Citizenship and Immigration committee  I find that I have seen that immigrants who come into this country are a lot more savvy than they were when I first started my practice. That was in 2001.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Yes. Simply because I was involved with this lawsuit, thereafter, for some reason, I seem to have a lot of people, duped sponsors call me from across Canada with their cases. It has been continuous. I get about two to three dozen cases a year of duped sponsors. So I know what the

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I think we saw the stats when we were doing our class action. It was about 20%. CIC was turning down marriages, turning down sponsorships on the belief they might be—

Citizenship and Immigration committee  No, I have not. No. I know of them, but there's nothing I can do about it. I would just like to add to Chantal's presentation. I think interviews should be compulsory in all situations where a conditional residency would apply. I think they should be compulsory and I do think tha

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Aware of their rights in Canada?

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I don't believe they're aware of their rights when they're overseas. Once they get here, I think they do become aware of their rights. In the situation that Chantal just brought up, if, in fact, the woman is here and there's an appeal, and she's been coerced into a marriage, I w

Citizenship and Immigration committee  He has beaten up the sponsoring spouse and yet he could stay in Canada?

Citizenship and Immigration committee  He must have come in under the old system, when he was given automatic—

Citizenship and Immigration committee  He must have come in under the old system, when he would have been granted permanent resident status upon arriving in Canada.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Thank you for inviting me back. I'm coming at this a bit differently. My background is as an immigration and refugee protection lawyer. I've done hundreds of, maybe well over a thousand, spousal sponsorships. There have been thousands who have come to me, and I routinely turn do

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I'm looking at it from that perspective. We found at that time that of the 500 victims of marriage of convenience, the majority were immigrants themselves. They were the sponsors who were duped and virtually they have no recourse, and to this date they have no recourse. And many

Citizenship and Immigration committee  That it is. I understand the point that in family emergencies there should be a bit more latitude; however, in order to deal with the risk of a foreign national not returning to the country, the Canadian family could be requested to post a bond that would be repaid once their v

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Even the permanent resident card is not a smart card.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  You do it the same way you do with a smart card when you go to the Ottawa Athletic Club: it is swiped, and your picture shows up on the screen, and it had better match you.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  It would bring up the information: the date of birth or whatever information—biometrics, perhaps fingerprints. But the photo has to match the bearer of the passport. It has to be the same photo.