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Fraud and crime
Immigration and Citizenship
http://dsp-psd.pwgsc.gc.ca/Collection/Ci63-16-1999E.pdf
A person cannot become a citizen if he or she has been convicted of an indictable offence within the past three years If you are currently on probation or have been charged with an offence and are awaiting trial, you may be prohibited from becoming a citizen. In this case, you should submit a certified copy of the probation order, police record or local court record with your application for citizenship.Security measures
http://www.migrationint.com.au/news/adelaide/dec_2001-04mn.asp
Citizenship and Immigration Canada report that about 10 % of the foreigners arriving each year at airports in Toronto and Montreal and requesting asylum disappear. The Immigration and Refugee Board reported that 9 % of the 29,000 asylum applications in 2000 were considered abandoned because applicants did not attend their hearings.Canada's immigrant investor program is threatened by fraud
http://www.migrationint.com.au/news/budapest/oct_1997-08mn.asp
Under the program, persons investing C$250,000 and C$350,000 in Canada can obtain an immigrant visa. Many nationals of Hong Kong, Korea and Taiwan invested via investment pools for that purpose, pledging their funds for at least five years to projects in economically disadvantaged areas. It appears that as much as one-fifth of the C$2.8 billion may have been lost to fraud and poor investments.Diploma Mills
http://www.wes.org/ewenr/DiplomaMills.htm
There are several types of diploma mills. Some are outright scams that sell degrees or diplomas without requiring any work whatsoever. Others appear more ambiguous in terms of their legitimacy, offering short-term degrees in exchange for some form of academic work, such as a thesis or dissertation. These organizations, according to experts, are the most dangerous kind of diploma mills because they appear to be legitimate… Verifying the existence and status of an institution is an essential step when reviewing educational documents.Portuguese families caught in immigration crackdown
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename
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Illegal workers in Toronto's underground economy are being deported as the new Conservative government abandons a Liberal amnesty plan, immigration lawyers and consultants say. Some families who have been in Canada five years or more are being given less than two weeks to pack up and leave. Toronto's Portuguese community — with up to 15,000 undocumented members, working mainly in the booming construction industry — is especially concerned… Portugal's ambassador to Canada has publicly told people to avoid trouble and to "stop feeding the myth" in Portugal that you can come to Canada without documents, several community members said. Toronto Star, March 21, 2006Improperly documented claimants - New Directions for Immigration and Refugee Policy and Legislation
http://www.iigr.ca/pdf/documents/1250_Building_on_a_Strong_Fo.pdf
More than half of refugee claimants do not present a passport or other legitimate travel document at the time they claim status. The majority of these claimants also do not have any other identification. This lack of identification raises questions of credibility since the claimants needed travel documents to board an aircraft or enter a country neighbouring Canada. The inability to establish identity adds to the already difficult task of determining whether such people represent a threat to Canada’s security or are inadmissible for other reasons, such as criminality. CIC Canada, 1998Using Canada as a Stepping Stone
http://www.retirementhavens.com/residencehavens/usingcanadaasastepping.html
While Canadian taxes may be for the average native-born citizen, there exists a huge loophole available only to wealthy new immigrants… It is this Canadian preference for new citizens with substantial investment capital that can translate into huge tax savings and far-reaching financial gains for you and your business... A qualified immigrant accepted for eventual Canadian citizenship is eligible for a complete personal income tax moratorium for the first five calendar years of residence in Canada - zero taxes if the source of your income is an offshore, non-Canadian trust or corporation - either or both of which you can easily create before you move to Canada and become a citizen. As a general rule, Canada has a three-year residence requirement after immigrant admission before citizenship is granted, but a five-year residence is required in order to be eligible for this very special tax break.Make immigrants take oath of loyalty
http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=455b97a8-6e5b-4720-bde4-2b5113fa4bc3
If newcomers breach Canada's values, they should be deported. Fraser Institute report.Public Funding for Private Wars
http://www.mackenzieinstitute.com/2003/other_peoples_wars6.htm
Registered charities may receive government funding, and donors to them can write off a portion of their taxes for helping such groups out. Schools and houses of worship can find it fairly easy to win charitable status from the Federal Government. There are also charitable duties within some communities.17 arrested in alleged human smuggling ring
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060214/human_smugglingring_060214/
20060214?hub=TopStories
Authorities in Canada and the U.S. arrested 17 people in an alleged cross-border human smuggling ring... Gangs involved in human smuggling are driven by greed with no regard for the well-being or dignity of their human cargo... Migrants paid thousands of dollars to a gang for the 'privilege' of being treated worse than cattle... The smugglers hid them - mainly from China, Korea, Albania, and Eastern Europe - in car trunks, rail cars, transport trucks, and small boats. CTVNews, 2006Student refugee scam
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Law/2005/05/13/1038212.html
Immigration officials are probing a scam in which citizens of Mexico and Korea are being allowed into Canada to study English only to disappear and claim refugee status. Toronto Sun, 2005The refugee dilemma
Entrepreneur sponsorship program
http://www.ottawasun.com/News/ChronicPain/2005/09/13/1215271.html
Canada is by law a safe haven to everyone, no matter what they’ve done. A 1985 Supreme Court decision held that under Charter of Rights and Freedoms, everyone in Canada has the right to a hearing before being deported. That’s led to endemic problems of people simply skipping hearings and staying in Canada illegally, although the federal government is quick to point out that of the 30,000 outstanding immigration warrants, only about 3,500 have criminal convictions… A federal entrepreneur sponsorship program... went unchecked, allowing... anyone with the means to buy Canadian citizenship for between $150,000 and $250,000 of anticipated investments in Canada, most of which never occurred. Further, short-lived amendments that placed entrepreneur holdings in investment funds contained so many loopholes that immigration mills quickly figured out the base requirement could be lowered to $97,000.Increasing numbers of Canadians are falling victim to foreigners who marry them just to gain entry to the country
http://www.macleans.ca/topstories/canada/article.jsp?content=20060731_131098_131098
To combat escalating incidents of sham marriages, the Vancouver-based Canadian Marriage Fraud Victim Society is petitioning Ottawa to change the Immigration Act to deter foreign spouses from using Canadians to obtain residency with the objective of leaving them once they reach Canadian soil… Public awareness is so essential for people to understand.CSC Ethnocultural Initiatives
http://www.csc-scc.gc.ca/ethnoculture/index_e.shtml
Welcome to the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) Web site on ethnocultural issues. We are pleased to provide you with information on the management of offenders belonging to ethnocultural minority groups and on the correctional programming for their successful community reintegration.The Immigrant Experience, US - Canada
http://www.nwrel.org/cnorse/booklets/immigration/4.html
A number of Canadians may reside illegally in the United States, many employed in occupations where they may be paid "under the table." They can live here with relatively little fear of the Immigration and Naturalization Service or media targeting. Canadians also attend U.S. universities and, like others, may overstay their visas. College graduates are often recruited into business and professional occupations... In the late 1990s, control at the U.S.-Canada border was tightened in an effort to stem the illegal drug trade and illegal immigration to the United States through Canada.Performance and Potential 2004–05: How Can Canada Prosper in Tomorrow’s World?
http://www.embaspain.ca/boletin/10112004/Conference%20Board%202004-05.pdf
The most troubling issues concern both Canadians and foreigners using Canada as a locale for their international criminal activities. CSIS has noted that both criminals and would-be terrorists have used immigration as a cover. In a world where non-state actors, some of whom enter Canada under the guise of immigrants, are a source of potential insecurity, the challenge is to find the best way to ensure that Canadian governments can take effective action to alleviate threats, while ensuring that immigration remains available to the great majority of honest applicants. Conference Board of CanadaAmnesty for illegal workers ruled out
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Cosmo Mannella of the Labourers' International Union of North America estimates that one-third of Toronto's residential construction workforce consists of undocumented workers. You cannot take that kind of human resource out of the home building economy and expect anything less than a disaster. 2006Don't ask policy on illegals under fire
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The ability to remove inadmissible persons is vital to the integrity of Canada's immigration system and to those who come to this country lawfully… Asking the immigrant status of a person might impede an investigation but it has to be balanced against the need to apprehend terrorists and criminals… A spokesperson for No One Is Illegal said the policy should not be reversed because it would jeopardize community safety… most residents without status — as many as 80,000 in the Toronto area alone — are hardworking, law-abiding people who have simply been caught up in the immigration bureaucracy… The Toronto police should not be doing the work of federal immigration officers. November 28, 2006Fighting Terrorism
http://www.safecanada.ca/fightingterrorism_e.asp
Canada's Activities at Home | Critical Infrastructure Protection | Legislation | Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing |Protecting Canada's Borders | Protective Measures | Security Certificates and Immigration | Terrorist ThreatsCriminality among the Foreign Born
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/research/papers/framework.html
Whenever foreign born are convicted of a serious offence, there is a high level of media attention, based on very little factual information. It is one area where public perception is poorly informed on the overall situation. Information on the characteristics and attributes of immigrants who are incarcerated is also important in the design of programs to mitigate the circumstances which might contribute to a higher incidence of criminality.
Temporary Workers & Deadbeat Bosses - The Fight for Jobs with Justice
http://www.ourtimes.ca/features/04_oct_nov.html
In Ontario, one in three jobs is part-time, contract or temporary. Deadbeat bosses knowingly and repeatedly hire workers, especially immigrant workers (who are told they need to put up with precarious work in order to get "Canadian experience"), with no intention of paying them their wages. According to the Ministry of Labour's own statistics, $505 million dollars of unpaid wages were owed to over 110,000 workers in Ontario from 1990 to 2004.Earned well below minimum wage
http://www.atkinsonfoundation.ca/updates/Document_1156191450176
He earned between 63 cents and $4 per hour, and was fired for asking for more, even though Ontario's minimum wage at the time was $6.85 to $7.15 an hour. He fell into the trap of being underpaid because Canadian bosses often assume newcomers will be too scared to complain. But he fought back and won with the help of a grassroots agency funded in part by the Atkinson Charitable Foundation.Renters News
http://www.ontariotenants.ca/social-justice.phtml#discrimination
Tenants rights and social justice issues; Discrimination - huge multi-month deposits; Renting same apartment to many people scam; College and University Students and housing; Ontario Rental Housing Tribunal and evictions; Apartments extremely profitable; Utility costs (Natural Gas & Hydro) and rents; Discounted rent scam, etc.Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery
http://gvnet.com/humantrafficking/Canada.htm
Canada… destination and transit country for women trafficked for the purposes of labor and sexual exploitation… The majority of foreign victims transiting Canada are bound for the United States. Numbers are hard to gauge, but in February 2004, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) estimated that 800 persons are trafficked into Canada annually and that an additional 1,500-2,200 persons are trafficked through Canada into the United States. Some estimate that this number is much higher.The global trafficking of women
http://www.criaw-icref.ca/factSheets/Immigrant_fact_sheet_e.htm
Women have been brought to Canada by criminals posing as employers, had their passports taken away, beaten, raped and made to work as prostitutes. However, other women are so desperate to leave conditions characterized by poverty - where they have no work, no food, and little hope for the improvement of their conditions - that they migrate to Canada voluntarily as mail-order brides or domestic workers hoping to find a better life. But they may experience sexual and physical abuse or economic exploitation…Domestic workers - FREDA Centre for Research on Violence against Women and Children
http://www.harbour.sfu.ca/freda/articles/traff.htm
Domestic workers and their vulnerability to violence … Any kind of dependency situation is going to engender some form of violence… Why would women and girls be strapped to the bottom of a truck to come into this country? What would propel someone to do that? Why would girls and young women from Thailand come into this country to work as sex slaves? Who would work as sex slaves? … We need to dismantle the dynamics of power and domination. And we need to create a situation of accessibility, equality and justice…Immigrant and Refugee Women Abused by Their Sponsor
http://www.bcifv.org/pubs/Assisting_Immigrant_Women.pdf
Immigrant and refugee women who are abused by their sponsor face particular difficulties in accessing personal safety and protection. If these women do not have permanent resident status, or are at risk of deportation for other reasons, the consequences of leaving an abusive sponsor can complicate their immigration status. - This guide is written for service providers working with any client who is an immigrant or refugee woman; has been sponsored to come to Canada by a partner/fiancé/spouse under the family class sponsorship guidelines; is experiencing abuse by her sponsor; and wants to separate from her sponsor but is at risk of deportation.Where have our husbands gone?
http://www.asianpacificpost.com/news/article/225.html
or http://www.asianpacificpost.com/portal2/pageView.html?id=402881910674ebab010674f4f02015e1
Runaway grooms from Canada are among thousands of Non-Resident Indians who have deserted their wives in Punjab. Asian Pacific Post, October 21, 2004Mail-order brides
http://www.answers.com/topic/mail-order-bride
Mail-order bride is the term often used to describe women who come to a foreign land from a less developed area after only correspondence or short meeting with their eventual mate.Police lay charges in Salvation Army fraud scheme
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060131/
salvation_army_fraud_060131/20060131?hub=TopStories
The Salvation Army, known for feeding, clothing and housing the needy, has alleged in court documents that it was defrauded of more than $2.3 million by Wa… The Canadian branch of the Salvation Army receives about $130 million a year from donors. In Toronto, the group received donations of $2 million during their Christmas campaign, $300,000 less than what Wa allegedly took… CTVNews, 2006Why should I choose a lawyer as opposed to a consultant?
http://www.akcanada.com/canadian_immigration_lawyer.html
The actions of unscrupulous immigration consultants and the lack of regulation of the profession have been detrimental to clients, to the consulting profession, and to the reputation of the Canadian Immigration program in Canada and abroad. As a result, Citizenship and Immigration Canada tabled new Regulations.Immigration consultants' watchdog under fire
http://web.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20051125/
CONSULTANTS25/TPNational/?query =immigration+consultants
A society created to regulate the troubled industry of immigration consulting is now besieged by problems of its own, including accusations of exorbitant levels of compensation… Last year, board members voted to pay themselves as much as $100 an hour, which meant that CSIC spent $479,800 on directors' fees in 2004, about 19 % of all its expenses… The resignations of so many senior members casts doubt on the society's ability to govern itself competently. 2005B.C. union wants probe into hiring of foreigners to replace fired Canadians
http://www.macleans.ca/topstories/politics/news/shownews.jsp?content=n083195A
Several B.C. unions are asking the federal government for an investigation into what they call the misuse of an immigration policy that will allow companies to hire foreign workers while qualified Canadians sit idle… “The efforts of these companies to drive down wages and benefits for front line health care workers have created an artificial labour shortage. Now, they are trying to exploit foreign workers to solve their recruitment problem”… The company doing the hiring, though, says only about 15 people will be hired from offshore. 2006Migrants paid $50 for legal status
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Group says cash is for campaign - Immigration officials have asked the RCMP to probe complaints that a group operating from a warehouse church was charging illegal migrants $50 to sign up for a federal amnesty program that doesn't exist. 2006Refugee board to reopen cases after complaints against member
http://web.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.2006
1111.wxirb11/BNStory/National/home
The federal government has been criticized over the years for failing to implement a merit-based process to select Immigration and Refugee Board members. Under the Liberals, many defeated political candidates and party workers were appointed to the $100,000-a-year positions, although in 2004 a merit-based selection process was introduced. 2006Ex-judge gets six years in immigration scam
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Pleaded guilty to 30 counts of conspiracy… A former immigration judge will spend the next six years behind bars for his involvement in a pair of influence-peddling rings that demanded bribes as high as $15,000 from new immigrants and asylum seekers to guarantee their stay in Canada. 2006Law to protect foreign students: Applicant misled by glossy brochure
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename
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The facilities bear little resemblance to the photos in the brochure and the images on the school's website... Each year, 38,000 students, many from overseas, attend private career colleges in Ontario. As the sector has boomed, there have been complaints about broken promises and false advertising, with some students claiming they've lost thousands of dollars in tuition... New rules take effect to boost standards and protect international students from being misled. 2006
A Preliminary Stocktaking on Immigration Research in Canada: Criminology
http://canada.metropolis.net/research-policy/wienfeld/criminology_e.html
There have been and remain links between organized crime and immigrant/ethnic groups. This is an important feature of the history of immigration. Today international links may be easier because of transportation and communications advances. Illegal immigration, specifically the smuggling of people, has also become a form of immigrant crime. But one must remember that organized crime needs political and police corruption, and native born consumers.Study of organized crime and corruption
http://www.yorku.ca/nathanson/Links/links.htm
Information on a broad range of domestic and international issues. The Centre draws together academics such as (but not restricted to) lawyers, criminologists, economists, sociologists, political scientists and researchers and practitioners from other fields to focus on the diverse issues related to organized crime and corruption.Transnational Criminal Activity: A Global Context
http://www.csis-scrs.gc.ca/en/publications/perspectives/200007.asp
Transnational crime poses a serious threat to Canada’s economic security. Criminal activities such as large-scale money laundering and fraud can make it more difficult for legitimate businesses to succeed. Furthermore, these activities can have a destabilizing effect on investment, tax revenues, international reputation, and consumer confidence. Canadian companies operating and investing abroad may unwittingly become involved in businesses with links to organized crime and may run the risk of losing their investments. This can negatively impact on both the domestic Canadian economy and on Canada’s international trade.Immigrant Youth and Crime
http://www.sagepub.com/book.aspx?pid=4134
Migration is a process that sometimes leads to youthful crime beyond the norms of either the home or host culture… When an immigrant group has a large population of young males (and not all immigrant groups do), it creates the potential for patterned misunderstandings between immigrant parents and their children. This situation, in turn, provides conditions for a predictable outbreak of crime within deviant subcultures (i.e. gangs), as shown in numerous case examples… Youthful immigrant crime often erupts because of the structural relationships between immigrant groups and the host community rather than the cultural differences imported from abroad.Pilot survey of hate crime, 2001 and 2002
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/040601/d040601a.htm
Twelve major Canadian police forces reported a total of 928 hate crime incidents during 2001 and 2002. While the majority of these incidents involved one hate motivation, in some cases more than one motivation was recorded. Overall, over one-half of these hate crimes were motivated by race or ethnicity (57%). The second most-common hate motivation of incidents was religion (43%). Sexual orientation was the motivation in about one-tenth of incidents… Blacks and South Asians were among those most frequently targeted in hate crime incidents motivated by race or ethnicity. The majority of incidents motivated by religion involved anti-Semitism followed by those targeting Muslims. Statistics Canada, The DailyIssues of terrorism
http://www.fraserinstitute.ca/admin/books/files/immigration-2ndEdition.pdf
Area that needs further study is the degree to which foreign-based terrorist groups have been able to function with relative ease in the midst of some immigrant communities. Questions have been raised as to why extremists have been able to engage in fundraising, procurement, and the planning and preparation of terrorist operations abroad without coming to the attention of the authorities.The Mounties give up
http://www.macleans.ca/topstories/canada/article.jsp?content=20060130_120538_120538
On drug offences, clearance rates have fallen from nearly 80 % in 1995 to 61 % in 2004, according to numbers obtained from Statistics Canada. The Mounties' rate for other federal investigations -- from immigration fraud to stock market scams to smuggling schemes -- has been even worse, tumbling from highs near 80 % in the mid-1990s to 49 % in 2004. MacLeans, 2006The Controversy Over The New Immigration Regulations
www.yorku.ca/crs/Publications/OCEP%20PDFs/regulations.12.01.final.art2.doc
The largest part of the budget of the Immigration Department is used up in getting rid of people and not in taking them in. Yet only one very small part of the regulations deal with the manner of enforcement of removal orders, the circumstances under which individuals are allowed to leave voluntarily when they are under removal orders, and the places to which such persons can be removed.Financial Action Task Force (FATF)
http://www.fatf-gafi.org/pages/0,2987,en_32250379_32235720_1_1_1_1_1,00.html
Inter-governmental body whose purpose is the development and promotion of national and international policies to combat money laundering and terrorist financing.CSC Ethnocultural Initiatives
http://www.csc-scc.gc.ca/ethnoculture/index_e.shtml
Welcome to the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) Web site on ethnocultural issues. We are pleased to provide you with information on the management of offenders belonging to ethnocultural minority groups and on the correctional programming for their successful community reintegration. Success in starting afresh depends partly on personal initiative and partly on the opportunities the community at large provides.Mackenzie Institute
http://www.mackenzieinstitute.com/index.html
Independent non-profit organization concerned with issues related to political instability and organized violence. This includes such matters as terrorism, political extremism, warfare and organized crime. The aim of the Institute is to provide research and commentary on its subject matter, to promote informed public debate, and to hold to the proposition that our liberal democratic tradition must be safeguarded and fostered.Citizenship and War Criminals
http://www.collectionscanada.ca/bulletin/015017-0011-05-e.html
Research and Information Services, Library and Archives Canada.