Ottawa Citizen: Group seeks cap on money-transfer fees
Posted June 22, 2011
From the Ottawa Citizen:
Pascal Apuwa, 38, moved to Canada six years ago from a small village in Kenya. Like many foreign-born Canadians he sends money back to his family in Africa every month. But Apuwa says he’s tired of paying the fees money transfer organizations, such as Western Union, place on remittance payments.
He and members of the organization ACORN [Canada], the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, [Canada] are asking federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty to cap the fees money transfer organizations can place on remittance payments at five per cent. The group is holding a protest outside the Bank of Canada at 10: 30 a.m. today.
“There is no transparent explanation why it costs me $25 to send $100 to my family in Kenya,” Apuwa said. “The only reason I’ve found is that they think it’s all right to pull profits from my family living in a slum in Africa.”
According to Statistics Canada, 41 per cent of foreign-born residents living in Canada send money back to their families abroad. Apuwa says he is sometimes charged as much as 16 per cent to send money back home and says there are often additional unexplained charges his family must pay in order to collect the money in Africa. “I feel so bad about it,” he said. “This is not the way to help people, I want justice to be done here.”
You can find the original article at: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/business/Group+seeks+money+transfer+fees/4973037/story.html
From the Ottawa Citizen:
Pascal Apuwa, 38, moved to Canada six years ago from a small village in Kenya. Like many foreign-born Canadians he sends money back to his family in Africa every month. But Apuwa says he’s tired of paying the fees money transfer organizations, such as Western Union, place on remittance payments.
He and members of the organization ACORN [Canada], the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, [Canada] are asking federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty to cap the fees money transfer organizations can place on remittance payments at five per cent. The group is holding a protest outside the Bank of Canada at 10: 30 a.m. today.
“There is no transparent explanation why it costs me $25 to send $100 to my family in Kenya,” Apuwa said. “The only reason I’ve found is that they think it’s all right to pull profits from my family living in a slum in Africa.”
According to Statistics Canada, 41 per cent of foreign-born residents living in Canada send money back to their families abroad. Apuwa says he is sometimes charged as much as 16 per cent to send money back home and says there are often additional unexplained charges his family must pay in order to collect the money in Africa. “I feel so bad about it,” he said. “This is not the way to help people, I want justice to be done here.”
You can find the original article at: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/business/Group+seeks+money+transfer+fees/4973037/story.html