Practicing Exclusively in Canadian Immigration Law
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Who we are
Steven Meurrens is a Partner at Larlee Rosenberg, a highly regarded law firm in Vancouver, British Columbia that practices exclusively in Canadian immigration law.
Practice Areas
Our firm practices almost exclusively in Canadian immigration matters, including work permit applications, provincial nominations, skilled worker applications, and more.
Immigration Blog
Certificates of Qualification
Mandamus Orders
A mandamus order is a judicial command to a government body to do, or forbear from, doing a specific act which it is obligated in law to do. The Federal Court's decision in Vaziri v. Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration), 2006 FC 1159, is one of the most cited case in the immigration context for setting forth the test for when a mandamus order will be given. There, Justice Snider stated: The equitable remedy of mandamus lies to compel the performance of a public legal duty that a public authority refuses or neglects to carry out when called upon to do so. Mandamus can be used to control procedural delays (Blencoe v. British Columbia (Human Rights Commission) [2000] 2 S.C.R. 307 at para. 149). The test for mandamus is set out in Apotex Inc. v. Canada (Attorney General), [1994] 1 F.C. 742 (C.A.), aff'd [1994] 3 S.C.R. 1100 (and, more recently, discussed in the immigration context in Dragan v. Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration), [2003] 4 F.C. 189 (T.D.), aff'd [2003] F.C.J. No. 813, 2003 FCA 233,). The eight factors are: (i) There must be a public legal duty to act; (ii) The duty must be owed to the Applicants; (iii) ...
Section 87 Orders
When immigration judicial reviews involve sensitive national security information, the ordinary rules of open court proceedings can change dramatically. Section 87 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act ("IRPA") creates a unique procedure that allows the Minister to ask the Federal Court to protect certain information from disclosure during a judicial review. Although these applications are relatively uncommon, they play an important role in cases involving security screening, intelligence information, or confidential investigative material. What is a Section 87 Order? Section 87 of the IRPA permits the Minister, during a judicial review, to apply for an order preventing the disclosure of information or other evidence. Rather than creating a standalone procedure, s. 87 incorporates the procedural framework found in s. 83 of the IRPA—with the exception of the requirements to appoint a special advocate and provide a summary of the confidential information. In practical terms, this allows the Federal Court to receive evidence in a closed hearing, outside the presence of the applicant and their counsel, if disclosure could: injure international relations; injure national defence; injure national security; or endanger the safety of any person. How Does the Process Work? When the Minister brings a s. 87 application, the Court ...
