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News Release AICC Commends the Report of the Minister's Advisory Committee and Urges Fast Action May 8, 2003 -- The Association of Immigration Counsel of Canada (AICC) today applauded the recommendations of the Advisory Committee on the Immigration Consulting Industry. The Advisory Committee was struck last fall to examine the issue of regulating immigration consultants by the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, the Honorable Denis Coderre. "AICC has been incredibly active on this front. In fact, we consider the regulation of our industry as a core mission of our association," noted Gerd Damitz, president of AICC. "We understand better than most the need for regulation. We hope the Minister follows the recommendations of his own committee and implements a regulatory regime for immigration practitioners as soon as possible." AICC is a federally chartered non-profit organization representing immigration practitioners across Canada. Its voluntary membership includes lawyers, former Canadian government officers and diplomats, and experienced immigration counsel. AICC is also one of the founding partners of the College of Immigration Practitioners of Canada (CIPC) which was brought into being in 2000 at the urging of Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) as a possible body responsible for administering a self-regulatory system for consultants. "We hope the Minister sees this through to the end," said Joe Kenney, 1st national vice-president of AICC. "Unfortunately, this issue has brought about several reports in the past that never were acted upon. We believe now is the time to finally get this done." Mr. Damitz added that the committee's recommendations, which include establishing a code of conduct, a complaint mechanism, a compensation fund, and liability insurance, would ensure the future protection of the public. "Raising the bar for entry into this profession and mandatory education will definitely foster professionalism and improve over time the reputation of our industry in the eyes of the public." "We look forward to working with Minister Coderre in the coming months to make implementation of the regulation of immigration consultants a success," said Mr. Damitz. "He really seems committed to achieving results on this issue and we couldn't be more pleased about that." For more information, please contact: Gerd Damitz @ 416-495-8170; Fax: 416-491-8826; Joe Kenney @ 604-689-0717; Fax: 604-689-1071; Sources |