Officials launched a campaign yesterday warning potential immigrants they could be removed from Canada if they enter under false pretences.
The warning came in a video the government posted on the Internet, and will be carried in brochures sent out in different languages to Canadian visa offices around the world. Immigration Minister Jason Kenney also issued a warning about immigration consultants, saying they don't get you in faster, and if you hire one it had better be from the government's approved list.
Kenney's political opponents say unscrupulous consultants are the real problem -- and that the scams will persist until the government starts regulating that industry.
The minister described the elaborate hoaxes people orchestrate to bolster their application chances.
Department officials say they've received forged signatures and letterhead from imposters using the names of members of Parliament and doctors; fraudulent death certificates; and letters from Canadian funeral-home employees who don't exist.
Kenney recounted his recent visit to Canada's consulate in northern India where there's a "wall of shame'' -- a mosaic of falsified papers tacked up for all to see.
During that trip, he said he learned of a burgeoning industry in which immigration fraud is given a festive twist.
"I heard about the growth of so-called 'marriage palaces', where actors are hired to play the part of guests at weddings,'' Kenney told a House of Commons committee.
"This is done to create fraudulent marriage photos to fool our visa officers. Some fraud is perpetrated by applicants and some by unscrupulous immigration representatives.''
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