Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino backdated government documents in an apparent bid to mislead a federal judge, records show. Access To Information files in the case date back to 2020, when Mendicino was minister of Immigration..“Things are on fire over here,” an assistant director of immigration wrote in one staff email at the time. Mendicino, a lawyer, would not respond to questions..According to Blacklock's Reporter, Parliament in 2019 passed the College Of Immigration And Citizenship Consultants Act. The Act was not immediately proclaimed in force. The name “College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants” was already trademarked and used by a private Vancouver company..Records show on Nov. 20, 2020 Crown lawyers attended a federal court injunction hearing in a Trademarks Act dispute with the British Columbia firm. Staff in Mendicino’s department stressed the importance of proclaiming the act in force. It was “a key first step,” wrote staff..“The hearing on November 20 was premised on the College Act properly being proclaimed,” said Justice Janet Fuhrer, the presiding judge. It was not..Government lawyers were “duty bound to bring to the court’s attention the development of the proclamation of the act,” Fuhrer said at the time. Lawyers instead used backdated documents to pretend the act was in force..Records show Mendicino’s department and the Privy Council Office hastily posted website notices falsely claiming the act was in force..“Do we know how this came into force?” one federal lawyer wrote in a staff email. “I assume there is a paper trail.”.The Privy Council Office on the same day as the November 20 trademark hearing published a garbled Order In Council on its website implying the act was in force. It was not..The notice included a “date modified” entry of April 31, 2017, despite there only being 30 days in April..Staff in Minister Mendicino’s department worked through the weekend drafting a news release subsequently posted Thursday, November 26 on a department website. The news release stated: “Mendicino announced today the College Of Immigration And Citizenship Consultants Act is now in force.” It was not..Records show federal lawyers cited the website notices in falsely telling the court the act was in force. The law “was proclaimed in force on November 20,” one lawyer wrote the court on November 25..In fact, the act would not come into force until December 9..“Oh boy,” read an email between Department of Immigration lawyers. “The College Act is not yet in force and will not be until December 9,” read another email: “The department will need to consider remedial measures given public communication.”.Neither the Privy Council Office nor Attorney General David Lametti’s office would comment.
