According to Auditor-General Michael Ferguson’s spring report on selected 700 citizenship applications there were many minor and major mistakes on the officer’s evaluation reports.
The report, tabled in the House of Commons on Tuesday May 3rd found a number of alarms in the citizenship program questioning the department’s ability to prevent fraud, including a method to identify and document fraud risks.
“We concluded that Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada’s efforts to detect and prevent citizenship fraud were not adequate,” Mr. Ferguson said at a news conference on Tuesday. “These gaps make it difficult for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada to assess the impacts of its efforts to combat citizenship fraud.”
The report, covered the period between July, 2014, and October, 2015. The most common reasons for revoking citizenship are residency and identity fraud, and undeclared criminal records.
Citizenship officers did not consistently apply the department’s methods to identify and prevent fraud when dealing with suspicious immigration documents, such as altered passports.
For example, in one region, citizenship officers have not detected any suspicious documents.
The report also confirms that citizenship officers did not have the information they needed to properly identify “problem addresses” when making decisions to grant citizenship. Problem addresses are those known or suspected to be associated with fraud, and used by citizenship applicants to meet residency requirements.
Mr. Ferguson cited an example where one address was not identified as a problem, even though it was used by 50 applicants, seven of whom were granted Canadian citizenship. He said the fact that it was so simple for his office to find that example is concerning.
The problem was more complex by deprived information sharing with the RCMP, which can provide valuable information about criminal behaviour among permanent residents, and the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), which directs investigations of citizenship fraud.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Immigration Minister John McCallum said the government will implement all of the Auditor-General’s recommendations as quickly as possible, adding that it has already taken action on the concerns regarding the use of fraudulent documents by citizenship applicants.
He also added that work is under way to improve information sharing among his department, and the CBSA and RCMP, with a completion date of December, 2016.
Mr. McCallum said the government is investigating the suspicious cases identified by the Auditor-General, which could lead to citizenship revocation.
Although the department did not track the exact number of citizenship fraud risks, it reported 700 pending revocation cases as of January. According to the report, revoking citizenship after fraud is discovered is “time consuming and costly.”
“In these audits, we’ve seen that serious consequences can arise when government data is either not useful, or not acted upon. In the citizenship program, such failings are limiting the effectiveness of efforts to combat citizenship fraud risk,” Mr. Ferguson said. “I believe that government departments and organizations urgently need to turn their attention to this issue.”
