Immigration.ca - Canada Immigration News - January 2008
In a landmark ruling reached last week, Canada's Federal Court has certified a lawsuit against the Department of Citizenship and Immigration. The lawsuit is groundbreaking in that it is the first class action suit against the CIC to have moved this far in the court process.
The lawsuit alleges that the Department has been profiting off of the fees charged to immigration applicants. Federal Law prohibits the government from charging "any more in fees than the amount they need to recoup the cost of their services."
CIC is being accused of charging above and beyond that amount since as far back as 1998.
Legal representatives for CIC claim that the relevant law, passed under the Financial Administration Act, "does not apply to the department."
This particular case originated with a B.C. resident who filed a sponsorship application in 2003 and was charged $75. Subsequent calculations, the nature of which is unclear from media reports, revealed that the true cost of processing amounted to less than half of that.
The fallout of these allegations against CIC could mean that the department, and therefore the Canadian government, owe "hundreds, if not thousands of dollars" to a very broad spectrum of people- many of whom many no longer even be living in Canada, as the fees in question include those charged for temporary, visitor visas. The ruling could also have a significant impact in the way all government operations are financially managed as well as the transparency and accountability of that management.
Source: CanWest News Service
