Reference no: EM133620543
Assignment
Paola is an immigration consultant working in Windsor, Ontario. She holds a Class L3 - RCIC-IRB license with the College and practices mainly in the areas of temporary residence applications and detention reviews. Paola is a sole practitioner and does not employ any assistants.
On March 28, Paola was approached by Igor, the owner of Igor's Irrigation Ltd., to assist him with a Labor Market Impact Assessment (LMIA). Igor was having great difficulty finding Canadian employees and hoped to hire temporary foreign workers (TFWs). The LMIA, if approved by Service Canada, would allow him to obtain work permits from IRCC for his prospective workers.
They entered into a Service Agreement whereby Paola agreed to assist Igor with the LMIA process for his company. She gathered the necessary information and instructed him on the documents he would need for the application.
After completing all the preliminary steps required for the process, the LMIA application was ultimately submitted on May 15 through the online Employer Portal. The company was seeking permission from Service Canada to hire five TFWs.
On June 7, Paola received a request from Service Canada for additional information and documents from the employer, including specific questions to address regarding the company's need for five TFWs. The officer also requested a Letter of Attestation from a Chartered Professional Accountant or lawyer regarding the company's ability to pay the TFWs the median wage for the occupation for the duration of employment. The timeline given to submit the additional material was 5 days, namely by 5:00 pm EST on June 12.
When she received the request on June 7, Paola was completely tied up with urgent client matters and planned to send the letter to Igor the next day. In her mind, there was no point in sending Igor the request until she was available to speak with him about it as well. She expected he would have many questions and she would need a bit of time to explain exactly what Service Canada was seeking. Despite her best intentions on June 8, two client emergencies arose that had to be attended to, especially as she would be away on June 9 to attend an immigration conference out of town. She was not able to prioritize Igor's matter on June 8 and decided to wait to send the Service Canada letter when she returned.
She attended the immigration conference as planned on June 9 and stayed at the hotel overnight. Upon returning to the office late in the morning of June 10, she was overwhelmed with calls, emails, and other urgent client matters demanding her attention, and was not able to focus on Igor's matter at all.
Finally, at noon on June 11, Paola sent Igor an email attaching the correspondence from Service Canada. She assured him she was available immediately to discuss it on an urgent basis if he could please call her or come in as soon as possible. She did not hear back from Igor that day and started to wonder whether she should contact Service Canada to request an extension of time.
Paola sent Igor another email first thing the next morning (June 12) asking him to call her as soon as possible. When she did not hear back after an hour, she called Igor's cell phone. Igor had indeed received the first email and had made an appointment with his accountant for 1:00 p.m. on June 12 to get the Letter of Attestation. He could bring it to Paola's office at 3:30 pm with the other documents requested by Service Canada and they could address the questions and finalize the submission. Paola cleared her schedule for that afternoon so she could focus solely on Igor's matter as the 5 p.m. deadline was fast approaching.
Igor arrived at 3:20 p.m. with the required letter from the accountant and his other documents. They went through the questions and together prepared the rest of the submission. By 4:35 p.m. Paola scanned the documents and was ready to upload everything in the Employer Portal. But each time she tried to log into the account, she got an error message.
Paola was anxious and tried frantically to access the online portal to no avail. She then checked the Service Canada page to learn that they were experiencing unexpected technical issues. The portal was down but Service Canada hoped to have it back online the next day. Thus, Paola missed the deadline.
Task
Question A. Identify five key provisions of the Code of Professional Conduct that most directly apply to this scenario, and which Paola breached.
Question B. Analyze each of the provisions identified in sufficient detail to show your understanding of the provision, and how it applies to Paola.
Question C. Next, assume you were the RCIC who received the email from Service Canada on June 7. What specific steps should you have taken (after receipt of this letter) to ensure you did not breach any provisions of the Code?