Settlement reached over failed N.S. immigration program
Posted Sep 26, 2011 11:21:37 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The Nova Scotia Supreme Court has approved a settlement stemming from the province’s failed immigration mentorship program.
“It’s over. People now have the right to make their claims,” said Ward Branch, the lawyer heading the class action lawsuit.
Branch said he’s already been in contact with 60 per cent of the people involved in the program.
They now have until the New Year to submit claims and receive compensation.
“We’ve allowed the government until Jan. 5, then they’ll start cutting cheques,” he said.
Justice Murphy approved the deal which will see each claimant receive 75 per cent of the money they paid to be part of the program, which amounts to about $75,000 each.
A proposed class-action lawsuit was filed in December 2009 on behalf of Peter King, who moved to Halifax from the United Kingdom in April 2006 and paid more than $100,000 to participate in the program.
Immigrants were supposed to get on-the-job training with an approved mentor company, but a statement of claim alleges King applied unsuccessfully for a number of jobs before he moved to British Columbia.
The provincial government has already paid out about $38 million in refunds to immigrants, but a clause in the settlement says that if more than 50 people opt out, the government won’t proceed.
