Question Period Note: Immigration and Citizenship Consultants

Measures taken to improve and strengthen the governance and regulation of immigration and citizenship consultants.

• The Government is dedicated to protecting prospective newcomers from those who try to take advantage of them.
• A key part of the government’s efforts to fight fraud is the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants, established to regulate consultants and protect the public.
• We are introducing regulations to further define the structure and operations of the College.
• We are also introducing penalties and consequences for people who break the law while providing paid advice or representation on immigration or citizenship applications.

If pressed on departures at the College
The College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants is an independent regulatory body created under federal legislation. IRCC does not manage the College’s internal operations, including human resources matters.

Any questions related to internal governance should be directed to the College.
IRCC’s role is to exercise oversight to support the College in fulfilling its mandate to regulate immigration and citizenship consultants in the public interest. Internal governance decisions fall under the authority of the College.

• In 2019, the Government of Canada announced a new governance regime for immigration and citizenship consultants. This included the coming into force of the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants Act (the College Act) in 2020 and the establishment of the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants (the College) in 2021.

• The College Act provides the College the statutory framework required to license and govern immigration and citizenship consultants practising in Canada and abroad. The College regulates immigration and citizenship consultants in the public interest and protects the public. It has new and strengthened tools to investigate professional misconduct and discipline its licensees, including the ability to
o enter the premises of a consultant for the purpose of gathering information to support an investigation when it suspects wrongdoing,
o summon and compel witnesses to appear and testify before the Discipline Committee,
o suspend an immigration and citizenship consultant as a provisional measure prior to a finding of professional misconduct or incompetence—in situations where protection of the public is at risk; and
o suspend and revoke licences to practise as part of disciplinary decisions.

• With regard to unauthorized practitioners, the College has the power to request court injunctions against individuals who are not licensees of the College. It has taken unprecedented action by shutting down over 3,000 social media pages operated by unauthorized practitioners. The College also launched a Fraud Prevention Month campaign to encourage the use of its Public Register to verify whether an immigration and citizenship consultant is licensed.
• IRCC maintains strong oversight over the College to ensure public protection. As part of this oversight, the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration (the Minister) established the Code of Professional Conduct for licensees. The Minister also sets the composition of the College’s board of directors (the Board) and can appoint the majority of directors. The Minister also designates a civil servant observer at the meetings of the Board.

• The College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants Regulations build on the foundation of the College Act. The new regulations would set out the detailed requirements necessary to fully operationalize the intent of the College Act, improving the overall effectiveness of the governance framework.

• Next steps in the implementation of the governance regime for immigration and citizenship consultants include
o the coming into force of the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants Regulations to support the authorities of the College (anticipated in spring 2026), and
o the coming into force of the Regulations Amending the Citizenship Regulations (Administrative Penalties and Consequences) and the Regulations Amending the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (Administrative Penalties and Consequences) for an administrative penalties and consequences regime administered independent of the College by IRCC (anticipated in 2026).

• Both draft regulations were pre-published for comment in the Canada Gazette on December 21, 2024.

• As part of the initiative to improve the regulatory regime for immigration and citizenship consultants, Canada is also investing $48.3M over four years and $9.8M ongoing for both IRCC and the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA).

• These investments include resources for the Department to improve its ability to conduct investigations and to enable the Department to issue new administrative penalties, as well as more resources for the CBSA to pursue investigations of complex criminal cases related to immigration and citizenship consultants.

• The CBSA and RCMP have authority to enforce the criminal provisions of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act and the Citizenship Act, respectively, which include representation-related offences such as unauthorized representation and counselling misrepresentation. IRCC continues to support enforcement partners in these efforts.

Background on recent departures with the College

• On September 18, John Murray left his role as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants.

• The current Chair of the College’s Board of Directors, Stanislav Belevici, has taken over as interim CEO until a temporary CEO is appointed. Current Chair of the Board’s Governance and Nominating Committee, Ben Rempel (a ministerially-appointed director), has replaced Stanislav Belevici as interim Board Chair.

• On September 24, the Chief Operating Officer (COO) left his role with the College. On September 25, the HR manager left her role with the College.

• Separate from the changes in senior leadership, on October 10, elected College Board director Marty Baram was suspended from his position while a formal complaint against him in his capacity as a licensed consultant goes through the College’s Discipline Committee process. This step was taken in compliance with the College’s by-laws.

• Both the Board and the College senior leadership will continue to carry out the College’s duties and functions to fulfill its mandate and maintain day-to-day operations.

Background on request to College to appear at CIMM

• On October 15, 2025 College was invited to appear on Oct 23, 2025 as a witness to provide testimony before the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration (CIMM) regarding “Canada’s Immigration System”. Topics include the levels plan, the immigration process, and the asylum system.

• The College declined to participate, stating that it does not participate in the development of government policy but that it would welcome the opportunity for future consultations that align with the College’s mandate and area of expertise.

Further messaging on governance regime for consultants
• The government’s fundamental goal is to deter those who commit fraud and provide unauthorized advice and representation. In 2024, we investigated an average of over 9,000 cases of suspected immigration fraud every month. This led to thousands of applications being refused every month, and tens of thousands of bad faith actors being banned from entering Canada.
• We will also introduce tougher penalties, including fines of up to $1.5 million, for dishonest immigration representatives who help their clients with fraudulent applications.
• The College has also raised the standards of the profession through actions such as the development of a mandatory mentoring program and the creation of a new class of licence for consultants who represent clients at the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada.

If pressed on College’s appearance request before CIMM
• The College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants is an independent regulatory body at arms-length from the federal government. The regulatory body makes its own decisions – as appropriate - regarding appearance requests before parliamentary committees.

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