SERGIO KARAS QUOTED IN GLOBE AND MAIL EDITORIAL ON IMMIGRATION REFORM AND TUNISIAN EXILES

I have been  quoted in today's Globe and Mail Editorial.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/editorials/tunisia-canada-and-some-very-attractive-immigration-loopholes/article1889458/
Tunisia, Canada, and some very attractive immigration loopholes

From Tuesday's Globe and Mail

Bill C-49 should be amended to include provisions to prevent those who are stripped of permanent residency from making asylum claims. Moreover, the guidelines in place to prevent those who engage in corruption and abuse of power from immigrating to Canada should be uniformly applied

The case of Belhassen Trabelsi, the billionaire brother-in-law of Tunisia's disgraced ex-president, raises troubling questions not only about Canada's refugee system, but about the screening in place for permanent residents.

A bill to reform Canada's Immigration and Refugee Protection Act is already before the House, and must be amended to close these loopholes, and prevent further abuse.

Mr. Trabelsi gained permanent residency in the 1990s, as an investor immigrant. Immigration officers are supposed to conduct background checks for security and criminality, but Mr. Trabelsi apparently flew under the radar. His sister, Leila, married President Zine el Abidine Ben Ali in 1992. Surely the nature of that relationship, coupled with long-standing questions about his business dealings, should have been known to Canadian authorities.

Once granted permanent residency, it was up to Mr. Trabelsi to maintain the requirements of living in Canada for two out of every five years. He failed to do so. Yet, when Mr. Ali's tyrannical regime came to an ignominious end last month, Mr. Trabelsi, his wife, children and nanny were still able to fly to Montreal in their private jet and check into the Château Vaudreuil, a five-star lakeside resort outside Montreal. Why wasn't he detained by immigration officers at the point of entry for failing to live up to his residency obligations?

Once immigration authorities caught up with Mr. Trabelsi, they rightly stripped him of his status. He promptly filed for asylum, claiming he will be persecuted if sent to Tunisia, where he now faces charges of embezzlement, money-laundering and abuse of power.
"It is likely nobody knew who he was when he first immigrated to Canada in the 1990s," said Sergio Karas, a Toronto immigration lawyer. "He should have been excluded because of a reasonable suspicion he was involved in criminal activity."
Bill C-49 should be amended to include provisions to prevent those who are stripped of permanent residency from making asylum claims. Moreover, the guidelines in place to prevent those who engage in corruption and abuse of power from immigrating to Canada should be uniformly applied. Ottawa often rejects investor immigrant applicants from Russia and China over concerns about the legality of their funds. There should never have been a place in Canada for Mr. Trabelsi.