The auditor general has released his annual report and once again the federal government is under heavy criticism.

Denis Desautels says urgent action must be taken to plug holes and eliminate fraud in the immigration system. He says immigration officials working overseas are overworked and undertrained. That, he says, is a major contributing factor to the backlogs and delays in processing applications. Those delays can sometimes last three years.

"On the whole, we found that the controls for prevention of errors and fraud are inadequate. We therefore believe the (immigration) department is particularly vulnerable to fraud and other irregularities."

Denis Desautels presents the report

Desautels' report says immigration officers get little training on how to conduct background checks on prospective immigrants. He also says there are not enough safeguards in place to protect against theft or mishandling of visa forms and computerized files.

Problems in other departments

But the auditor general isn't just picking on the Immigration Department. He also had "serious concerns" about RCMP computer backlogs and delays in laboratory tests that could compromise law enforcement.

Immigration Minister Elinor Caplan gives her reaction to the CBC's Nancy Wilson

The report says it is "imperative that senior management at the RCMP take action to eliminate backlogs in many of the services and improve efficiency."

The Indian Affairs Department was also singled out for criticism - similar to the complaints earlier this year regarding Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC).

Like HRDC, the auditor says Indian Affairs is spending $1 billion annually on education services for 117,000 students, but the department has no clear definition of its role, nor does it adequately monitor the money it is spending.

Desautels says there is a significant gap between native and non-native children. "At the current rate of progress it will take 20 years for them to reach parity in academic achievement with other Canadians."

The auditor general's office will make an individual report on HRDC in October. But the department still managed to make it into Tuesday's report.

HRDC was criticized for allowing the error rate on employment insurance claims to rise from four to six per cent.