Katarina Onuschak, member of CSIC

History of Canadian Migration Institute Inc.

The Canadian Migration Institute (CMI Inc.) was incorporated under the Canada Business Corporations Act on September 7, 2007 as a for-profit corporation by Canadian Society of Immigration Consultants or, more correctly, by the then Directors of CSIC. No consultations with members were conducted on the concept of having a for-profit corporation established by a not-for-profit corporation. The members were notified of the existence of CMI Inc. on January 28, 2008.

On several occasions, the Chair of the Board of Directors of CSIC stated that the CMI Inc. belongs to the members and that profits from the CMI Inc. will be used to lower our membership fees. That never happened. On the contrary, during the last election campaign, Ms. Dawn Moore, one of the Directors, clearly stated that the profits from the CMI Inc. are used to offset the operational expenses of the Board. So much for promises.

Soon after announcing the existence of the CMI Inc., CMI Inc. started to offer programs that qualified for CPD points. Interesting is that the first CMI program was approved by the CSIC Board before its existence was known. No wonder. The Board of Directors of the CMI Inc. was identical to that of the CSIC - the same people who prepared the CPD program applied for its approval - to themselves. Conflict of interest? Not according to Mr. Ryan, the Chair of the Board of Directors. He publicly stated that there is no conflict of interests and that the Directors are allowed to wear more than one hat.

CMI Inc. is a voluntary organization. It is not mandatory to join. It is fully funded by CSIC and the membership is free-of-charge to all CSIC members and lawyers. A few months after its inception, CSIC moved the Lexbase to the CMI Inc. That meant that those who did not join the CMI Inc. did not have access to the benefit that was and is paid by CSIC from the membership fees.

Forward a few months... CSIC announced a new requirement for membership - a mandatory reference library. At the same time, it was announced that the electronic version of the mandatory reference library, LexisNexis, will be offered for free - to members of CMI Inc. Not to all CSIC members. Those who were reluctant to join the CMI Inc. until then did a fast calculation - either they will join the CMI Inc. or pay thousands of dollars for a subscription to the library. CMI Inc. membership increased dramatically - so much that it was able to claim that it is now the largest organization of immigration consultants and announced that they will lobby on behalf of consultants. Lobby? On behalf of consultants? The same people who claim that they do not have a mandate to help its members because their responsibility is to the consumers are suddenly going to lobby on behalf of the members?

Only a handful of consultants refused to join the CMI Inc. CAPIC (Canadian Association of Professional Immigration Consultants) negotiated and paid subscription to another electronic library - Carswell's WestLaw. This was good for 2009. In October 2009, CSIC Board of Directors announced that Carswell's WestLaw library is not good enough and that only LexisNexis is acceptable and approved. Again, LexisNexis is available to members of CMI Inc. free-of-charge. Not to every CSIC member, only to members of the CMI Inc.

In the meantime, CSIC Board of Directors suspended CAPIC's status of a CPD provider. The only competition to the CMI Inc. was eliminated and members have no choice but buy the CPD programs from CMI Inc. if they miss other opportunities. The assessment of the CPD value of programs outside of the CMI Inc. is questionable, at least. A few years ago, programs organized by the Law Societies and Canadian Bar Association were awarded the maximum points available - 10 points per day. This year, the Annual Immigration Law Summit organized by the Law Society of Upper Canada was granted only 5 points per day and that only after those who attended pass a quiz that is supposed to be developed by "CSIC staff". Two months after the event, the quiz is not available.