In an interview with CTV's Victor Malarek, Jason Kenney suggested that individuals must take responsibility for who they marry, vouch for, and sponsor to come to Canada. He washed his and the government's hands of the issue. Kenney missed the boat on this one - big time. Indeed, Canadians marrying abroad must be cautious, however if it only becomes apparent that they have been duped after some time, how can the government sit back and do nothing, and simply blame the victimized spouse?


I doubt that Kenney has read Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point. In this book, Gladwell explains what he calls "The Broken Window Theory", that works like so: Say a part of a city is run down has broken windows and the like...then criminals become empowered because it appears as if nobody cares, and that the law is not being enforced. The result is that all types of crime will increase because lawbreakers will figure that enforcement is neglected. This was the case in New York City in the 1980's before they addressed their "Broken Windows." Finally, tons was spent cleaning up the city, and imagine... crime decreased!


So what does the theory suggest about our immigration ministers laissez-faire attitude towards immigration scams through marriage fraud? By ignoring this seemingly small issue, Jason Kenney and Citizenship and Immigration are creating a fertile environment for encouraging far worse problems. 
maggie gutierrez(cook)
10/27/2009 06:58:24 am

It will take time to eventually get thru to the Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration about the epidemic of marriage fraud in Canada. The victims of marriage fraud are suffering most of them in silence, they are afraid to come forward due to embarrassment and depression for themselves and their families and friends. We the non-profit organization "Canadians Against Immigration Fraud" are in the process of helping these victims and hopefully will be successful in doing so by becoming more public and allowing the victims to come forward with their own individual stories. We will support them in any way we can and help them find the resources to allow them to report this crime to the correct Government agencies. Too many times this is happening to innocent people and it needs to stop now!! The stories told are mostly similar in that the sponsored spouse married and came to Canada for the sole purpose of obtaining Permanent Resident Status. A sponsorship agreement means that there are 3 parties involved, the sponsor, the sponsored spouse, and the Canadian Immigration. When the sponsored spouse is not upholding his or her end of the agreement then it should be that this document is null and void and that theperson should then return to his or her country of origin!

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disgusted
2/7/2010 01:23:21 pm

How can anyone get information about the person they are marrying if there is a "privacy act" regarding others? I am totally disgusted with the Canadian Immigration System. When an application is made, why don't they verify information. The creep that I married (turned out to have 3 children back home + he was married, but not the mother of those 3 children, someone completely different. None of this info. was on his immigration papers. I travelled to his country at least 12 times and noone told me about this -- i asked so many times, indirectly, directly but they all work together to fool good people. They are con artists -- everyone from the D.R. I will never step foot into that country again -- everyone disgusts me.

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    Author

    Like it or not, Lainie Towell has become "the poster girl" for the issue of marriage fraud in Canada.  A professional artist, she has used her own personal life experience as a source of artistic inspiration, to draw attention to one of the most frequent forms of immigration fraud in Canada. In 2009, Towell received international media attention after she walked through the streets of Ottawa with a full sized door strapped to her back, wearing a wedding gown.  Lainie Towell is committed to continue educating people worldwide about Canada's broken immigration system through her art.  

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