NEW legislation was too late to protect two Russian-speaking newcomers from being fleeced by unlicensed immigration consultants for thousands of dollars. But they may be among the last, the province says.
After the Russians paid more than $7,000 each to the Winnipeg consultants, their immigration was botched and their promised $20-an-hour jobs didn't pan out.
Gevorg Sargsyan and Andrey Berideze found a lawyer, took the consultants -- Sergei and Dimitri Gailit and their Gold Canada Inc. -- to small claims court, and won.
While they were fighting for justice in the courts, Manitoba passed on April 1 the Worker Recruitment and Protection Act. It says those engaged in recruiting foreign workers must not collect fees from foreign workers for finding or attempting to find jobs for them. Recruiters may collect fees from employers.
"They're no longer going to be able to charge newcomers for the privilege of having a job," Labour and Immigration Minister Nancy Allan said. "Recruiters have used a job as a carrot (on a stick) with someone who doesn't know the culture, the language, the labour system -- to get money from them."
The case of the West Coast recruiter who charged workers from China thousands of dollars for jobs at Brandon's Maple Leaf plant demonstrates the need for a tougher law, she said.
"Maple Leaf brought in... workers from China. After they got here and got settled in Brandon (in 2007), they were overheard trying to make outrageous payments of $10,000 (to the B.C. recruiter)."
The Gailits, who helped their clients find a place to live, were ordered by Justice Daniel Kennedy to pay back two-thirds of the $7,000-plus they charged each man.
Consultants wrongly told Sargsyan that his wife and two young sons in Russia could not come with him to Canada. His wife was later diagnosed with cancer and died, said his lawyer, Ken Zaifman.
"He couldn't leave Canada to be with her," the lawyer said. "For a long period of time, his wife was in dire straits... . We had to arrange for their young children to come. It's been a very, very trying time for him."
Sargsyan is raising his kids -- now 11 and 13 -- here, as is Berideze from Israel, who is married with a teenage son. Both newcomers have since had their status resolved. Sargsyan is upgrading his skills and Berideze and his wife are working, said Zaifman, who represents them both.
Under the new law pioneered in Manitoba, there shouldn't be a repeat of their cases, provincial officials say.
Immigration consultants now must be licensed, and in order to get a licence they must be members of the Canadian Society of Immigration Consultants or a law society and put up a $10,000 bond, said Dave Dyson of Manitoba Labour.
His department can prosecute recruiters operating illegally, but it cannot stop online swindlers from fleecing job-seekers still abroad: "If someone gets duped in China, there's not a heck of a lot I can do."
The newcomers were directed to the Gailits' service via the Internet, Zaifman said. The Winnipeg consultants lined up jobs for Sargsyan and Berideze as bricklayers to be paid $20.40 per hour. On their first day on the job, contractor Guy Buscemi realized neither was qualified, but kept them on as labourers for $12 an hour.
The Gailits advised their clients that they could work after their visas expired if they went to the Canada Customs office at the U.S. border to arrange an extension of their visas. Sargsyan went, and got a deportation notice. "The advice was incorrect, and it was obvious the (consultants) didn't know the proper procedure" Justice Kennedy said.
Critics say immigration numbers will suffer but Allan said she'd rather see fewer workers recruited who are "treated properly."
출처 : 위니펙 프리 프레스(Winnipeg Free Press) 2009년 6월 8일자에서