Hello, Desperately need lead, recourse, or advice on what to do when a person I sponsored ( a Canadian citizen now) in mid 1990's. I found out they applied and received welfare assistant lived in Gov housing, never worked yet worked under the table. without my knowledge. I was NOT informed by the sponsored person and or by the Province about the ordeal until I contacted the immigration office( back in 2017 ) on how I can participate on a group sponsorship to help for a person who was stuck in south Sudan. Recently Of course the Gov is asking Me to pay back the amount received by the sponsored person. Would the Gov had informed Me on the initial incident tome? NO!, did the sponsered person tampered with the welfair application to be approved? probably YES. after all The sponsor person stated they are not, nor will not pay.
Mind you the total stress created up on Me and going . I am the victim here for many reasons. Some suggested 1 inform the fraud to Immigration? and File a case at superior court since the amount they took is over small claim court amount. ANY LEAD< ANY ADVICE< OR ARE THERE VICTUMS GROUP I CAN JOIN TO PUSH THIS CASE? many thx!
I'd suggest you contact an immigration lawyer for a consultation. I warn in advance my gut is that pursuing this legally is likely to end up nowhere and even if successful, cost you more in fees and expenses than you'd recover (although I don't know the amounts involved). The point of getting a consultation would be to determine whether this is realistic at all / within reasonable expenses given chances of success.
Some points:
-you don't say who you sponsored/what type of sponsorship - but the important thing is really the length of the sponsorship agreement you signed, when the assistance was used, and were these expenses in the scope of the agreement. If the assistance was provided within that period, you're still on the hook. A lawyer may not be able to tell you much more than what you could figure out by reading, but you need this info.
-you ask if government informed you etc - the real question (IMO) is whether govt is required to notify you, and if so, whether not notifying you renders any assistance 'unrecoverable' (does it relieve you of responsibility). My guess is a lawyer will tell you the answer is no - or if the answer is yes, that challenging this might prove epxensive.
-Similarly for the fraud you allege: you can and should provide info and perhaps the government will act upon it (their choice will likely depend how concrete the evidence is), perhaps it will recover some money (quite unlikely is my guess but you never know), and whether (IF money is recovered) that would reduce any amounts you might owe/have already paid. (If it's unlikely they recover anything, it's also unlikely you'd recover much - but not impossible).
-That might leave some elaborate claim that government wasn't sufficiently careful about use of these funds/checking eligibility or made some administrative or legal error. If the lawyer catches a clear and obvious error - maybe. Otherwise - farfetched and expensive (legal fees).
Good luck. My guess though is your chances are low of recovering much / avoiding liability, or if you can, your expenses would be higher. You signed a guarantee, is the bottom line. But it might make sense to check with a lawyer, who may know whether any such challenges have chances of success, etc.
