Sask. government says safeguards are in place to protect against immigration fraud

Saskatchewan's deputy minister of immigration and career training says he is satisfied with the safeguards in place to protect against possible immigration fraud.

Alastair MacFadden defended the province's record after CBC published a story detailing allegations of a massive immigration scam orchestrated by a White City couple now living in British Columbia.

He said the province has enacted changes since 2012, when Canada Border Services Agency officials began the investigation into the couple's alleged activities. He cited the creation of program integrity units that have full-time staff in two government ministries to weed out fraudulent immigration job offers.

"It requires ongoing vigilance and so the systems in this province are relatively strong but they're getting stronger over time," MacFadden said.

"The legislation that's in place was enacted in 2013 but our processes and the partnerships across government are even stronger."

The integrity units are in the Ministry of Immigration and Career Training, and the Ministry of Labour Relations and Workplace Safety. MacFadden said the province was one of the first to create such a program.

Businesses have to prove they're legitimate, that the job offer is legitimate and that it meets the requirements of the Saskatchewan Immigrant Nominee Program, then a certificate of registration from the ministry of labour relations and workplace safety is required, MacFadden said. A job approval letter from the ministry's employer services branch also has to be obtained.

It's alleged the White City couple offered money to legitimate business owners in Saskatchewan in exchange for fraudulent job offers. In some cases, authorities allege, the couple simply forged job-offer documents without the business owner's explicit consent. 

CBSA investigators found more than 1,200 names of Chinese nationals in records seized from the couple's home, with 641 of those names showing up in the federal or provincial immigration system.

Seventy-eight of those people had become permanent residents in Canada.