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This article was published 20/7/2011 (3961 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
OTTAWA -- The federal government intends to revoke the citizenship of at least 1,800 people who allegedly used fraudulent means to become Canadians.
According to Immigration Minister Jason Kenney, most of the targeted individuals were counselled by three or four crooked immigration consultants on how to concoct fake proof of residency in Canada.
POSTMEDIA PROVINCE
Jason Kenney
To become a citizen, a person is supposed to have lived in Canada for three out of four years.
"Sadly, there is an industry of what we call unscrupulous agents operating around the world who sell advice on how to take advantage of Canada to break our laws," Kenney said in the text of a speech delivered Monday to the Economic Club of Toronto.
"And there are some people -- thankfully, I think a small minority -- who are prepared to pay big money in order to falsely obtain Canadian citizenship."
In a later interview, Kenney said the vast majority of the 1,800 allegedly fraudulent citizenships were facilitated by three or four immigration consultants.
The consultants marketed their services to people living primarily in overseas tax havens or in certain Middle Eastern countries, where Kenney said a Canadian passport holder can earn double the salary.
Typically, he said the consultants provided receipts for apartment rentals and other faked evidence of residency in Canada while the applicant remained abroad.
During an extensive two-year investigation with the RCMP, Kenney said his department employed sophisticated computer technology to identify suspicious patterns in citizenship applications. Among other things, it uncovered one office address in Mississauga, Ont., which was listed as the home residence for more than 300 applicants.
"We started to put together the patterns of questionable activities, questionable addresses, and we chased this stuff down and found that much of it was facilitated by the same handful of consultants."
-- The Canadian Press
