Senior Immigration Canada manager pleads not guilty in bribery scheme

Case alleges accused received money for fast-tracking residency applications
BY ANDREW SEYMOUR, OTTAWA CITIZEN JANUARY 24, 2012

 

 

Secretly recorded telephone calls and undercover police surveillance will paint a portrait of a senior Citizenship and Immigration Canada manager taking cash in exchange for preferential treatment on permanent residency applications, a prosecutor said Monday on the first day of a trial into an alleged bribes-for-status scheme.

Assistant Crown attorney Mike Boyce said Diane Serre teamed up with Issam Dakik to take thousands of dollars from mostly Arab immigrants in exchange for fast-tracking their applications. Dakik would meet with the applicants and collect the money before contacting Serre who would use her influence as a manager and supervisor in Citizenship and Immigration Canada's Catherine Street office, said Boyce.

Serre, 41, pleaded not guilty to 28 charges Monday, including multiple allegations of fraud against the government and breach of trust of a public official. She is also charged with one count of bribery.

Dakik portrayed himself as someone who had inside information, Boyce added.

Dakik, who has pleaded guilty to his role in the scheme, along with credit card fraud, was sentenced to two years and nine months in prison in 2006. At the time, Dakik admitted he paid Serre a portion of the proceeds of the scheme.

The scheme allegedly began in January 2003 and continued until December 2004, when Serre and Dakik were arrested by RCMP in an operation dubbed "Project Argon."

Nine applicants made the illegal cash payments, which the RC-MP said at the time of Serre's arrest ranged from between $4,000 and $25,000.

In an opening address, Boyce outlined Crown evidence that will be presented over the six-week trial, including wiretap evidence that the prosecutor said proved that Serre was Dakik's "insider" at Citizenship and Immigration Canada.

Police surveillance observed visits to Dakik's home by Serre that corresponded with wiretapped telephone calls to some of the applicants - calls where Dakik would often either put the applicants on hold or could be heard consulting with someone else in the room.

Boyce alleged when an undercover police agent approached Dakik, he was told the first $300 he paid would go to "the lawyer." Bills with the same serial numbers were recovered two weeks later from Serre's bedroom, said the prosecution.

Among the allegations is that Serre also handed over sensitive Citizenship and Immigration Canada documents to Dakik and made phone calls to outside government agencies, including CSIS, to see if some of the steps of the application process could be expedited.

Not all of Serre's actions would be improper when viewed in isolation, said Boyce, but when viewed in the context of Serre's relationship with Dakik, they equated to a breach of trust.

"She accepted or agreed to accept a benefit for her assistance in processing these claims," Boyce told Ontario Superior Court Justice Catherine Aitken.

Boyce said the Crown intends to prove Serre not only committed a breach of trust by taking money, but by the very fact she agreed to give preferential treatment to the claimants at all.

"Just through acts of giving preferential treatment to those files would be a breach of trust by Ms. Serre," he said.

The nine applicants who paid Dakik are expected to be called as witnesses this week and next. Their evidence will include tape-recorded conversations and agreements they made with Dakik. Dakik is expected to take the witness stand in about two weeks, where prosecutors expect to confront him with the wiretaps and other surveillance.

The Crown will also introduce evidence that will show when Serre or others searched for the applicants' electronic files. Occasionally Serre would search the files within a day of discussing them with Dakik, Boyce alleged.

The prosecution spent much of the first day introducing many of the exhibits seized from searches of Citizenship and Immigration Canada office and Serre and Dakik's homes.

The trial continues Tuesday.

aseymour@ottawacitizen.com

© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen

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Hot Jobs in Canada for 2012

We Are Headed For Growth Despite Some Headwinds From Abroad

By Mark Swartz

Monster Senior Contributing Writer

 

What will the economy bring for Canada in 2012? Positive news overall, as energy prices and demand for our exports remain reasonably high.

 

Did you know, for example, that Canada is the largest single exporter of oil to the United States? Or that over 20% of the world’s entire supply of potash – a chemical used in various fertilizers – is produced right here?

 

While our natural resources are abundant, so are Canada’s manufacturing facilities, services sectors, and other job-generating areas across the country. Our banks are sound and our workforce is engaged. That’s what has made us so resilient despite headwinds from other parts of the globe.

 

Overall Growth Prospects For 2012

 

According to the Conference Board of Canada’s “Economic Insights” report from Autumn 2011, nearly 370,000 additional jobs are forecast to be added here for 2012. This amounts to a 2.1% increase over the previous year’s total. Not bad at a time when Europe and the U.S. are experiencing challenges of their own.

 

Where will all these new Canadian jobs come from? They’ll be created across a variety of sectors in provinces from Newfoundland and Labrador to British Columbia. We take a look below at some highlights of the places where job growth in Canada is expected to be strongest.

 

The Atlantic Provinces

 

Newfoundland and Labrador is having an unprecedented energy and resources boom. With about $43-billion worth of projects in process, a shortage of skilled workers is foreseen.

• View construction and mining related jobs in Newfoundland and Labrador

 

Over in Nova Scotia, one of the Halifax area’s largest employers won the contract to build $25-billion worth of combat ships for the federal government over the next 30 years. Initial production could start by late 2012.  

• View marine-related and manufacturing jobs in Halifax

 

Quebec

 

In the province of Quebec, Montreal is poised for jobs growth in aerospace - at such companies as Bombardier and Pratt and Whitney – as well as in video gaming.

• View aerospace engineer and technician jobs in Montreal
• View video gaming jobs in Montreal

 

For Quebec City, in 2012, Non-Commercial services is forecast to grow as a category by more than 5,500 jobs. This is a bright note for teachers, other educators, healthcare workers and those in social services.

• View healthcare jobs in Québec City
• View teacher, education and instructor jobs in Québec City

 

Ontario

 

Hamilton, Ontario is seeing a modest rebound in housing construction. As a result, Finance, Insurance, & Real Estate are poised to add additional jobs. Also this Canadian center for steel production will create more manufacturing positions.

View finance, insurance and real estate jobs in Hamilton

View manufacturing jobs in Hamilton

 

Ottawa, Ontario – the capital of Canada – is normally known for its large number of government jobs. However in 2012 it is Construction that will expand. So will Non-Commercial services.

• View construction trades, helpers and labourer jobs in Ottawa
• View education, healthcare and social worker jobs in Ottawa

 

Toronto, Ontario should see a solid rise in banking and finance jobs, given that the city is an international finance hub. The Personal Services sector will show healthy growth as well.

• View accounting, banking and finance and related jobs in Toronto
• View personal services jobs in Toronto

 

Western Canada

 

In the province of Manitoba, it is projected that Winnipeg will produce more jobs in two particular Service sectors. One is Transportation. The other is Business Services.

• View business services jobs in Winnipeg
• View transportation jobs in Winnipeg

 

Saskatchewan is primed for expansion due to an explosion in demand for natural resources such as potash, oil, and gas. You can see this in Saskatoon, where the Goods sector – which includes Manufacturing, Natural Resources, Utilities And Construction – is expected to produce 9.3% more jobs.

View construction trades, helpers and labourer jobs in Saskatoon

View transportation jobs in Saskatoon

 

Meanwhile in Regina, Saskatchewan, Construction is on the verge of creating 1,100 new jobs. Better yet is Wholesale and Retail Trade, which will be up 1,800 jobs.  

• View construction trades, helpers and labourer jobs in Regina
• View wholesale and retail trade jobs in Regina

 

Alberta is also benefiting from worldwide demand for oil and gas. This is evident in Calgary, a diversified city, where jobs in petrochemicals and resources will be plentiful. As employers in this field expand, they need additional IT people as well.

• View geologist, geochemist and geophysicist jobs in Calgary
• ViewIT (computer) specialist jobs in Calgary

 

The Edmonton, Alberta region too will experience jobs growth along with Alberta’s primary resource sector. Accordingly the city should see a boost in positions for Transportation and Warehousing. Another growth area there will be Finance, Insurance and Real Estate.

• View finance, insurance and real estate jobs in Edmonton
• View warehousing jobs in Edmonton

 

British Columbia will be home to some impressive jobs growth in 2012. Victoria is the province’s capital city. There we will see above average increases in Non-Commercial services, as well as in Wholesale and Retail Trade.

• View education, healthcare and social worker jobs in Victoria
• View wholesale and retail trade jobs in Victoria

 

Scenic Vancouver, British Columbia, with its proximity to the Pacific Rim, has some bright spots for employment growth for 2012. One of its local employers, Seaspan Marine Corp., will begin an $8-billion deal to build non-combat ships for Canada’s navy and coast guard. Film and movie production is a year-round job producer as well.

• View marine-related and manufacturing jobs in Vancouver
• View film and movie production jobs in Vancouver

 

Potential Drags On Growth

 

Decreased demand for our natural resources is a possibility if countries such as China and the U.S. experience an economic slowdown. There may also be a tightening of the fiscal belt by our government. Moreover the European financial situation could negatively impact Canada’s economy.

 

For More Information

 

Details about employment statistics are available at Statistics Canada.

The Canadian undocumented?

By Father Tom Joyce CMF

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January is the month of the refugee. The UN High Commission for Refugees estimates that in 2010 more than 30 million people sought asylum in other countries--264,000 in the United States and 165,000 in Canada--because of war or persecution. But that, doesn’t mean that they were welcomed to stay. After processing, some are denied and asked to leave.
Canada once had a reputation for being most accommodating. Not so anymore. The Conservative government has tightened its process of granting asylum and has reduced the number it accepts. This seems already to have created a new set of “illegals” or unauthorized immigrants according to the Los Angeles Times.
The phenomenon became more publically known couple of weeks ago, when the Los Angeles area experienced a series of arsons--mostly of parked autos. Harry Burkhardt, the suspect, was soon apprehended. He and his mother, Dorothee, were here on visitors’ visas and holding German passports. But they also entered the U.S. from Vancouver, after having been denied asylum.
Canada has revised its asylum process--ostensibly to quicken the pace of acceptance, but really to save money and to cut the number of asylums granted during hard economic times. Now asylum-seekers are to get a hearing in 90 days and, if rejected, are to be ushered back to their home country within 120 days. This is not enough time, immigrant advocates say, to gather the documentation to make the petitioner's claim of persecution-- before or after the hearing. Canada has 42,000 pending cases and 124,000 ready for deportation. The fear is that those rejected will travel as visitors on still valid passports, like the Burkardts. While the U.S. and Canada have an agreement to prevent asylum-jumping, as in case of the Burkhardts, once they're legally in the country, they have the right to present themselves to an asylum officer. If rejected, they won’t necessarily go home, but might just melt into the shadows among the other undocumented.
Many of those seeking asylum in Canada last year came from surprising places. The largest number is from Hungary. Now a member of the European Union, which insists on strong human rights policies, the former Communist country seems to be slipping back into one-party rule. The EU has charged Prime Minster Viktor Orban of extending his party’s control over the central bank, the judiciary, and the media. Critics speak oftransforming the county into a “Putin democracy” or a “Viktorarcy.”
It’s a shame that the plight of refugees should complicate the U.S.’s immigration problems further, or that Canada should temper its generous welcome to refugee. The number of refugees continues to be high. The UN High Commission estimates that every minute eight people flee their homes because of conflict or persecution. So there are millions more refugees than those that come to seek asylum. (Note that the Gospel of Matthew has the Holy Family seeking asylum in Egypt.)

Immigration trends — by the numbers

By SALIM MANSUR, QMI AGENCY

The headline on my column last week read, “Immigration isn’t just about numbers.”

But numbers indeed tell the story of how the trend line for immigrants arriving in Canada over the past 25 years slopes upward. In 2010, some 280,681 immigrants — or new arrivals as permanent residents, in the language of the Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration Canada — entered the country. The figure for 1986 was 99,354.

The total number of immigrants arriving in this period (1986-2010) was more than 5.5 million, or an average of some 220,000 annually. During these years the total population grew from about 26 million in 1986 to 34 million in 2010.

To put the above numbers in perspective — all figures provided here come from government sources — Canada accepted some 4.4 million immigrants in the three decades between 1951 and 1981 at an average of about 146,000 annually. In 1951, Canada’s population was slightly above 14 million, and in 1981 the figure was close to 25 million.

The number for immigrants in 2010 was the highest for a single year during the past 60 years.

We might note in the period of 1986-2010 the spike in numbers occurred under the previous Conservative government of prime minister Brian Mulroney. In order to assure new Canadians or ethnic minorities that the Conservatives favoured increased immigration, the Mulroney government spiked the numbers upward, from less than 100,000 in 1986 to a record high of 256,641 in 1993.

 This jump in immigration levels, while disregarding an economic downturn during the same period, was a transparent effort by the Mulroney Conservatives to woo ethnic votes. The irony is the effort failed as the Conservatives crashed to their worst electoral defeat in the 1993 election.

Immigration has contributed to population growth since Confederation. But during the past half-century, a dramatic shift took place in terms of the source-area composition of immigrants to Canada.

Until 1961 the origin of more than 90% of immigrants was from Europe, and non-European immigrants, primarily from Asia, barely registered at 3%. In the decades following the centennial year, these figures were significantly altered.

In the period of 1991-2001, immigrants of European origin entering Canada fell below 20%, and Asian immigrants soared to nearly 60% of the new arrivals. During the same period, immigrants from Africa accounted for nearly 8% of the total, while around 11% were those arriving from the Caribbean basin, Central and South America.

It is in this shift of source-area composition of immigrants that the demographic profile of Canada’s population as predominantly of European-origin has begun to change.

In 2010, for instance, the top three source countries for immigrants — their respective numbers are given in brackets — were Philippines (36,578), India (30,252) and China (30,197). Together these three countries provided nearly 35% of new arrivals in Canada.

The other noteworthy figure for 2010 is the total number of immigrants originating from Muslim majority countries, which amounted to 65,684 or approaching 25% of the new arrivals.

The cumulative effect of these numbers over time will be significant, and this is why immigration is the big issue politicians of all stripes want to avoid publicly discussing.

Diaspora bonds could help developing countries

BY MARC AND CRAIG KIELBURGER, TIMES COLONIST JANUARY 22, 2012

 

 

In 1988, Naser Kaid left his home in Jimma, Ethiopia, to seek opportunity in Canada. His widowed mother stayed behind. Today, Kaid is her only lifeline.

What Kaid can afford from his wages as a Toronto taxi driver, he sends home to his mother. It's usually $50 to $100 each month and the only income she has. In November 2011, she needed surgery. Kaid scraped together the money to cover the operation. He considers it his responsibility.

"Life is hard here," Kaid says. "But at the same time, you have to remember those elsewhere."

In 2010, immigrants to Canada sent more than $12 billion to support the families they left behind. That's $4 billion more than all the money Canadians gave to charity, and over $6 billion more than Canada spent on international aid that same year.

When the world population passed seven billion in October 2011, the UN Population Fund dedicated an entire chapter of its State of the World Population report to issues around migration. It noted the absolutely staggering amount of money immigrants around the world send back home.

The World Bank estimates that, by 2013, more than $404 billion will be travelling around the world every year from immigrants back to their families. That's almost three times more than all the developed countries in the world put together spent on international aid in 2010.

The Hudson Institute, an American think tank, reports that these remittances play a key role in fighting poverty in developing nations. Those who receive money from family abroad tend to have a better quality of life and are better able to survive shocks like natural disasters.

With tough economic times forcing many donor countries to scale back on international aid, is there a way to turn the hundreds of billions flowing from immigrant communities into an even more effective tool against poverty? Yes, through diaspora bonds.

Canadians should be familiar with Canada Savings Bonds. You buy them from the Government of Canada in amounts as little as $100. When you redeem them months or years later, you get your money back with interest. It's a great way to save money, and it creates revenue our government can use to provide the services we rely on, like health care.

Diaspora bonds work the same way, except they are sold by countries like Ethiopia to their immigrant communities living abroad.

Diaspora bonds are not new. Israel was the first to issue them in 1951. Some African countries like Kenya, Ethiopia, and Nigeria have recently begun to issue bonds. Greek immigrants in Canada and other countries are now looking to diaspora bonds as a way to save their homeland from its massive debt crisis.

The World Bank offers one example of how diaspora bonds could be employed to aid development. There are more than 1.5 million Haitian immigrants living in Canada, the U.S. and France. If 200,000 of them each bought $1,000 in bonds, they would raise $200 million to support postearthquake reconstruction in Haiti.

It seems to us, Canada could support diaspora bonds as a cost-effective way to increase resources for fighting poverty. Here are few ideas that might be explored: Canada could act as an international guarantor for development-dedicated bonds. Our government could help promote these bonds to immigrant communities, or give tax credits to immigrants who purchase them.

There are risks in diaspora bonds. Because the money from bonds goes to governments in developing countries, there is potential for mismanagement or corruption. The Canadian Chapter of the World Council of Hellenes Abroad, for example, prefers that the European Central Bank or the International Monetary Fund control any funds from diaspora bonds. They believe the Government of Greece is in disarray and cannot responsibly manage the money.

Through partnerships, Canada could support bonds designated for specific approved projects. We can provide technical assistance to recipient countries, building their capacity to manage the bonds with accountability and transparency.

We see a creative opportunity with diaspora bonds to not only increase resources for development, but also empower our immigrant communities to help their families back home.

Naser Kaid thinks diaspora bonds are brilliant.

He's considering investing in the new bonds available from Ethiopia.

"It's one of the best ideas," he says. "Countries can use the money, it doesn't cost you much, and you get it back!"

© Copyright (c) The Victoria Times Colonist

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