Many have probably read and shared posts about Edmonton based Immigration Consultant, Carl Benito. In mid-August, news from CBC came out with the headline “Former MLA focus of Immigration fraud investigation”. The news came out a couple of months after the Canadian Border Service Agency (CBSA) raided Benito’s home and office in June. They seized over $250,000 in cash. The raid was part of a three-year immigration fraud scheme investigation. The investigation is ongoing and no charges have been laid yet.

Benito is not new to controversy. In the August 10, 2010 article on Rabble online news, it says that when Benito was vying for a spot as a Conservative MLA in the Edmonton-Mill Woods Riding, Benito made a personal pledge to“donate the salary allocated for his MLA position to a Scholarship Fund/Program to provide opportunities to our Youth with financial limitations who has the passion and determination to pursue higher education”. While it was acknowledged that he paid more than $6000 per year, the Conservative backbencher later claimed that “he didn’t mean he’d donate all of his salary every year”. Then barely a week after the immigration fraud scandal, another bombshell was released by CBC. This time, an unsettled lawsuit against Benito was uncovered. CBC reported “former Progressive Conservative MLA Carl Benito orchestrated a “straw buyers” mortgage fraud that left an immigrant Filipino couple owing more than $130,000 on a property they never intended to own”.

Many individuals have sent messages and posted on social media validating that these were true and that it also happened to them. They share stories of the processes and promises that Benito made to make these migrant individuals permanent residents and then they were tied to a debt trap. An absurd cost that amounts to $10,000 for them to become a permanent resident. An elaborate explanation of what he will do and how much it would cost was usually done through his “client assessment form”. The scheme was also elaborately explained in a video called “Anatomy of alleged immigration fraud” posted by CBC on their Facebook page.

The lucrative industry of immigration consultancy

As Canada’s immigration program continues to be in disarray, there has been aboom in the profession,with many individuals becoming immigration consultants. There are manyprivate institutions offer “Immigration Consultancy Program” and while there are good and honest consultants, there are those who are also incompetent and fraudulent. Licensing bodies were formed but these bodies have no government oversight.

The mid-90s was the upswing of migration in Canada. The Live-In Caregiver Program was new. New immigration laws were being tested and a growing number of migrants and refugees wereentering the country. Many agents and “consultants” were also recruiting and the lack of regulation had led to many instances of incompetence, fraud and client exploitation that defraudedthe system. In 2001 the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) was passed and one of the relevant article of the Act was Section 91. It set out the new authority for the Minister to decide who could represent clients before immigration officials. It stated: “The regulations may govern who may or may not represent, advise or consult with a person who is the subject of a proceeding or application before the Minister, an officer or the Board.” This was seen as a major step forward, but only covered advising, consulting and representing. In 2004, the Canadian Society of Immigration Consultants (CSIC), was founded. It became a stand-alone federal corporation designated under the Immigration & Refugee Protection Act and Regulations to licence members who met the prescribed standards.

Internal problems within CSIC were brewing. In the June 2007 article of the Toronto Star entitled “Watchdog Needs Teeth” exposed the weakness of CSIC. The Canadian Bar Association also raised concerns that “CSIC was not meeting its mandate to protect the consumers from unscrupulous immigration consultants citing and the governance of the Society”. A few years later in 2011, the current Federal Regulator, the Immigration Consultants of Canada Regulatory Council (ICCRC) was created. The ICCRC was designated by the Government of Canada to regulate Canadian immigration consultants. However, the rise of unscrupulous consultants continues.

How the Philippine contributes to the problem

Under Philippine law, generally, direct hiring is not allowed. Article 18 of the Philippine Labor Code particularizes on the ban on direct hiring. Currently, there are two methods of hiring Filipinos for overseas work: 1. Through POEA; and, 2. Through Private Recruitment Agencies duly accredited by the POEA. On December 18, 2007, The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) issued rules on direct hiring by foreign employers. In this Memorandum Circular (MC No.04-2007), the POEA has claimed that it will plug an operative loophole in the rules on overseas placement. They claim that direct hiring has been known to be used by non-licensed recruiters to conduct recruitment activities.

The Department of Labour also maintained that this POEA Memorandum Circular will provide protection forFilipino workers against bad employers. Unfortunately, this created loopholes for unscrupulous agents and consultants. These consultants from Canada go to the Philippines or where many migrants are located to recruit. They will however go at the pretext of “information training and dissemination” on how to migrate to Canada. These seminars cost an average of  P1000. In the past, Benito advertised and did these so-called seminars and consultations in the Philippines and Hong Kong.

Recourse for the victims

In my short telephone conversation with Mr. Dory Jade, the CEO of Canadian Association of Professional Immigration Consultants, he said that his association has been working hard along with the Ministry of Immigration to ensure things like this don’t happen. “But there will always be bad apples” he added. Unfortunately, these “bad apples” are the ones ruining the reputation of the profession. He also assured me that Carl Benito has been removed from the organization. Victims have the right to withdraw or change third party consultants. It is also important to know that the withdrawal or changing of representatives will not affect the migrant’s application.

Benito is still the subject of the CBSA investigation. Whatever the result and the penalty the CBSA metes out on him, in the end the former Conservative MLA will not be able to return the broken lives and dignity of his victims.