TORONTO -- Shah Moayedi of Toronto was stunned when his wife disappeared just five weeks after he brought her to Canada from Cuba in 2006. He tried desperately to find out where she was and whether she was all right.

Only when police told him he had been the victim of immigration fraud did he understand. The woman he had befriended on several trips to Cuba -- a woman he'd fallen in love with and married there -- had stayed with him in Canada only long enough to obtain her permanent resident's card.

"I thought she was genuine. Then one day she was gone," says the 47-year-old airline employee.

Moayedi is part of Canadians Against Immigration Fraud, which has started legal action against Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC), arguing the department isn't doing enough to crack down on marriages of convenience.

Typically, foreign-born fraudsters jilt their hapless Canadian spouses once they obtain their residency papers. But the victimized Canadians are on the hook financially for years as sponsors of the runaway partners.

Moayedi says the group, infuriated by the the government's lack of response, wants its suit certified as a class action to force CIC to act on all alleged cases of marriage fraud.

'LIMITED RESOURCES'

Ottawa immigration lawyer Julie Taub said thousands of Canadians have fallen victim to marriage fraud and the 100 or so members of Canadians Against Immigration Fraud "represent only the tip of the iceberg."

In an e-mail, CIC spokesman Nicolas Fortier said it was difficult to know how many such marriages there are. The immigration department and the Canada Border Services Agency "have limited resources for investigation and enforcement beyond cases involving national security, crimes against humanity and criminality," he added.

An affidavit submitted to the federal court on CIC's behalf by a Mississauga immigration officer said that office alone had about 600 files alleging immigration marriage fraud.

"We have a very limited number of immigration officers to review these 600 files and do the required investigations," said the affidavit.

Meanwhile, an Ottawa performance artist, whose allegations of marriage fraud against her African-born husband were upheld on investigation, plans a one-woman protest today in the nation's capital. Lainie Towell's husband has appealed an Immigration and Refugee Board ruling to deport him, and remains in the country.

Towell, 37, said she'll wear her wedding dress and carry a large, red door on her back as she winds her way through downtown Ottawa to Parliament Hill. It's symbolic of the burden she bears from the fraudulent marriage, she said.

CHRISTINA.SPENCER@SUNMEDIA.CA