The Citizenship and Immigration office at 800 Burrard in downtown Vancouver. The cases of misconduct that IRCC unearthed involved a small minority of the department's 13,000 employees.Isabella Falsetti/The Globe and Mail
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Staff at the federal immigration department tried to interfere with applications to enter and stay in Canada, with one asking a colleague whether they would accept money to approve a study permit, a report published Friday on misconduct and wrongdoing found.
The first ever report on misconduct at Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada discloses that in 2023-2024, 12 staff took advantage of their ability to access IRCC’s systems to look at people’s files.
Some checked or asked about the status of immigration files for family members, friends and acquaintances, or checked their status out of curiosity.
In some cases IRCC employees tried to get immigration cases fast-tracked, or asked a colleague to make corrections to a file.
IRCC produced the report to demonstrate its commitment to transparency, and show the actions it had taken to deal with wrongdoing.
Harpreet Kochhar, the deputy minister, paid tribute to the “courageous employees who raised concerns or blew the whistle when a potentially problematic behaviour was observed.”
He said the report showed the department was able to address misconduct and wrongdoing, adding that “at IRCC we encourage our employees to speak up without fear or reprisal.”
IRCC has around 13,000 employees, including some working in embassies abroad. The cases of misconduct the department unearthed involved a small minority of staff.
In 2023-24, an IRCC case processing agent asked another employee through an internal messaging app whether they would accept money for approving a study permit - an immigration document needed by international students to come to Canada.
“The employee who received the request, informed the agent that the request violates IRCC’s Code of Conduct,” the report says.
The report said the agent who made the request replied “with a falsified story stating that another individual, to whom the agent owed money, had taken control of their laptop and requested the information.”
“Upon further investigation, it was found the agent was under financial hardship,” the report said. “The reliability status of the case processing agent was revoked.”
The report includes other examples of wrongdoing, including making racist comments and cheating on a test.
In cases involving breaches of privacy, managers had a duty to inform IRCC’s privacy division to ensure the breach was contained.
The report said there were 62 “founded cases” of misconduct and wrongdoing in 2023-2024, with 76 cases looked at. They included nine founded cases of harassment, violence and disrespectful behaviour, as well as breaches of the department’s code of conduct.
One employee was suspended without pay after making “disrespectful and discriminatory remarks that a group of people of a specific nationality believe they are above the law.”
In another case, an employee “formed a social relationship with a claimant met at an IRCC Asylum Hotel.”
The employee then coached the claimant how to engage with the department, and co-signed the claimant’s car loan. It was found there was an apparent conflict of interest, and the employee was suspended without pay.
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