Molly Joeck and Erica Olmstead are lawyers with Edelmann & Co. They, along with Peter Edelmann, acted for the Canadian Council for Refugees as interveners before the Supreme Court of Canada in Canada (Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness) v. Chhina. In Chhina the issue before the Supreme Court was whether immigrant detainees have access to habeas corpus. We discuss Chhina, how immigration detention works in Canada, habeas corpus and issues going forward. 2:20 – Why would someone be detained in Canada for immigration reasons? 3:50 – In the federal detention review system who decides if an immigrant should be detained? What is the Immigration Division? 4:30 – How often would an immigrant who is detained have their detention reviewed? 5:30 – What are some issues arising with long term detention? 12:20 – Is there a difference in the issues that arise in long term detention in Ontario as opposed to British Columbia? 18:00 – Is an immigrant refusing to assist with removal by not getting a passport grounds for detention? 24:30 – What is habeas corpus? 27:30 – Why would someone in immigration detention want access to habeas corpus? 30:30 – Why is habeas corpus an alternative to federal court … Read More
Borderlines Podcast #26 – Representing Edward Snowden and an Overview of Hong Kong Refugee Law, with Robert Tibbo
Robert Tibbo is a Canadian lawyer based in Hong Kong, where he has an active human rights and refugee law practice. He has served as counsel in many notable cases, including Edward Snowden, a former contractor for the United States government who copied and leaked classified information from the National Security Agency in 2013. Peter and Robert discuss what it is like to practice refugee law in Hong Kong and about Robert’s representation of Edward Snowden, which at one point included arranging for Mr. Snowden to stay with other asylum claimants in Hong Kong to avoid being detected by the authorities. https://embed.acast.com/659f464c3f69070017409684/659f46527d81c00017cf4f3b?theme=light&cover=false 2:00 – What was Robert’s career path that led him to become a human rights lawyer in Hong Kong? 7:12 – What are the primary source countries of people who are coming into Hong Kong to make refugee claims? 9:00 – What is the asylum claim process like in Hong Kong? 17:20 – What does everyday life look like for an asylum claimant in Hong Kong? 26:30 – How did Mr. Tibbo come to represent Edward Snowden? 34:00 – What was Mr. Tibbo’s legal strategy for Edward Snowden? 38:00 – What was the legal context in which Mr. … Read More
Borderlines Podcast #25 – Protecting Foreign Workers and Employer Compliance Inspections, with Meera Thakrar
The Government of Canada, as well as several provincial governments, have introduced several measures to protect temporary foreign workers and maintain the integrity of Canada’s foreign worker programs. Meera Thakrar is a Canadian immigration lawyer whose practices focus on helping companies recruit and retain foreign workers. Meera joins Peter Edelmann, Deanna Okun-Nachoff and Steven Meurrens to discuss various measures that different levels of government have introduced to protect foreign workers, challenges do governments face in this task and how employer compliance inspections work. 2:15 – Deanna discusses vulnerabilities that caregivers face. These include nonpayment of wages, excessive hours and more. What aggravates the situation is that because caregivers typically seek permanent residency and reporting abuse could potentially jeapordize this. 4:30 – What are some of the motivations of caregiver employers who exploit their foreign workers? What are some possible solutions to reduce the vulnerability of caregivers? 10:20 – Do what extent does the caregiver program deflate Canadian wages? To what extent does the fact that foreign workers provide cheap labour, making goods and services affordable, create a disincentive to stricter enforcement of foreign worker rights. 12:20 – An overview of how the government’s enforcement of compliance in the Temporary Foreign … Read More
Borderlines Podcast #24 – The Temporary Foreign Worker Program, with Kyle Hyndman and Meera Thakrar
The Temporary Foreign Worker Program, also known as the Labour Market Impact Assessment, is the main program through which Canadian companies hire temporary foreign workers. We discuss numerous aspects of obtaining Labour Market Impact Assessments, including prevailing wage, recruitment, transition plans, processing times, job match, the Global Talent Stream and the Owner – Operator LMIA. Kyle Hyndman and Meera Thakrar are both Canadian immigration lawyers whose practices focus on helping companies recruit and retain foreign workers. 3:00 – What are the first questions or things that Kyle and Meera tell Canadian employers that want to apply for Labour Market Impact Assessments? 3:57 – What is the difference between the Temporary Foreign Worker Program and the International Mobility Program? 8:00 – Why are companies generally reluctant to obtain Labour Market Impact Assessments? 8:20 – What are the recruitment requirements for a Labour Market Impact Assessment? 12:50 – What is Job Match? 19:00 – What do companies have to show and demonstrate through the recruitment process? 23:20 – What is the wage requirement for a LMIA? What is the prevailing wage? 25:00 – Do employers hire foreign workers to undercut Canadian wages? 26:30 – Can employers of foreign workers offer raises or … Read More
Borderlines Podcast #23 – Appellate Advocacy Tips, with Former Supreme Court of Canada Justice Marshall Rothstein
Marshall Rothstein served as a Justice on the Supreme Court of Canada from 2006 – 2015. He previously was a Judge on the Federal Court of Canada and the Federal Court of Appeal. Garth Barriere is a criminal defence attorney in Vancouver. He was counsel in Khosa v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration, a major Supreme Court of Canada immigration decision in which Justice Rothstein wrote a concurring opinion. In this episode Justice Rothstein provides tips for written and oral advocacy. While the focus is on appellate litigation, anyone interesting in strengthening their advocacy skills will benefit from what he has to say. We also discuss the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision in Khosa v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), and its impact on administrative law in Canada. It is a frank conversation. 9:00 – What it was like for Justice Rothstein when he was appointed to the Federal Court of Canada and to adjudicate cases on which he had no previous experience? 12:30 – How was it different being on the Federal Court vs. the Federal Court of Appeal vs. the Supreme Court of Canada? 14:20 – What strategies or approaches would Justice Rothstein suggest for counsel appearing at … Read More
Borderlines Episode 22 – The Implications of the Supreme Court of Canada Decision in R v. Wong
R v. Wong is a 2018 Supreme Court of Canada decision in which the Supreme Court of Canada had to determine whether a person could withdraw a guilty plea if they they did not know that their pleading guilty would lead to deportation. Peter Edelmann and Erica Olmstead are lawyers at Edelmann & Co. They represented the accused at the Supreme Court. Lobat Sadrehashemi represented one of the invervenors, the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers. 2:00 – The facts of the case. Mr. Wong pleads guilty to trafficking cocaine. He learns afterwards that this will lead to his deportation. He did not know this when he pled. Can he reverse his plea? 4:29 – How does a guilty plea work? Is it like in the movies? 7:40 – What was the judicial history of this case? 8:50 – What was the perspective of the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers regarding whether previously unknown immigration consequences should result in a person being able to set aside their guilty plea? 14:00 – When Peter, Erika and Lobatt talk about whether people should know about the immigration consequences of a guilty plea, what does “immigration consequences” mean? How did the court rule? 19:00 … Read More
Law Cans Episode 6 – Office of the Children v. Baldev (International Child Abduction) with Ari Wormeli
Office of the Children’s Lawyer v. Balev is a 2018 Supreme Court of Canada decision in which the Supreme Court had to determine what the test should be for determining where to return a child under the Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction (the Hague Convention). Ari Wormeli is a lawyer at YLAW Group, a prominent Vancouver family law firm. We discuss the Supreme Court decision, and Ari discusses what it is like being a family law lawyer, what he thinks is the number one indicator of whether a marriage will end in divorce and whether he has ever felt threatened by an opposing party. 1:00 – The facts of the case. A couple is married in Ontario. They move to Germany in 2001 where their two children are born. They struggle with school in Germany so the father gave his time‑limited consent for the children to move to Canada with the mother for the 2013‑14 school year. The children attended school in Ontario where they resided with the mother and their grandparents. Because he suspected that the mother would not return the children to Germany at the end of the school year, the father purported to … Read More
Law Cans Episode 5 – West Fraser Mills Ltd. v. British Columbia (Standard of Review) with Robert Danay
West Fraser Mills Ltd. v. British Columbia (Workers’ Compensation Appeal Tribunal)is a 2018 Supreme Court of Canada decision in which the Supreme Court had to determine whether it should overturn the WCAT’s decision to expand the duty of employers to ensure that their operations are planned and conducted in accordance with safe work practices to owners. The case provides a useful context to explore the topic of “standard of review,” which is extremely divisive in Canadian jurisprudence. Robert Danay is a lawyer with Canada’s Department of Justice who has a passion for this topic, and has researched every Supreme Court of Canada decision on the issue going back twenty years. He can be found on Twitter at @RobertDanay. 3:10 – An overview of the facts. 6:00 – What got Robert Denay into administrative law and an interest in the “standard of review.” 10:00 – What is an administrative tribunal? 11:30 – What is judicial review? 12:10 – What is standard of review? 16:50 – In the reasonableness standard, who determines what is reasonable? 18:10 – What is the trend in standard of review jurisprudence in terms of the amount of deference that should be shown to administrative tribunals? 22:30 – … Read More
Borderlines Podcast Episode 21 – What a Thirty Year Career as an Immigration Lawyer was Like, with Darryl Larson
Darryl Larson practiced immigration law in Vancouver, British Columbia for almost thirty years. He was a former Chair of the Canadian Bar Association of British Columbia’s Immigration Section, counsel to both individuals and corporations, at one point represented China’s most wanted fugitive, and successfully implemented a succession plan when he retired in 2018. In this episode Peter, Steven, Deanna and Darryl discuss Darryl’s career as an immigration lawyer in a candid discussion about what practicing immigration law is like. 00:51 – Why did Darryl get into immigration law? (Darryl’s answer really becomes a tale of his move from Edmonton to Vancouver). 8:20 – Who were Darryl’s initial clients? How did Darryl get his initial clients? 11:15 – What was practicing immigration law like in the 1990s compared to what it’s like now? Was the introduction of the IRPA really that big a game changer? 18:15 – What steps did Darryl take to become an expert in the area of immigration? 20:00 – How did Darryl go from practicing mainly immigration enforcement to developing a corporate immigration practice? 22:30 – What were some of Darryl’s most memorable cases? 37:45 – How did some of those cases change Darryl’s perspective on being … Read More