Former live-in caregiver jailed for exploiting migrants who wanted to follow in her footsteps to Canada
From nationalpost.com
A woman who came to Canada from the Philippines as a live-in caregiver has been jailed for exploiting would-be immigrants in a stiff sentence designed to thwart a wave of bogus immigration consulting.
“She lied to them, cheated them, and, in some cases, even threatened them. By doing so, not only did she harm the very vulnerable people who she promised to help, she also repeatedly subverted the integrity of Canada’s immigration system,” said Justice James Stribopoulos when sentencing Eliza Lazaro to 11 months in custody. She was also ordered to pay $23,500 in restitution to her victims.
Lazaro posed as an immigration consultant who could find employment and handle paperwork for would-be immigrants. Instead, she forged paperwork to create make-believe employers for upfront fees that allowed the women and one man to obtain visas to Canada.
Judge Stribopoulos noted that Lazaro was in a special position to sympathize with the migrants and their desire to start a new life in Canada because their circumstances so closely mirrored her own.
Instead she preyed on them and victimized them.
She arrived in Canada in 1990 at the age of 24 as a live-in caregiver from the Philippines. After three years at that job she moved on to other employment, including selling insurance.
In 2008 she began offering services as an immigration consultant but was never licensed to do this work with the Immigration Consultants of Canada Regulatory Council.
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