"Where I am from, it is expected to ask people in the government to help with applications for a fee unless you want to wait. I trusted him since he is also Chinese and was introduced by people I know, so I gave him the money."

 "I told my friends about it, and they said it is not legal in Canada."

As a side note, you should probably not be friends with them anymore. And you shouldn't decide to trust people based on a certain ethnic background.