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The statement noted that, because provincial and territorial law
societies and the Chambre des notaires du Qu?ec already regulate their
profession with membership standards, codes of conduct, and effective
complaint mechanisms, lawyers and Qu?ec notaries need not be members
of CSIC. Some international organizations, such as the International
Organization for Migration, who charge fees to Canadian immigration
applicants for providing advice, would be affected by these regulations
and will need to be members of CSIC, the statement said.
The expression, "authorized representative," used in
sponsorships has been replaced by "a person authorized by a
sponsor," which the statement said will ensure a distinction from
the definition of "authorized representative" as used for
immigration consultants. This change has no effect on the sponsorship
process.
Lawsuit. The statement noted that, on March 3, 2004, the
International Association of Immigration Practitioners and Sean Shannon,
an immigration consultant, commenced legal proceedings in the Ontario
Superior Court of Justice and the Federal Court against the Minister of
CIC and others, challenging the proposed regulations. Among other
things, the complaint alleges that the Immigration and Refugee
Protection Act (IRPA) does not authorize the Governor in Council to
establish a body for the "licensing" of nonlawyers to act as
advocates and counsel, and that the licensing of any such consultants
requires a statutory amendment by Parliament, and that to otherwise
regulate by way of "regulation by delegation" to a private
corporation is contrary to "unwritten constitutional norms"
and a breach of the plaintiffs' rights. The complaint further charges
that the process of prior funding, authorization, and delegation to a
private body, publicly purporting to exercise authority before enactment
of any regulations or amendment of IRPA, and the process invoked by CSIC
and its directorship "gives rise to a reasonable apprehension of
bias," in that the composition of CSIC includes members of two of
the three established immigration consultants' associations, and thus
constitutes "pecuniary bias and conflict."
The complaint further alleges that CSIC "does not have any
statutory authority to act in the fashion it has acted"; that CSIC
and CIC officials are "engaging in public misfeasance, abuse of
non-existing authority, and abuse of process"; and that CSIC and
the Minister of CIC "have engaged in the misappropriation of public
funds without statutory authority." The complaint seeks an
injunction restraining CSIC from its "announced and purported role
as 'regulator' and 'licensor' of immigration consultants, or 'other
counsel."'
The complaint notes that the International Association of
Immigration Practitioners is a Canadian association of approximately 150
members, founded in 1999; and that Mr. Shannon, an immigration
consultant for nine years, derives his livelihood from his consultant
activities and has not registered his intent with the CSIC because of
that organization's "secretive and unexplained process and the lack
of statutory framework, and lack of concrete answers from the Board of
Directors of CSIC as to its genesis, mandate, composition, and legal
authority," and that CSIC has not yet passed bylaws but
"purports, on a handshake, nod, and grant of $750,000" from
the Minister of CIC to be authorized and empowered to license and
regulate nonattorney immigration consultants under the IRPA
"without any regulatory authority nor regulating framework in place
at the time of issuance of this statement of claim.
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