If you're not on the list...

Shady operators posing as Canadian universities and colleges have conned tuition fees from a number of potential foreign students. And some potential students who were subsequently issued with visas, such as the group of 21 Pakistanis arrested last month for national security reasons, are suspected of using them to plot terrorist activities.

Keeping Canada safe is made all the more difficult because the Department of Citizenship and Immigration, which processed the visas, has no master list of legitimate universities. In a public service gesture to officials in Ottawa, the Diary found two comprehensive lists the department can now use - and will even waive its consultancy fee.

www.aucc.ca/can_uni/our_universities/index_e.html

www.accc.ca/english/colleges/membership_list.cfm