Canada takes action on marriage fraud The new rule was welcomed by anti-fraud groups but Don Davies, the official opposition critic on immigration, said he felt it would be better to stop the fraudsters coming to Canada in the first place. "Where I would put my focus is on prevention rather than the defeatist position of the minister, which is simply to ramp up penalties after the problem has occurred," Canadian newspapers quoted him as saying. Others have criticised the move for unfairly penalising immigrants who are in genuine relationships that happen to end after their arrival. It is difficut to estimate exactly how many people in Canada, which allows around 40,000 spouses or common-law partners to be sponsored each year, are victims of marriage fraud, but the organisation Canadians Against Immigration Fraud says the number of reported incidents "grows every week." Although the minister's speech focused mainly on immigrants who deceive Canadians into sponsoring them, cases of Canadian citizens who are complicit in marriage fraud, for money or other reasons, are also far from rare. The department for Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism warns on its website that anyone who pretends to be in a relationship to help someone come to Canada can face "serious criminal charges."