 years managed a system that has unanimous approval, that is effective, that properly protects the public and that, to its credit, is not a financial drain on the government.
The members of the Bloc Quebecois put their faith in Quebec practices that have proven their mettle. The Government of Quebec has already gone some distance to managing the practice of immigration consultant. It has established departmental directives and service procedures to guide relations between the government and immigration consultants.
We recognize, however, that the federal government must first inform and sensitize the provinces to ensure that they are aware that the present situation may lead to abuse of all sorts of a vulnerable clientele. Furthermore, a few unscrupulous consultants tarnish the reputation of the many very professional people.
Second, once the federal government has itself put in place all the measures necessary to better inform immigrants using the services of a consultant, it could contemplate with the provinces the possibility of their creating professional bodies.
The Bloc Quebecois supports the motion in principle. However, it considers that the establishment of professional bodies is a provincial matter. It is therefore up to them to act if they deem it appropriate.
Mr. Speaker, I move the following amendment:
That the motion be amended by replacing the words "work and consult with the provinces to develop legislation which would set" with the following:
"inform the provinces of the problems related to the services of immigration consultants and work with them in their development of".
The final text would read as follows:
That, in the opinion of this House, the government should inform the provinces of the problems related to the services of immigration consultants and work with them in their development of legislation that would set guidelines and licensing regulations to govern the businesses of immigration consultants.