Immigration fraud tip line for “problem they haven’t even demonstrated exists”
According to this article in the Montreal Gazette, a new government tip line that’s set up to allow people to report immigration fraud is garnering a lot of criticism.
Tip line was announced last week by Citizenship and Immigration Canada
The NDP immigration critic, Don Davies, was quoted as saying, “I think it’s not a well thought out idea and I think it’s a knee-jerk reaction to make conservatives look like they’re touch on a problem they haven’t even demonstrated exists.”
But according to Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister jason Kenney’s statement on the subject, the tip line is much needed to protect immigrants who come to the country legally and punish those who would take advantage of them, such as shady immigration consultants.
“This tool will help us crack down on anyone, including crooked consultants, who obtain Canadian citizenship fraudulently and tackle those who seek to demean and devalue Canadian citizenship,” said Minister Kenney. “Canadian citizenship is not for sale. Our government will apply the full strength of Canadian law to those who have obtained citizenship fraudulently.”
The issue is, according to the opposition, “There is a waiting list of 900,000 applications world wide. It’s taking 13 years to get grandparents here. I’ve got cases of people trying to get their spouses here that are waiting four, five and six years…serious problems with foreign credentials, the visa system is a mess and they want to tie up immigration officials’ time with chasing down anonymous phone calls?”
What do you think of the new immigration fraud tip line?
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