Citizenship and Immigration committee  There is definitely a strong public awareness component that has been part of the efforts of the department for some time, and efforts to make sure that information is visible and public in our overseas mission offices. There are pamphlets that are handed out to applicants so tha

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Do you mean judge the impact of the public education? I think it might be difficult to measure in a quantitative fashion, but certainly I think it's an ongoing activity of the department and is ingrained in overseas missions and their work and even in offices in Canada.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I would just say that the end of the period for submission of applications is the end of December. Then, as we've said, there would be a committee struck to examine those proposals. Our expectation is that then a recommendation would go forward to the minister. That would be the

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Understood. Just in terms of media coverage, there's certainly been some support and certainly interest expressed by the Canadian Society of Immigration Consultants in terms of recognizing the intent of the bill and the importance of the approach. But in terms of concrete calls

Citizenship and Immigration committee  In terms of the selection process?

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Right. I'll speak first to the selection process. We have operated in the process of the selection of a body in an open and transparent fashion, so we have not been fielding calls from potential bodies that would want to be part of.... We want the process to unfold as the proces

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I would just say that we didn't really have an expectation that we would get early signals, necessarily, from anyone in this process. There's an opening date and a closing date. So I think it might be premature to assume that there wouldn't be viable candidates.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I would just underscore that there is in the legislation not only the notion of providing advice, but the offer of it.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  If they actually then proceed to undertake “business”, then yes.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Sure. I might add that the fact that we are actually creating a new offence speaks very strongly to protecting and taking seriously the activities of unscrupulous immigration consultants, and that is a new tool for the federal government. Also, the work will be complemented by t

Citizenship and Immigration committee  The new offence actually allows for a conviction of two years and a fine of up to $50,000 for those who are found to be in contravention. Does that answer your--

Citizenship and Immigration committee  We know that several provinces right now that have already moved to address some of these issues. B.C., Alberta, Manitoba, and Ontario have developed initiatives within their own jurisdictions that deal with improved regulation of third-party intermediaries, recruiters, and somet

Citizenship and Immigration committee  It's true that given there are multiple points of access to the immigration system spread around the globe, it is challenging to address that international context. One of the expectations of this bill is that in closing the loophole around people who provide advice or offer to p

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Do you mean an actual viability study of a possible new organization?

Citizenship and Immigration committee  No.