ICCRC is the proposed body that, according to its self-appointed President/CEO Phil Mooney, will inevitably become the new regulator of immigration consultants. Apparently he has insight into a political and legal process that, by law, he should not have any prior knowledge of the outcome. Nor, by law, should the outcome be known to anyone, including Jason Kenney, before the final decision has been published in Part II of the Canada Gazette and the judge has heard CSIC's case.
The examples of ICCRC incompetence are well-known to those of us paying attention. Here is a list:
- ICCRC registered as a corporation one month before the announcement that they would be the proposed new regulator. Who tipped them off, Jason Kenney, or senior CIC officials such as Les Linklater?
- ICCRC has been having town hall meetings, paid for with a loan from CIC of, according to Phil Mooney, $1 million. Why has CIC given ICCRC money if they are only the proposed new regulator? Why is a proposed regulator having town hall meetings before a final decision has been made, unless they are confident that the outcome is fixed?
- ICCRC copied their rules (what minimal ones that are publically available at least) from the Certified Management Accounts of Ontario. CMAs are accountants for companies, without any need for consumer protection. Further, the website suggests the CMA of Ontario is a certification body more than a regulatory body. ICCRC Rules in fact bear no resemblance to any of the basic legal elements of a regulatory body. There is no procedural fairness, and there are no consumer protection provisions or public interest mandate.
- ICCRC are going after ghost consultants, people whom the ICCRC has no jurisdiction over; nor does ICCRC have any powers that would be required to go after the ghosts. ICCRC, like CSIC, has no investigative powers. ICCRC, like CSIC, can compel the cooperation only of Members, not non-Members such as ghost consultants. ICCRC is trying to remove, or to co-opt their competitors by forcing them to become agents, and not to regulate their own Members. The ICCRC has no jurisdiction or authority over non- members.
- Jeffrey Hemlin, who was recently ordered revoked and to pay costs of $50,000 by CSIC's indepdent discipline council, yet he continues to be President of CAPIC, the trade association that has transformed into the ICCRC. Hemlin has published statements defending his actions, and ICCRC has appeared to endorse Hemlin by failing to distance themselves from Hemlin. Clearly, ICCRC's concern is to protect the interests of Hemlin, a crooked consultant, rather than the public interest.
- Agreeing to take in revoked CSIC Members, likely to allow Katarina Onuschuk to join ICCRC despite her revocation and work as a ghost consultant since being revoked from CSIC. Individuals who could not meet CSIC standards, or who have been acting as ghost consultants since their revocation, are hardly people that should be allowed to be legitimized by ICCRC. Clearly, ICCRC has no clue how expensive and difficult it is to get rid of a member due to procedural fairness requirements; of course then again there is no procedural fairness in ICCRC disciplinary processes perhaps explaining why ICCRC can accept, and revoke anybody they choose!
- Focusing on seizing CSIC assets, even though CSIC is still the regulator, rather than ensuring the protection of the disciplinary hearings and investigations. Look at the list of names on CSIC's website of immigration consultants who are at disciplinary hearings right now. It appears that ICCRC is focused on monetary interests, not on ensuring justice and consumer protection.
The big question now is to what extent are Jason Kenney and seniour CIC officials being willfully blind to ICCRC incompetence; or are they supporters of ICCRC priorities as listed here? So much for consumer protection in the public interest, thanks to Jason Kenney, Mark Davidson and Les Linklater at CIC, and Phil Mooney, whose big idea for regulating the profession is "Hey, I'm not CSIC.". Nothing more.
No comments:
Post a Comment