Immigration Consultants and Private Sponsorship Program

Rosemary Barton: The minister was responding to a CBC News investigation that found that some immigration consultants are charging Syrians who want to come to Canada under the private sponsorship program between $3,000 to $6,400 per person to process their applications, according to CBC. The Ayash family from Syria pose at the airport in Halifax in February. Immigration consultants violating rules of refugee sponsorship program "We are very concerned about this, and we want to explore all avenues as to possible wrongdoing," McCallum told Rosemary Barton on CBC Power & Politics Tuesday. The family is being sponsored by a community group in Lunenburg, N.S. Communities across Canada have been raising money to privately sponsor refugees, but a CBC investigation found that some immigration consultants are asking Syrians form Gulf states to pay settlement funds that are supposed to be paid by their sponsors. Under federal rules, these costs are supposed to be covered by private sponsors, not refugees, for a full year. The investigation also found that some consultants are asking refugees to pay the cost of their resettlement in Canada up front before even arriving in the country. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.