I am Shajila Singh. I would like to thank Raj Chouhan and his Constituency Assistant Sam Schechter for taking the initiative to hold this meeting and listening to the voices of the victims of passport marriage and allowing them the opportunity to talk about the issue of abuses in the Sponsorship Program.

Passport marriage or sham marriage is becoming an epidemic crisis in immigrant communities. Victims are embarrassed and disgraced, but are apprehensive about talking about this issue in public, and fear that if they take the issue to their elected representatives, they will only be disregarded and further marginalized. This is one of the reasons why there are hardly any statistics or literature sources on this subject as yet.

I am a victim of passport marriage and I have been re-victimized by the Canadian government under the Sponsorship Default Recovery Project. I am advocating and campaigning against the exploitation of marriage as a passport into Canada. I insist on justice for women sponsors who are doubly victimized: first by unprincipled individuals using them solely to gain entrance into Canada; secondly by the Canadian government which holds the victimized women responsible for debts incurred by the sponsored individuals who have used them in this way.

I believe that the Department of Citizenship and Immigration needs to be reformed and that this is essential for our country's dignity and even our national security. I suggest that the Canadian government and Department of Citizenship and Immigration should undertake the following steps in order to reform this Department:

· A review and revision of immigration policies regarding family class sponsorship.
· To introduce a probationary period for marriages associated with the Sponsorship Program.
· To view passport marriage or sham marriage as a serious offense.
· Introduce a policy that would acknowledge the vulnerability of women sponsors to spousal assault and violence, and that would better protect the safety of women who are actual or potential victims of sham marriage.
· A review of the Sponsorship Default Recovery Project.
· Introduce a clause in the Sponsorship Default Recovery Project so that where a default occurs due to passport marriage or sham marriage or due to domestic violence and sexual assault, the woman sponsor will not be liable for expenses incurred by the sponsored individuals.
· Ensure better communication between the Enforcement Unit and other levels of the Department of Citizenship and Immigration, especially in cases involving fraudulent applications for residency through the Sponsorship Program.

(A sponsorship agreement and undertaking is a signed agreement between the sponsor and Canadian Immigration and Citizenship (CIC). In the agreement, a sponsor agrees to support the family member or spouse for up to 10 years and 3 years for spouses/common law partner.)

(Canadian Immigration of Canada assigned their legal right to the provinces to collect on behalf of the federal government when a sponsorship undertaking default occur and the provincial assigned the Collection and Loan Management Branch to collect the debt aggressively without giving proper time frame to response to the first and only letter received and putting a lien within a couple of days.)

To the Federal government.

I want to know where are my rights, according to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Bill of Rights under the Sponsorship Default Recovery Project where a sponsorship default occurred due to sham marriage?

Where is the responsibility and accountability of the Enforcement unit when I reported that I had been the victim of a sham marriage and co-operated in the procedure for the removal order of the individual to proceed. Since the case is between the Enforcement unit and the individual under the removal order I could not get any documents due to Privacy Act protection.

How and why did the individual under the removal order from Canada gain immediate reentry to Canada after being sent back to his native country?

Why did the Canadian Immigration and Citizenship not investigate or inquire about the legitimacy of my case? Why did they overlook my allegation of marriage fraud? How did they proceed with granting sponsored status to an individual under a removal order?

"Canadian Immigration Regulations, 1978, s. 4(3): The family class does not include a spouse who entered into the marriage primarily for the purpose of gaining admission to Canada as a member of the family class and not with the intention of residing permanently with the other spouse."

To the Provincial Government

Why did the Department of Human Resources grant social assistance to the individual in question? Fraudulently obtaining residency status, the individual in question took trip to his native country for 4-6 months a while been on assistant for two years. He worked while receiving social assistance. How did Human Resources overlook or miss these facts, and continue to give him social assistance? Why did they ignore the information I gave them concerning his fraudulent application for social assistance? Why am I now being held responsible for repaying the amount of social assistance that he received, even though I informed Human Resources that he was fraudulently receiving this money?

And finally, why am I being held accountable for a debt under the Sponsorship Default Recovery Project when I had notified the Enforcement unit of my sham marriage and I attempted to assist in the removal of this individual from the country? Why was my sponsorship status not annulled?

In conclusion, the Canadian government and victims of passport marriage need to work together to find solutions or strategies for better and more efficient communications between provincial and federal governments regarding the issue of the Sponsorship Program, and for a review of that Program.