Immigrants refuse to fall prey to dishonest immigration consultants.

Third year U of T law student Joel Hechter has had enough of dishonest immigration consultants taking their vulnerable clients for expensive ride.

Last summer while working for Downtown Legal Services, the community legal clinic for U of T’s Faculty of law, Hechter saw first hand the extreme violation of trust that some of his clients experienced with the immigration specialists they had hired in order to help them navigate the confusing system of Canada.

Hilary Evans Cameron, the staff lawyer of the clinic at it refugee and immigration division, said that they have had a number of clients who have been badly mistreated by the consultants, adding that the situation is so vulnerable because when people are defrauded, they are afraid to go to the police.

Hilary said that the issue is really big, especially in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver, and is a national problem.

The straw that broke the camel’s back happened when Hechter, an Annex resident, represented a hard working client whom a consultant cheated of $1,800.

The client told Hechter that her advisor had promised to fill out permanent residency forms, but instead, two years later, she received a removal order letter in the mail which meant that the consultant both lied to her and ripped her off.

Hechter said that a lot of clients are uninformed and are unaware of the legalities. He said that he took the issue personally because he was appalled that the immigration representative didn’t do anything.

Determined to do something, Hechter took his concerns about the ineffectiveness of the Canadian Society of Immigration Consultants, which is the independent regulator for immigration consultants, to the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration of the federal government.

A communications officer with the CSIC, David Folkerson, explained in an e-mail that the society currently has 1,325 registered members in good standing but admitted that it lacks means of knowing with certainty as to how many unauthorized agents are currently operating in Canada or abroad.

In order legally represent clients before Citizenship and Immigration Canada or the Canadian Border Service agency, immigration consultants must be CSIC members, members of a Canadian law society or part of the Chambre des Notaires.

The society has also a code of conduct for its members and also has complaints process with a hearing tribunal. Further, a detailed parliamentary committee report regarding the regulation of immigration consultants was released this past June.